A new effort in Ukraine attempts to scan and digitally preserve a variety of cultural monuments before they are destroyed as a result of the Russian invasion. The non-profit effort, dubbed “Backup Ukraine,” is a collaboration between the Danish National Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Blue Shield Denmark, Polycam, and a VICE media company.
People may use the Polycam app to photograph cultural heritage treasures and places, then utilize the app to produce three-dimensional reconstructions of the works, digitally conserving them away from bombs and missiles. The concept is that anybody may volunteer, albeit, given the possible danger, they are now limiting the capture of public works to a volunteer corps with official approval from authorities. The data will be freely accessible through Polycam’s Ukraine data repository, but by default, all rights will be retained by the individual inventor.
It’s intended that a wide range of artifacts and scenes, from elegant sculptures and antique paintings to blown-up vehicles and street corners, would be included to the online repository. People in Ukraine have scanned and uploaded a wide range of items, including Russian tanks, classrooms, residences, and even Jenga block constructions. It is unclear what the project’s goal is; there’s no indication of what they plan to do with the digital images in the end. Regardless of the outcome of the war, the website states that they intend to use digital technology to ensure that Ukraine’s national identity is preserved and available for future generations.
“The simplest method to eliminate a country’s national identity is to destroy its cultural legacy.” “We take the destruction of the country’s history very seriously,” Backup Ukraine declared on their website, citing Russia’s bogus denial of Ukraine’s sovereign and distinct national identity. “All of the project participants saw the potential in combining traditional cultural preservation approaches with current technical developments. “We want to put this new technology in the hands of Ukrainian residents so that they may capture everything and everything that is culturally significant and preserve it in 3D for all time,” they continue.
