MOSUL, Iraq — An Iraqi museum is using computer technology and
virtual reality (VR)
headsets to turn back time, so visitors can explore heritage sites destroyed by
Islamist extremist fighters and in battles to defeat them.
اضافة اعلان
Daesh group
fighters captured a third of Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014, seizing the
northern city of
Mosul as their stronghold and vandalizing or destroying a
swathe of cultural sites across the country.
Now, using
thousands of photographs, a group of local engineers have given a virtual
rebirth to five historic sites in Mosul and the broader Nineveh province,
including a mosque and its leaning minaret.
“It takes you to
another world,” said Mahiya Youssef, pulling the VR goggles off her
rose-covered hijab at the Mosul Heritage House museum, after exploring the 3D
images of damaged buildings.
“I really wish
it was the real Mosul, not just a virtual version”, added Youssef, 50, who
works in a food factory in the northern city. “The return to reality is
painful.”
Daesh’s then
chief,
Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, made his only confirmed public appearance at
Mosul’s Al-Nuri mosque, where he declared the establishment of a “caliphate”.
Mosul’s Old City
was reduced to rubble during the battle to retake the city, including the
mosque and its adjacent leaning minaret, nicknamed Al-Hadba or the “hunchback”.
Iraqi
authorities have accused Daesh of planting explosives at the site before their
withdrawal. Only the minaret’s base survived.
‘Retrieve memories’
VR technology has been used before to recreate the heritage destroyed
by Daesh, including a
UNESCO-backed exhibit in the US.
But this museum
brings sites back to life for the people who live in Mosul.
“Many children
have never seen the Al-Nuri mosque and its Al-Hadba minaret,” 29-year-old Ayoub
Younes, the museum’s founder.
“We try, through
virtual reality, to let the person experience visiting those sites and retrieve
those memories.”
Five years after
Iraqi forces and an international coalition routed the extremists in mid-2017,
historic sites, mosques and churches in Mosul are still being restored.
But large parts
of the Old City remain oceans of debris.
While some
residents have returned to other districts, much of the city remains a
patchwork of buildings either ruined or under construction.
The private
museum with a marble facade, sitting along the Tigris river, opened in mid-June
and saw more than 4,000 visitors in its first month, Younes said.
In a sombre
room, curious visitors wait to use the museum’s sole VR headset, a pair of
large black goggles.
Other sites on
the virtual visit are the historic Al-Tahera church, tucked among the once
meandering alleyways of the Old City, and the more than 2,000 year old Hatra
archaeological site in the desert south of Mosul.
The islamist
extremists took guns and pickaxes to the once extensive remains of the ancient
city, releasing video footage in 2015 of their destructive rampage.
‘Saving the memory’
On his computer screen, Abdullah Bashir showed a 3D replica of the
mosque housing the Nabi Yunus shrine — revered by both Muslims and Christians
as the tomb of Prophet Jonah — which the extremists blew up in 2014.
“We used
personal photos and shots taken by residents” to reconstruct the sites in their
former state, he said.
But he said
there were “very few” images before 2014, citing the “lack of photos” as the
main difficulty.
Bashir and other
specialized engineers from QAF Lab have brought the former scenes back to life,
in a project he says is “a way of saving the memory of Mosul”.
After his
virtual tour, visitor Mohammed Abdullah pushed his wheelchair around the
real-life displays in museum’s vaulted rooms.
Many of the
exhibits are daily-life objects donated by local families, from terracotta
amphoras to oil lamps, traditional wall hangings, metal containers, and even an
old radio.
Abdullah, 28, a
student of telecommunication engineering, also said the contrast between the VR
and the reality of Mosul was painful.
“Reconstruction
is extremely slow, and is not equal to the devastation,” said Abdullah.
He called for
faster restoration of heritage sites both to attract tourists and to “breathe
life” into nearby areas.
Despite the
bitter taste the virtual visit left, he said he has not lost hope.
“The day will come when
we will make this visit in reality,” he said. “It will be even better than the
virtual one”.
Read more Technology
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
