Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Wednesday officially launched the “Project Revival” on Instagram, being implemented in partnership with the global technology company Meta in both the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
The move coincides with the celebration of the 122nd anniversary of founding the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement that the project aims to use augmented reality technology to provide an opportunity to view damaged statues in their full form by scanning a barcode installed under each statue, and to show the original appearance of a number of artifacts displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir.
The artifacts were carefully selected for the project to reflect the different historical eras of the ancient Egyptian civilization.
Its purpose aims to showcase the artifacts just as the ancient Egyptians made them thousands of years ago, by using specific smartphone applications.
The project’s techniques were applied to five statues from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, including the statue of Amun and his wife Mut, Senusret I, the statue of King Khasekhemwy, the head of the statue of Queen Hatshepsut, the statue of Tutankhamun, and the statue of Seti I.
This step aims to enhance digital interaction with Egyptian heritage, and revive some historical artifacts through 3D imaging technology.
The project’s launch was witnessed by Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy, Cairo Governor Ibrahim Saber, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat, Meta’s Regional Director in the Middle East Fares Akkad, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Yomna al-Bahar, and Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mohamed Ismail Khaled.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
