Aleppo, Syria, has been the site of major fighting. Its old city is also a UNESCO World Heritage site of incalculable cultural value. The impressive citadel of Aleppo overlooking the city; the vast souk, one of the largest covered markets in the world; and the 12th-century Great Umayyad Mosque are especially important culturally and sustained heavy damage. It was imperative that these sites be recorded before they suffer further destruction. Iconem worked with the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria in 2017 to document these treasured sites. Using drones, our team scanned thousands of square metres. This data was used to reconstruct a 3D model of the old city; individual 3D models of the citadel, the souk, and the Great Umayyad Mosque; and an orthophoto map of the city centre. These resources document the current state of damage. They are tools crucial to architectural evaluation and are vital to reconstruction projects.

Perhaps the most iconic cultural heritage site of Southeast Asia, Angkor’s spectacular temples and sculptures dot 400 square kilometres in northern Cambodia. Vestiges of the great Khmer Empire are scattered throughout the archaeological park that is still home to many Cambodians. Millions of tourists visit the stunning temples each year, threatening the centuries-old UNESCO World Heritage site. Iconem scanned temples, sculptures, and gates for the French Embassy of Cambodia and the CIC Angkor in 2017 to further the site’s promotion and scientific study. Data was collected by both high and low altitude drone scans. The 3D model built from the drone data will facilitate archaeological research. Our team then photographed the monuments’ stone blocks with pole-mounted cameras to collect millimetre precise data for additional photorealistic 3D models.

Baelo Claudia, a city emblematic of Roman architecture, overlooks a bay near the coastal town Tarifa in southern Spain. This magnificent ancient city, its basilica, and its theatre endured an earthquake in the 3rd century C.E. and are affected by strong winds and erosion. In 2017, Iconem digitised the archaeological site’s grandest monuments for the Institut de recherche sur l’architecture antique and Casa de Velázquez. Our 3D model was constructed with data collected by drone and ground-level scans. Archival documents and technical drawings are integrated into the model to facilitate scientific research. The model is a digital scientific tool for studying the site’s current state, its degradation, and its buildings’ restauration. This digital replica can also be used to curate museum content for raising awareness of this Monumento Histórico Nacional designated site among the general public.

The remains of the Buddhas carved into the Afghan cliffs of Bamiyan are the symbols of the destruction inflicted on our world heritage by the Taliban in 2001. Presently, there is an urge to digitize them in order to preserve their memory. In 2015, as part of a project carried out by the French artist Pascal Convert, our team went to Afghanistan to digitize in 3D the cliffs and the traces of these statues. This documentation will constitute the memory of the cliff and the destructions that were committed there. On behalf of the NGO Turquoise Mountain, supported by the British Council, our team returned to Bamiyan at the beginning of September, in order to carry out a photogrammetric survey of a caravanserai using a drone and several cameras. The Bâmiyân valley is rich in many archaeological sites, such as this caravanserai which date probably from the 15th century AD. Such as the cliff, this site built in adobe is threatened by climate change causing its erosion and degradation. Our mission is to create a map of this site and its erosion, which will be used by the restorers involved in saving the building. Moreover, during this mission, Iconem trained students from the University of Bamiyan in photogrammetry techniques.

At the behest of the City of Compiègne, our team was commissioned to digitize its entire historic center in February 2020. Located in Oise, north-east of Paris, the historic city center of Compiègne used to be the French Crown residence after the 6th century and includes many emblematic heritage monuments such as the Imperial Palace, the Town Hall, the King’s Stables or the Saint-Jacques church. The half-timbered houses, some dating from the 15th century, also bear witness to the flourishing past of this part of the town. During our mission, we used drones and a helicopter to cover an area of ​​150 ha. Some of these buildings are classified as historical monuments and have benefited from a greater precision digitization, including the Town Hall of Compiègne, which was erected in the 16th century. The 3D model of Compiègne created by Iconem will serve as visual documentation for heritage stakeholders and will also be presented to the general public at the Antoine-Vivenel Museum.

A military architecture jewel of the 12th and 13th century , the Crac des Chevaliers (Qal’at al-Hosn) is the most emblematic fortress of those built by the Crusaders in the Near East. Since 2013, Crac has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger. Ravaged by several years of war, Syria is now facing a major challenge: the restoration and conservation of an extraordinary building. After several missions carried out by our teams to document this monument, UNESCO commissioned us to establish a new, more precise, 3D model of the entire building, in partnership with the DGAM, through the use of data sets of land and air. Given these gigantic dimensions, the 3D digitization of the building represented an unprecedented challenge. In total, the visual corpus gathered is made up of 135,000 captures. This 3D model provides valuable documentation to Syrian heritage actors responsible for preserving the monument.

In 2016, Iconem started a project on the island of Delos, one of Greece’s most ancient cultural heritage sites. The mythological birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, Delos’s archaeological heritage dates as far back as the third millennium B.C.E. Iconem digitised the island for the Ecole française d’Athènes, recording the current state of its stunning mosaics and extensive ruins. Using small drone-planes, Iconem’s team scanned the entire island: its theatre, agora, and ancient villas. Ground level photographs taken with a multicamera pole were integrated with the drone images to build the final 3D model, which is used to create cross-sections and other architectural surveys to study the site for restoration. Iconem’s model is also an efficient and precise tool for measuring distances, area and volumes of this UNESCO World Heritage site. Finally, the extremely precise model allows people to remotely explore the remains of this incredible ancient capital of Mediterranean trade.

In June 2017, Iconem’s team travelled to southern India to scan an ensemble of ancient mausoleums. The Qutb Shahi Heritage Park in Hyderabad, India is a vast historic necropolis dating from the 16th-17th centuries. A project for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Iconem digitised the exterior of the tomb of Abdullah Qutb Shah, king of the Qutb Shahi dynasty; the exterior and interior of Kulsoom Begum’s mausoleum; and a “bird’s eye view” of the entire complex. Our team scanned the two burial sites, the compound’s other monuments, and their surroundings with drones and pole-mounted cameras to collect data for three 3D models. The two individual tombs were also documented with high-resolution, pole-mounted cameras to ensure an exceptionally high resolution. Our engineers merged the site-wide model with the two higher resolution 3D tomb models into one single 3D model. This multi-level data approach allows viewers to switch between large-scale overviews and details of the site’s unique architecture. These models can provide valuable information to restoration experts.

Ancient capitals of Assyria and located near the Tigris in northern Iraq, Nineveh, Khorsabad and Nimrud represent cultural, religious and economic centers. After a rapid urban expansion in the 2000s, their growth coupled with Daesh destructions and uncontrolled excavations threatens their survival. In 2017, Iconem scanned the tunnels and made a 3D video of them as a technical service provider for UNESCO. Indeed, the Nabi Yunus tunnels that surround the ancient city have highlighted the hidden Assyrians treasures. While the reconstruction of the city is underway, it is important to ensure that it does not threaten the historic site again and further.

Located in the region of Nineveh, on the banks of the Tigris, Mosul was an important center of the Ottoman Empire in the 7th century with an architectural heritage that bears witness to great wealth. The military interventions against the Islamic State organization have seriously damaged the old city, especially in the western part. Nearly 20,000 buildings suffered damage or were destroyed, forcing residents to leave the city. Iconem was mobilized by UNESCO to urgently produce a 3D scan of the old town. During this mission, Iconem also carried out very precise GPS measurements of the area and digitized several emblematic monuments of the city, such as the Mosul museum or the old church of Tahira. This cartographic documentation will be used as part of a rehabilitation and restoration of the city with the aim of ”reviving the spirit of Mosul”.

Xanthos, an ancient Greek city-state of Lycia established in the south of Lydia in Anatolia, is known for its funerary monuments, some are exhibited in the British Museum. The rubble of the monument of the Nereids, from the beginning of the 4th century BC, and the tomb of Pavaya (375 - 360 BC) were brought back by the British archaeologist, Charles Fellows, during his excavations undertaken in the 19th century, and are subject to reconstruction. As part of a project in collaboration with the University of Bordeaux-Montaigne, our team carried out photogrammetric surveys aimed at restoring the monument of the Néréides and the tomb of Payava using current 3D tools. This project also allowed the creation of a Web visualization interface allowing the public to consult more precise 3D models of these monuments. Thanks to a close collaboration with historians, our work makes it possible to establish, using innovative technology, a better understanding of the archaeological material which tends to renew our perception of these extraordinary monuments…

Since 2011, Syria has been facing a threatening conflict that is destroying its cultural heritage in considerable proportions. Invaluable sites such as the ancient city of Palmyra have been devastated and now require urgent interventions. As part of the ‘Syrian Heritage’ project aimed at preserving and documenting Syrian heritage, Iconem, accompanied by the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums of Syria, went to the site in order to carry out, using photogrammetric techniques, a 3D scan of the most damaged sites. Iconem also carried out surveys using drones, as demining work had not been completed at some sites. These precise diagnoses of the destruction affecting the temples of Bêl, Baalshamin, the triumphal arch, the valley of the tombs and the museum allow those involved in Syrian heritage to consider their restoration and preserve their memory.

La Muette, built by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1767 at the request of King Louis XV on the site of an old castle built for François the Ist, is located on the north of the royal forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It is one of the most imposing hunting lodges of the Old Regime. Abandoned and deprived of all functions from 1970, the Royal Pavilion of La Muette was awarded to the Office National des Forêts (ONF) in 1984, which unfortunately did not have the means to maintain it, despite its prestigious history and its registration as a Historic Monument in 1921. The Pavillon de la Muette now requires substantial restoration after having been damaged by age. Under the aegis of an ambitious renovation program undertaken by Emmanuel Basse and Benoît d’Halluin, two history enthusiasts patrons, our team had the chance to digitize the building. Using photogrammetry techniques, Iconem produced a very precise 3D model to provide valuable documentation to the specialists responsible for restoring the building. Thus, the pavilion will be able to regain its former cultural influence and welcome its first visitors by 2022.

The city of Pompeii was buried during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 and rediscovered in the 17th century. It is a unique and valuable representation of urban architecture from the Roman period. With more than three million visitors each year, Pompeii is one of the most popular destinations in Italy. But this enthusiasm has a price. The passage of millions of visitors erodes the stone pavement of the streets and monuments, and this mass tourism coupled with natural erosion threatens the integrity of the site. In order to preserve its heritage and raise public awareness of the problems encountered, Iconem, in partnership with ENS, Microsoft Research and INRIA, visited the site in 2014 to establish a complete 3D survey of the site of Pompeii. The surveys undertaken in collaboration with our teams were used to create the first src 3d model of the Pompeii site. As part of the “Virtual Pompeii Project” Iconem also obtained permission to fly over the site at low altitude, allowing it to obtain very precise data for the development of valuable documentation.

The impressive Saint-Roman cave abbey in the south of France was digitised by Iconem in 2017 for the Beaucaire Terre d’Argence municipalities (CCBTA). The abbatial church, winding corridors, and former hermit cells dug into the limestone of this protected historical monument date back to the Middle Ages. This true jewel of French cultural heritage is threatened by erosion and formerly by clandestine limestone mining. Iconem’s digitisation is vital to preparation for the monastery’s stabilisation and redevelopment by the CCBTA. Iconem carried out a drone and ground scan to best capture the site’s rocky façades and interiors. This 3D model is a key resource for archaeological study of the monastery as well as conservation and promotional work. Iconem’s model will also serve as a base for digital content so the general public and experts alike may remotely study Saint Roman in all its majesty.

In 2015, Iconem traveled to Damascus to provide equipment and technical training to local teams, in order to safeguard the memory of sites in danger. At the end of our training mission, the DGAM (General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums of Syria) asked us to undertake a vast campaign to digitize the major archaeological sites of Syrian territory. Indeed, the conflict that has been tearing Syria apart since 2011 has devastated many historic sites. Faced with deliberate destruction, looting and degradation, Syrian heritage is now threatened with disappearance. The “Syrian Heritage” project aimed to create a digital database of Syrian monuments by our teams, but also to set up a national team capable of continuously enriching it. The data from the scanned locations has been published on a common site by Iconem and the DGAM, where they can be discovered through interactive virtual tours, computer-generated image videos or documentation for scientific use. Thanks to these surveys, Iconem, accompanied by the DGAM, has created the world’s largest 3D database of Syrian sites in order to transmit this rich cultural heritage to future generations.

Located in the commune of Maincy, south-east of Paris, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte was designed to arouse the wonder of its visitors. This jewel of French architecture has been built in the 17th century at the request of Nicolas Fouquet, superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, and it is the fruit of the work of many renowned artists and craftsmen such as Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun, André Le Nôtre or Michel Villedo. During a mission carried out in September 2019, Iconem digitized the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte using photogrammetry and laser. The combination of these two innovative techniques made it possible to produce a very precise 3D model from which we extracted the plans of the building. This survey work highlights the nerve center of the castle: the grand salon and its ovoid dome, a true technical feat of the 17th century.

The iconic Yangon High Court Building and its famous clock face dominate the skyline of Myanmar’s largest city. The monument and its revival Queen Anne-style are symbols of the city’s colonial past. The tower is still an important landmark for city residents. Our team digitised the tower for the French Institute of Myanmar in 2017. After drone and ground data acquisition, Iconem generated a photogrammetric 3D model of this Yangon City Heritage designated building. We also produced a video that highlighted the commonalities between the tower, designed by James Ransome, and the Saint-Jacques Tower in Paris, which Iconem also digitised. This video was presented during Yangon’s Mingalabar Festival, organised by the city and the French Institute.