The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has revealed plans for a virtual museum of looted cultural antiquities. UNESCO is collaborating with Interpol on the project, drawing objects from the international police organization’s database of more than 52,000 stolen artifacts, which it will render in three dimensions, in some instances working off little more than a small black and-white picture of the original item. Saudi Arabia has ponied up the first round of funding for the effort, which is expected to cost about $2.5 million, and which is slated to “open” in 2025.
“The virtual museum will be a game-changing tool to raise awareness on the illicit trafficking and the importance of protecting cultural heritage among the relevant authorities, culture professionals and the general public, notably young generations,” said UNESCO in a statement.
The online museum will be designed by the Burkina Faso born Francis Kéré, who last year became the first African architect to win the prestigious Pritzker Prize. Incorporating the spiraling central atrium of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Solomon R. Guggenheim museum, Kéré is designing the virtual institution to resemble a baobab tree, which is native to Africa and imbued with deep spiritual significance. Visitors to the museum will be able to navigate through virtual spaces populated by detailed 3-D renderings of the stolen artifacts, each accompanied by information regarding its history and particular cultural significance, outlined through stories and testimonies from the pertinent communities.
“Behind every stolen work or fragment lies a piece of history, identity and humanity that has been wrenched from its custodians, rendered inaccessible to research, and now risks falling into oblivion,” said UNESCO director Audrey Azoulay, speaking before an assembly of national representatives in Paris. “Our objective with this is to place these works back in the spotlight, and to restore the right of societies to access their heritage, experience it, and recognize themselves in it.”
