Artificial intelligence and robotics will help for the first time in the archaeological area of Pompeii, the city destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, to reconstruct remains and frescoes that are primarily fragmented and challenging to put together.
Thanks to the "RePAIR" project, an acronym for Reconstruction
of the Past, since September 1, 2021, in Pompeii, thousands of fragments, like
small pieces of a puzzle, will be reorganized with the help of mechanical arms
capable of scanning the remains, recognizing them in through a 3D digitization
system and place graphic design write for us them in the accurate position, explained today from the
archaeological area.
"While the fragments are recognized and scanned, precision
mechanical arms and hands manipulate and move them with the help of
state-of-the-art sensors capable of avoiding any damage," they explained.
The experiment will begin with the frescoes on the ceiling of the House
of Painters at Work in the Insula de los Castos Amantes, which were damaged
during the eruption of AD 79 and then destroyed after the bombing of the Second
World War.
A group of experts in mural painting from the University of Lausanne,
led by Professor Michel E. Fuchs, has been working in this extraordinary
context since 2018, with a program of study and manual recomposition based on
the analysis of the different morphological, stylistic and technical snippets.
The launch of the new project, which will be carried out in parallel and
in coordination with the one being carried out by the Swiss team, will
therefore make it possible to compare two working methods and their respective
results.
A second study of the frescoes in the Schola Armaturarum, caused by the
collapse of the building in 2010, is also planned.
"Two iconic examples of great frescoes from the world's cultural
heritage that are in a fragmentary state and are stored in the warehouses of
the Pompeii archaeological park," they explained.
The project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020
research and innovation program.
"The amphorae, the frescoes, the mosaics often come to light
fragmented, only partially intact or with many parts missing. When the
number of fragments is very large, with thousands of pieces, manual
reconstruction and the recognition of the connections between the fragments is
almost always impossible or in any case very laborious and slow",
according to the director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Gabriel
Zuchtriegel.
Zuchtriegel stated that "this means that several finds remain for a
long time in archaeological deposits, without being able to be rebuilt and
restored, much less returned to the public's attention", so the RePAIR
project will aim to solve an atavistic problem. "