England Uses Modern Technology to Recreate Ancient Monument Destroyed by Throwback Barbarians

This is beautiful.  Daesh/ISIS thugs destroyed another priceless ancient monument; so London has erected a new one.

It’s a fitting juxtaposition of Western Civilization and the Islamists’ deliberate lack of civilization.  Ancient Rome built a monument to its own military victory in Syria; Islamists destroyed it, just as they’ve destroyed enormous ancient statues of Buddha and other priceless historical artifacts; using Western modern technologies (virtual 3-D composite photography, computers carving rock with robotic arms), Western archaeologists created a 2/3 scale replica of the arch, and assembled it in London’s Trafalgar Square, which was in its own turn named in honor of a British victory in battle.

The significance was not lost on the English:

Unveiling the structure, London Mayor Boris Johnson said the replica was an arch of “technology and determination”.

He told spectators they were gathered “in defiance of the barbarians” who destroyed the arch in the city, north-east of the Syrian capital Damascus, last year.

. . .

“It is a message of raising awareness in the world,” said Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s director of antiquities who was in London to watch the replica being installed.

“We have common heritage. Our heritage is universal — it is not just for Syrian people.”

. . .

[Roger Michel, executive director of the Oxford-based Institute of Digital Archaeology, which created the arch,] said he wanted London to be the first to house the replica because the city itself had been reconstructed after World War Two, and that he hoped “anybody who appreciates free speech” would understand why it was so important to recreate the arch.

. . .

He added: “This is about censorship, in my opinion. If there are folks in the world who want to delete things from the historical record, they need to be restored. It’s as simple as that.”

The arch will be also be moved and displayed around the world, eventually coming to rest in Palmyra itself.

Palmyra, and its complex of ancient ruins, was recaptured at the end of March, having been overrun by IS militants in May last year.

At least 280 people were executed during their occupation of the city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group.