Ukrainians are using 3D technology to preserve hundreds of cultural artifacts in a digital archive, far away from Russia’s attacks

A Russian tank exploded near Kyiv, a monument to Ukrainian writer Borys Hrinchenko, an apartment building destroyed by artillery fire, and a slide in a children’s playground covered in graffiti.

The project, launched in April shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, aims to digitally preserve the country’s cultural heritage – out of the reach of Russian attacks. The project’s creators say that the scans are of such high quality that they can be projected in a physical space to be explored for educational purposes, and can also be used to reconstruct artifacts. culture has been destroyed.

Backup Ukraine is the brainchild of VICE’s creative agency, Virtue Worldwide, in partnership with Blue Shield Denmark, a group that helps protect global cultural heritage, and the Danish National Commission for UNESCO.

Tao Thomsen, creative director at Virtue Worldwide and co-creator of Backup Ukraine, said: “What we want to fight is the deliberate destruction of Ukraine’s heritage as an act of terrorism, a threat to the nation. that’s proven very, very real.” .

With Backup Ukraine, for the first time in a country’s artifact history recorded in augmented reality during an ongoing war, a precedent has sparked conversations about how this technology can used in other countries going through conflict or war. The team is also exploring the possibility of creating 3D models of demolished churches and unscanned buildings, using past digital footage.

“We have set a precedent here for the protection of cultural artifacts and a model, a model,” said Iain Thomas, creative director of the group at Virtue Worldwide and a co-creator of the project. system that everyone can use as conflicts develop.

“One of the more amazing things is that people are scanning monuments, statues and sculptures, but they are also scanning the small aspects of their lives – the things they own, cherish and cherish. ,” said Thomas.

Backup Ukraine evolved into movement

The Backup Ukraine team is inviting local project managers to “slowly transfer ownership to the Ukrainians themselves,” and 150 people have joined as volunteers, scanning up to 10 pieces of cultural heritage. every day, Thomsen said. Since its launch, more than 6,000 people in Ukraine have downloaded the Polycam app to access the digital archive.

Max Kamynin, a Kyiv resident and architect, said he volunteered for the initiative about a month ago and spends three to four days a week doing scans, in which he puts aim to produce 15 to 20 high-quality scans. Before each day of scanning, Kamynin makes a list of monuments, historic buildings or objects destroyed by the Russians and tracks the route, he said.

“Now a lot of the big monuments are covered with bags, so I can’t scan them. But that doesn’t really bother me because Ukraine is rich in history and you can always find something interesting. taste to scan,” he said.

It took Kamynin about an hour to sweep the Church of Our Lady of Pirogoshcha, an Orthodox church in Kyiv, originally built in 1132. It was the first building in Kyiv to be built entirely of bricks without the use of bricks. stone, according to the church’s website. The church was destroyed in 1935 under the Soviet Union but was then rebuilt in the late 1900s.

Kamynin made a 3D scan of the Church of the Virgin Mary of Pirogoshcha, an Orthodox church in Kyiv, originally built in 1132. Credit: Maxim Kamynin is polite

“Large buildings are more difficult to scan than sculptures or monuments,” says Kamynin. “You need to go around the whole building, and if possible, use drones for better scanning.”

Backup Ukraine’s creators say it has morphed into a movement, as ordinary Ukrainians increasingly realize the importance of protecting their country’s history, art and culture and looking to the future of their country. it.

“We advise people not to scan in areas where there is immediate conflict,” says Thomsen. “There is a risk of slippage whenever you go out in a country with a lot of war. We can’t ignore that. Yet people still go out dozens of people a day to scan. That for me proves that national pride in this is a really powerful motivator.”

Hundreds of cultural heritages destroyed

Since the outbreak of war, Ukraine’s cultural sector has rushed to protect churches, museums, statues and art as they continue to suffer.

Kamynin created a 3D scan of one of the destroyed buildings in Borodyanka, Ukraine using the Polycam app. Credit: Maxim Kamynin is polite

One of the destroyed buildings in Borodyanka was 3D scanned. Credit: Maxim Kamynin is polite

Backup Ukraine leaders are in regular contact with the Heritage Emergency Rescue Initiative – a Ukrainian organization under the Ministry of Culture – and are working with experts in the 3D scanning industry, in Ukraine and globally, to scan with faster speed and greater focus.

The project partners are also in discussions with local agencies of the Ministry of Culture about scanning famous heritage sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list, especially the historic center in Lviv and Saint Sophia Church in Kyiv, according to Thomsen.

Yuri Shevchuk, a professor of Ukrainian languages ​​at Columbia University, said 3D scanning of Ukraine’s cultural heritage is a “great educational tool”.

“What we are doing now is almost like making Ukrainian history indelible, timeless,” said Shevchuk, a Ukrainian. “You can use this as an education for students, but also for the Ukrainian people themselves and the world. The project also made us, as Ukrainians, rethink and rediscover what it is. largely unnoticed.”

Shevchuk says that projects like Backup Ukraine serve a larger purpose of combating Russian aggression and propaganda that doesn’t recognize Ukraine’s unique cultural identity and territorial sovereignty.

“Ukraine, its identity and realization simply does not exist [to Russia]“The attributes of Ukrainian identity such as culture, language, literature, music and architecture are really what mark Ukrainians as original, inimitable and different from any other,” says Shevchuk. any other country”.

They must be preserved, he said.