THE DIGITAL FUTURE OF ARAB HERITAGE
Memory Twin
THE DIGITAL FUTURE OF ARAB HERITAGE
By Prof. Marinos Ioannides
WHEN A HERITAGE SITE IS DAMAGED, WHAT EXACTLY IS LOST?
In 2018, a fire engulfed the National Museum of Brazil, destroying over 90 % of its 20-million-item collection in a matter of hours. In Gaza, the Great Omari Mosque— one of the oldest Islamic sites in the region— was reduced to rubble during the 2023 – 2024 conflict. In Syria and Iraq, archaeological sites were systematically looted, their artefacts dispersed through international trafficking networks, many never to be recovered.
The stones can be documented after the fact. The dimensions measured. The photographs archived. But the memory embedded in a place— the accumulated layers of use, meaning, community, and time— has always been harder to hold onto. It is precisely this problem that the concept of the Memory Twin sets out to solve.
MATAHEF. COM 83