Skip to content

Preservation

Computer reconstruction of the Bamiyan Buddha

When political or religious ideologies drive people to direct their aggression towards heritage sites, structures of global importance can be wiped off the face of the earth. By using computer reconstruction to record the details that make these places unique, blueprints can be created to facilitate the potential rebuilding of these sites, should they ever be damaged or destroyed.

A computer reconstruction of the Bamiyan Buddha

The Bamiyan Buddhas, built by Buddhist monks and Greek sculptors in Bamiyan on the Silk Road in what is present-day Afghanistan, were destroyed by Taliban militia in March 2001. Located in the Bamiyan valley, around 130 kilometres northwest of Kabul, the two Buddha statues stood in their designated alcoves for many years, but the Taliban considered them to be of offence to the Islamic community.

Carved into the sandstone cliffs that also house a network of caves that were formerly used by Buddhist monks, the statues dated back to the early 6th and 7th centuries AD when Buddhism was the predominant religion in the area. The smaller of the two statues was 40 metres high, and the larger of the two was 53 metres high. The latter was the biggest depiction of the standing Buddha in the world.

After the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, the New7Wonders Foundation, founded and headed by Bernard Weber, collaborated with the Afghanistan Institute & Museum in Bubendorf, Switzerland. Weber contracted the Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) to create a digital reconstruction of the larger statue.

The 3-D reconstruction was created using three different photogrammetric measurements and three large photographs taken by Prof. Koska of the University of Graz in 1970. A mixture of manual and automatic triangulation and texture mapping procedures was carried out by the researchers at ETH Zürich, resulting in a high-res 3-D digital reconstruction of the larger of the two figures.

 

 

Latest News

New7Wonders continues, find out how in our News Room

Bernard Weber & New 7 Wonders featured in Switzerland’s number one magazine

Zürich, 10 October 2023 The number one magazine in Switzerland publishes a cover article honouring the New 7 Wonders movement Founder-President, Bernard Weber. Coop magazine, with a readership of 3 million in a nation of 9 million inhabitants, also tells the story about how the world’s first ever global voting campaign for the New 7 … Continued

New7Wonders Wonder Marker at the Great Wall celebrated across Chinese News Media

Beijing and Zurich, 10 July 2023 The official unveiling of the New7Wonders Wonder Marker on 7 Wonders Day 2023 at the Great Wall has been widely reported across mainstream and social mobile media throughout China, recognising and celebrating the importance of this historic moment. Video news reports, distributed through the main mobile news portals that … Continued

Great Wall of China Unveils New7Wonders of the World “Wonder Marker”

Beijing and Zurich, 7 July 2023 Today marked the unveiling of the Wonder Marker, the 3 metre high signpost that celebrates the Great Wall of China as one of the official New 7 Wonders of the World (N7W) as chosen by a global public vote.  The ceremony took place at Huangyaguan Great Wall, Tianjin Province, … Continued

Great Wall of China to Unveil New7Wonders of the World “Wonder Marker”

Beijing and Zurich, 5 July 2023 On Friday, July 7, the Great Wall of China will unveil the “Wonder Marker,” the official symbol created by the New7Wonders Foundation (N7W) to honour the seven most remarkable historic sites on earth.    The unveiling will take place at Huangyaguan Great Wall, Tianjin Province, one of the most … Continued

The New 7 Wonders of the World celebrate 15 years

The New 7 Wonders of the World celebrate their 15th anniversary on 7 July 2022, as this is the date when the Wonders were announced at the official declaration ceremony that took place in Lisbon, Portugal in 2007. On a historic night on an equally historic date, 7/7/7 – the 7th of July 2007 – … Continued