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From drawing to vision:

the use of Mesopotamian architecture through the construction
of its image
Maria Gabriella MICALE
Universit degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza
The efforts of reconstructing the image of ancient Near Eastern cities have characterized both the production
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and diffusion of the Near Eastern discoveries since the European archeological activities in the 19 century
started. In the course of time, the practice of creating likely images not only of the decorative apparata but
mainly of the architectural remains has became a "traditional" practice and, at the same time, a crucial
device that archaeologists and scholars develop to manage, perform, visualize and hand down the amount
of data and hypothesis they produce. If the assumptions and aims of architectural reconstruction did not
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completely change from the 19 century until today, the development of technology has gradually affected
them, turning a mere image into a virtual reality.
This paper aims at presenting an investigation of a recent experience in the field of the digital architectural
reconstructions. Thus, we must start from a structuralist analysis of the whole of the archeological and
architectural data in order to explain the nature of each architectural context and so return it to its most likely
image. As a result, it is possible to bring together the reconstructed components of the whole context and
look at it in the light of its complex nature, its limits and contradictions; this is also the start of a new and
maybe even more "real" intellectual experience of Mesopotamian architecture.

Introduction
Archaeological publications and recent congresses about the history of archaeology make us realize that we
mainly mean printed images when we study and publish architectural reconstructions in archaeology. Even
though the so-called new technologies (in which the adjective new seems to mean something like digital
information technology versus the old world made of paper) are largely used in both archaeological studies
and activities, the results of the meeting of archaeology and digital information technology are not very
widespread.
Who is right: the archaeologist who uses information technology and who assumes that this is the only way
to gain good results or the archaeologist who refuses to go beyond the traditional way to look at the
architecture? Anyway, there has always been a simultaneous mental and visual need for the reconstruction
of 3D images for architecture in the field of archaeology: it still seems to be a fundamental instrument for the
best comprehension of both the shape and function of a building, the plan of which is the only thing we know.

The first architectural reconstructions: assumptions and aims

Images of ruins and antiquities have played a fundamental role in the symbolic definition of a paintings
meaning in European artistic culture from the Middle Age on: for example, the ruins in the background of the
Sacred Family seem to have symbolized the corrupt world before Christ (HANSEN 1996, p. 104-106).
Whereas the Arabic Medieval travelers described some of the late antique ruins in their travel books, images
of ancient

Mesopotamian architecture, with few exceptions, date back to the last two centuries thanks to the European
interest in the Near East.
As Near Eastern archaeologists, we have to recognize that our study of the ancient Mesopotamian
architecture was mainly affected by the drawings of the perspective reconstructions made by European
archaeologists during the 19th and 20th centuries. The histories of these famous images are not only linked
to each other but also to the personal and professional backgrounds of their authors. Actually, it is not
possible to look at them without recognizing traces of both an image and a concept of Mesopotamian
architecture, which is based on representations that mix archaeology, iconography and mental suggestion
(MICALE 2005, p. 143-151; id., 2006).
Even though the analysis of the sources of these reconstructions reveals that they were conceived not only
as iconographic support to written texts but also as independent interpretations of Mesopotamian
architecture, these images have been accepted as the most representative of Mesopotamia. As a
consequence, they became clichs and used for publication and scholarly reconstruction even when the
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reconstruction should have been based on more critical choices.

Apart from the reconstructions by Sir. H. Layard, whose stylistic and iconographic features make them mere
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illustrations for a travel book, the first proper images of Mesopotamian architecture are those of Victor
Place, who translated the archaeological and architectural data of the excavations of Khorsabad coherently
into three-dimensional images (Ibid.: 144-147) (Fig. 1). This aim at creating a coherent relationship between
the two-dimensional image of the buildings and their likely three-dimensional realizations had several
consequences. Even if the name of Place is never quoted, the perspective reconstructions of Khorsabad no
doubt represented the source of many interpretations by Robert Koldewey and Walter Andrae for the
architecture and decorative elements of the buildings of Babylon and Ashur.

Fig. 1 Perspective reconstruction of the Citadel of Khorsabad by V. Place

( Place 1867-1870, III: Pl. 18).

However, as independent instruments of study and interpretation of the architecture, the German perspective
reconstructions are basically hypothetical. The comparison between the reconstructed image and the
archaeological data on one hand and the possible three-dimensional realizations of the structures on the
other, reveals that the appearance of many buildings could have been in reality very different from the one
fixed in our mind. Every choice in each reconstruction process clearly depends on interpretation. Actually, it
has to be considered that the lack of certain data about the real dimensions of the discovered structures
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affects every hypothesis about the height of the walls. Even though the thickness of a wall might be the
fundamental datum to determine its height, in reality the height itself might depend on other functional
factors, for example aeration, lighting and roofing. The reconstructed image of the Temple of Ishtar by
Andrae could be very different if the roof of the main cella was also rising above the front rooms so that a set
of windows also opened on the front (Figs. 2-3) (Ibid.: 133). From a structural point of view, this kind of roof
would be necessary. Actually, it is possible to hypothesize that the beams of the roof of the main cella laid on
brackets that used the beams of the side rooms to discharge the weight of the main cellas roof itself on
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them. Also the Emakh of Babylon could look very different if the projecting bastions didnt develop as towers
rising as high as the bastions project, and if Koldewey had tried to develop the inner size of the building.
Since the inner cella surely needed a source of light, it is possible to hypothesize that the room beyond the
cella was in reality a source of light which lights up the cella itself by means of a set of windows on the back
wall (Figs. 4-5). But that is only one hypothesis among many (Ibid.: 124-125, 127-128, 134).

Fig. 2 Perspective reconstruction of the middle-Assyrian Temple of Ishtar in

Ashur by W. Andrae (Andrae 1935: Pl. 3a).

Fig. 3 Middle-Assyrian Temple of Ishtar in Ashur: potential volumetric development

(source: author).

Fig. 4 Perspective reconstruction of the Emakh of Babylon by R. Koldewey

(Koldewey 1911: Fig. 1).

Fig. 5 The Emakh of Babylon: hypothetical scheme of the inner rooms

lighting (source: author).

In a short article published in 1925, Andrae asserts that the three-dimensional visualization of a structure is
fundamental in order to understand the real architectural experience of an ancient building. Thus, despite
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the non-scientific consequence of reconstructing the image (Figs. 6-7), reconstructions seem to represent a
human need to look at the architecture in 3D. Even though architecture can be imagined by means of the
two-dimensional plan, architecture is three-dimensional and needs some visual device to provide a total
experience.
Whereas the analysis of the several components of the images leads us to understand most of the aims and
the intellectual assumptions behind these reconstructions, it is very difficult to understand their technical
bases. The images usually bear no traces of them. As a consequence, we usually dont understand if the 3D
reconstruction of a building was based on both a schematic plan and a perspective projection or not. It is
clear that a perspective reconstruction built on geometric bases reveals that its drafter paid particular

attention to the possible 3D development of the original plan of the building. Thus, a drawing based on
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geometry is more than a mere illustration.

Figs. 6 and 7 - Two examples of the implicit use of Mesopotamian reconstructed architectural image for non-scientific purposes: the
Chaldean Church in al-Qamishli (left) and Aleppo (right), Syria (photo: author).

From Image to Virtual Reality

The need to look at the architecture as box-space derives from the tradition implicit in Humanism, which
forces us to look for a human point of view: the man inside the architecture. This anthropocentric point of
view developed not only contemporary with the use of perspective but also mainly because humans view
from many perspectives during movement and perception inside the box-space itself.
Thus, it seems that the assumptions of the old reconstructions are very similar to the new reconstructions
built by means of digital information technology. However, whereas the traditional reconstruction represents
the extrapolation of a plan and, at the same time, the building of a space where all of the architectural
elements and decorative apparata which cant be visualized in plan take place, the digital reconstruction
represents the first step towards the global reconstruction of a virtual context. Here, not only a more realistic
static outlook of a building occurs, but also a direct and kinetic experience which involves the entire field of
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human perception. Even though it is possible that, following an unacceptable assumption, a virtual
reconstruction of an archaeological site is presented as an instrument of preservation of both physical and
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non-physical heritage, the increasing number of the virtual reconstructions seems in reality to answer the
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need to go beyond the ruins of ancient architecture and realize, as a consequence, its entire image.

Some examples
Coming back to the reconstructions of Near-Eastern archaeological contexts, famous and now antique
drawings are still being used in very recent archaeological publications. But, more and more frequently,
digital images of Mesopotamian architecture appear and present several and different instances of use of
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both image and architectural space. The virtual reconstruction of the NW Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at
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Nimrud (University of Buffalo, Learning Sites Inc. etc.) is one of the most complex and recent attempts to
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rebuild a global Mesopotamian architectural context.

The reconstruction offers a real architectural space

where one can move and act in a full-body immersion. Art and architecture, structure and decoration are the
stage for playing a past,
which takes place in cyberspace, where the characters of yesterday meet the audiences of today. Thus, the
virtual reconstruction could be used as a kind of non-time machine, because both present and past are
taken into a third dimension where they become mere authentic appearance.
At the beginning of the 20th cent., archaeology helped in staging a theatre play some years after the start of
the excavations in Ashur, Walter Andrae, director of the expedition, drew and built the set for the opera
Sardanapal (ANDRAE-BOEHMER 1992: 21-24, pls. 132-133). In these images (Fig. 8) Andrae collected
different elements from archaeological data, iconographic sources and intellectual influences (MICALE
2006). I wonder what the difference is between Andraes staging and a modern, virtual 3D reconstruction.

Fig. 8 Water color rendition for the stage setting of the opera
Sardanapal: Court of an Assyrian temple. By W. Andrae (Andrae
Boehmer 1992: fig. 132).

Taking into consideration the digital perspective reconstruction of the Citadel of Nimrud (Fig. 9), it is clear
that it is a mere suggestion of the potential volumetric development of its plan. But, contrary to a common
study on volumes, the reconstruction doesnt hypothesize about the real development of the height of the
different sectors of the palace. Actually, it is possible to recognize the elevation of the Throne Rooms roof
above the southern sectors of the palace and the height of some towers. Thus, the reconstruction doesnt
translate into image any hypotheses about roofs and upper floors based on the architectural and functional
analysis of spaces. Observing this "push" up of the walls, it seems that the computer devices do not express
or explain why the reconstruction is what it is. Even though we have large written details about the
backgrounds of this reconstruction, the image itself seems not very different from a hypothetical axonometric
drawing of the same Palace made by means of traditional devices.

Fig. 9 - Image courtesy of Learning Sites, Inc.

But contrary to a traditional drawing, in which the point of view reflects the eye of the author who usually
exploits the perspective to emphasize something and hide something else, digital technology allows a
potential multiplication of infinite images and points of view. A sequence of images of either a building or
single room is created in order to fix in the human mind not only a static image but also a real recall of a 360
degree view of the architectural space made possible by means of the direct experience of architecture
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alone.
Thus, by means of perceptive deception it is possible to enter into the official sector of the Palace (Figs. 1012). The importance of Throne Room B had already inspired an attempt to reconstruct its original
magnificence: the reconstruction by the architect working with Layard is the most famous result (Fig. 13).
However, this image only reflects a little of the original (archaeological) state of an Assyrian palatial building.
Thanks to both the construction of a realistic virtual environment and the use of perceptual and visceral
elements of realism, the virtual experience and the digital reconstruction of this room allows us to practice
its architectural and decorative details and live the architecture in accordance with true human perception.

Figs. 10 and 11 Digital 3D reconstruction of the Northern Courtyard of the NW Palace of Nimrud (images courtesy of Learning

Fig. 12 - Image courtesy of Learning Sites, Inc.

Fig. 13 Perspective reconstruction of an Assyrian Audience Hall (Layard 1849,

Frontispiece).

Backgrounds of images reconstruction

As it happened with traditional reconstructions, the refined image of a building confines the imagination. As a
consequence, contrary to the declared aim of many virtual reconstructions (that is the flexibility of a virtual
reconstruction which is changeable at any one stage of the work), the refined image itself settles as the
image of a certain and unchangeable reality. Thus, it is difficult to point out the assumptions of a
reconstructed image and wonder how close it is to the original building (insane ambition!) or, maybe better,
how far from it the reconstruction seems to be.
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The tower is the main architectural component which seems to characterize Mesopotamian architecture. As
a sign of a doorway, two projecting towers occupy the outer faade of the Throne Room. No archaeological
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or architectural data can suggest what the original height of the projecting bastions beside the doorway was.
It is clear that a projecting structure or a rising tower produce two very different images of the same building.
However, it is difficult, or almost impossible, to establish an exact proportional relationship among thickness,
depth and probable height. As a consequence, each reconstruction of projecting bastions only depends on
the resemblance between what is hypothetical and what the human unconscious recognizes as possible
(GALIFI-MORETTI and AOYAGI 2002).
In reality, the height of the walls is the factor that more than others determines the volume of a building. The
differences of the thickness of the building walls usually suggest that it depends on how high the architect
wanted the walls to go. According to this relationship between thickness and height, the reconstruction of the
citadel shows the throne room rising over the other sectors of the palace (Fig. 9). But, if the proportion of
thickness to height of a wall was obvious, it would be possible to assume that, contrary to this
reconstruction, the throne room was higher than not only the southern rooms but also the northern ones. The
location of very thick walls could not be accidental. Thus, it represents an architectural datum and, at the
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same time, a suggestion of the appearance of the building.

According to the relationship between the

proportions of throne room and northern courtyard, it is suggested that the walls of the Throne Room could
be about 10 m high (SNYDER 1999). Even though the crenellation is archaeologically more exceptional than
the reconstructions (and the architectural representations on the bas-relief) allow us to imagine, their
occurrence upon the walls correspond to a typical way to visualize Assyrian architecture. Actually, it is
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possible that their undefined shape depends on the lack of archeological data about the top of this building.
Concerning the question of the relationship between thickness, height and possible occurrence of a second
floor, it is possible to combine all of the architectural suggestions and, as a consequence, obtain an image
more consistent with both the ideological and functional needs of this area of the palace. It might be possible
to explain the thickness of the Throne Room walls as a function of the volume of a hall which is as high as a
two-floor building and, at the same time, to interpret Room C as the ceremonial staircase-room which led to
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the residential quarters built upon the west wing of the palace. But, as we can see, this does not occur in
any reconstruction of the 3D development of Room C.
Even though it might be possible that, showing a central opening in the ceiling, the famous reconstruction of
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a throne room by Layard reveals the influence of the inner open spaces typical of the Near East, it is clear
that the drawing expresses the objective difficulty of reconstructing such a large roof. Indeed it is possible
that this image could represent a solution to the problem of the lighting, about which Layard had no idea
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(BOHRER 2003: 207).

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In the 19 century both H. Layard and P.E. Botta supported the possibility that in

antiquity the architects planned to reconstruct a flat roof (BOTTA 1849-1850, V: 67). The evidence was
according to the quantity of burned wood found under the collapsed structures, whereas E. Flandin and V.
Place suggested a vaulted roof (Ibid.: 65-71; LOUD and ALTMAN 1938: 23-24). But the lack of written
sources about the constructions of vaults could be enough to reject their reconstruction (TURNER 1970: 80,
n. 84; HEINRICH and SEIDL 1968: 24). The throne room reconstruction shows a flat roof supported by a
series of beams sustained by brackets. It is very difficult to imagine a wooden roof without the aid of supports
or trusses, also because the weight of the roof lying directly on the top of the walls could have increased the
collapse of the structures (HEINRICH-SEIDL 1968: 9). However, since there is a complete lack of
archaeological data about the question, in many cases the reconstruction of a roof is suggested according to
typological and structural issues dealing with spaces and their use.
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Strongly linked to the problem of walls height, the question of the lighting is usually affected by the lack not
only of data, but often of thinking about it. In the reconstruction of the official rooms it is hypothesized that the
light entered in the rooms only through the gates (Fig. 14). As said before, if the throne room was higher than
the southern rooms, it could be possible to imagine that it received the light also through windows opened on
the top of the southern wall (Fig. 15). Since it was surely smaller and lower than the Throne Room, and
Room F could have received light only from its main gate opened to the courtyard (Fig. 16). It is clear that,
contrary to the traditional perspective drawings, the rendering of the lighting in the virtual reconstructions
represents the results of a specific choice based on a specific hypothesis (the lack of windows) and
experimented by means of the virtual rendering of the rooms lighting. It means that, contrary to the past, the
hypothesis about windows depends also not only on architectural, functional, or theoretical factors, but also
on a verisimilar visual experience.

Fig. 14 - Image courtesy of Learning Sites, Inc.

Fig. 15 Hypothetical scheme of the lighting of the Throne Room of the NW

Palace at Nimrud (source: author).

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Fig. 16 - Image courtesy of Learning Sites, Inc.

Thus, if the amount of the hypothesized light inside a room depends on the size of the gates, the
reconstruction of the gates (height and typology) seems to be fundamental. In these reconstructions, the
northern gates of the Throne Room are arch-shaped. Since no archaeological trace of their original shape
exists, it seems that this reconstruction is mainly based on both other perspective reconstructions and
comparison with data coming from other contemporary Assyrian buildings (SNYDER 1999).
Thus, it seems very difficult to reconstruct the original appearance of a gate, unless to make a mere
aesthetic choice, such as Loud has made in the reconstructions of the buildings of Khorsabad (LOUDALTMAN 1938: 24-25). Actually, he admitted explicitly to have used the arch-shape for his reconstructions of
the main entrances of the Khorsabad palace for pure aesthetic reasons. It should be possible to reconstruct
the original shape of a gate if we had the chance to examine the structure of the wall. Actually, it is possible
that the shape of the gate, in accordance with the structural features of a wall, could correspond to specific
static needs, as it was assumed in a recent model which reconstructs the faade of the southern palaces
throne room at Babylon. According to this new reconstruction, the central arch-shaped gate and the two
lateral flat-shaped ones could represent the only solution to various structural and architectural needs of this
part of the palace (KARSTENS 1995: 57-58).
As a complement to the image of the architectural space, the significant decorative and celebrative
apparatus of paintings and bas-relief is displayed along the walls from top to bottom. The reconstruction of
the slabs' emplacement related to the architectural space constitutes the subject of a separate research
(PALEY-SOBOLEWSKI 1987; 1992), whereas it is almost impossible to gain a true image of the original
emplacement of the painted plasters and bricks. Actually, the reconstruction of their extent and location only
partially depends on the finding in situ of painted pieces whereas it depends mainly on the comparison with
reconstructions of other contemporary Assyrian sites (SNYDER 1999).
The analysis of the decorative and architectural elements that compose the reconstructed image prove that
in some cases there is almost no trace of them (i.e. the crenellation); some others are hypothesized on the
base of structural and functional factors (i.e. roofs and lighting), whereas the aspect of other elements could
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be only hypothesized on the base of dimensional proportions (i.e. walls and projecting towers). In reality, it is
possible
that part of the reconstructed image of the Assyrian architecture depends on the use, maybe also
unconscious, of the architectural images on the Assyrian monuments. The iconographic sources in the
reconstructing process are basically used in order to gain information about the whole of architectural
elements the excavation doesnt provide (MICALE 2005: 135-136). Taking into account the examples of
different buildings depicted on the Assyrian reliefs, it is possible to assume that the towers (usually rising or
T-shaped) are the basic and characteristic elements of each kind of building, whereas flat- or arch-shaped
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gates seem to be used independently of the type of the building they belong to.
Concerning the virtual reconstruction of the Palace of Nimrud, it seems that the iconography has not affected
it. Actually, contrary to most reconstructions and iconographic sources, the hypothesized towers are not Tshaped or always rising above the walls, except in one case (Fig. 17). Moreover, even though the authors
themselves admit that the hypothesis of arched gate depends on other already existing reconstructions
(SNYDER 1999), it seems that the arch-shaped gates here represented could do with some more research.

Fig. 17 Digital 3D reconstruction of the faade of the Throne Room of the NW

Palace (Nimrud) showing two T-shaped towers flanking the main entrance
(image courtesy of Learning Sites, Inc.).

From Image to Vision

Contrary to the image, that involves sight, the final step towards a true human experience of architecture
involves the perception of both movement and proportions. It means that, contrary to the Renaissance when
architecture was created around the man, now -once the virtual architecture is made- it is necessary to make
the virtual man. Thus, it is possible to walk through the Great Northern Court of the palace and then accept
the invitation to enter following the characters depicted on the bas-reliefs by the gate and, through the gate
flanked by two lamassu, it is possible to enter the throne-room and let the epic narrative of images on the
bas-reliefs lead us to the king (Figs.18-19).

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Figs. 18 and 19 Using the CAVE wall at NISCEDII (New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation), the
University at Buffalo (images courtesy of the Virtual Site Museum, University at Buffalo and Y-S. Kim:
http://www.vrlab.buffalo.edu/project_vmuseum/vmusem.htm).

There is no doubt that the virtual reconstruction of both architectural space and, at the same time, human
experience is extremely fascinating, that means: to see as complete what the time has given us ruined.
Indeed, there is no doubt that the virtual experience and the personal perception of a complete architectural
space is an exceptional instrument for the best understanding of a building function. However, it is clear that,
whereas I'm impressed by the sight of Ashurnasirpal II moving in front of me, I cant cease recognizing that in
reality Im looking at the 3D animation of his statues image (KIM, KESAVADAS, PALEY AND SANDERS
2001; KIM, KESAVADAS AND PALEY 2006) and that the architectural space enclosing me has in reality
nothing to do with what it originally was. Actually, concerning the reconstruction process, the unsolved
questions are more frequent than the solved ones. As a consequence, there is a range of ambiguity that
architecture, as mathematical science, does not admit. The vagueness could exist only in our imagination
(imagine vs. imagination), whereas each metrical and proportional feature contributes to make a structure a
unique building.
It is possible to assert that the architectural reconstructions and the previous study focus on the need to get
a real experience out of the architecture by means of the virtual reality: to live the same sensorial
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experiences of the ancient man again.

However, it also means that there is a risk to by-pass the

archaeological data and let the reconstruction deceive our senses. From a psychoanalytical point of view,
this suspicion about Virtual Reality in archaeology could be considered as a kind of Borgesian sense of
horror for an images duplication that produces not a simple "double", but another kind of reality whose
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images could live by themselves and belong to another form of life that we ignore.

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Archaeology. Replicating Past Objects, Behaviors, and Processes (= BAR International Series 1035). Oxford: 83-94.

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See, for example, the in situ reconstructions of some monumental Mesopotamian buildings (Micale, 2005: 151-153).
2

The classification as travel books is by Oates, 1981: 28.

3

On the system here explained, see Margueron, 1982: 522.

4

Im referring to the use of Assyrian architectural features as sign of both modern identity and cultural heritage. But of course, the
question mainly deals with ethnicity and political legitimization. One of the most important and diffused example of this use of cultural
signs are some modern Chaldean Churches built in Assyrian style. The Assyro-Chaldeans, actually, claim for themselves to be the
descendents of the ancient Assyrians. The appearance of these churches seems to be based on the architectural reconstructions of
ancient Assyrian buildings.
5

This is the case of some drawings of Babylon which were clearly built on orthogonal projections, the records of which are in the
archives of the Deutsche Orient Gesellschaft.
6

For an essay about modeling and virtual reality, see Lock 2003: 152-163.
7

Sometimes the current situation of some countries under conflict allows the archaeologists to seek different ways of preserving the
archaeological sites of those countries. They look at the use of new technologies and virtual reality as a fundamental instrument for both
preservation of that patrimony that is currently at risk and a more widespread knowledge about them. Unfortunately, the cultural heritage
of Iraq started to represent a privileged subject for the use of new technologies in preservation only after the beginning of the current
conflict which broken out in 2003. Actually, the conflict in Iraq has obviously caught the attention of the international community
concerning the preservation of Iraqi cultural heritage and archeological sites heavily damaged by both military forces actions and illegal
looters. The effort of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) to create a digital atlas of Iraq (Lancaster 2005: 4-5) and the project of
a Virtual Site Museum of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Nimrud (Kim, Kesavadas and Paley, 2003, 2006) are only two examples of a
declaimed connection between new technologies and preservation of cultural heritage. But it is not always possible to accept this strict
relationship between preservation and new technologies application for places in war. On one hand, concerning the case of a virtual
reconstruction of an archaeological site, there is the risk to reduce the site itself, and the amount of the data coming from it, in to mere
appearance. The image could become more important then the historical and archaeological reality and the preservation of a site
could mean only preservation of its image. On the other hand, it is disappointing to recognize that conflicts worldwide constitute one of
the main contributions to the realization of projects that aim at the defense of cultural patrimony. Indeed, since these kind of projects
require a great deal of funding and financial support, the war seems to be, also in the cultural field, a system able to produce the money
that peace is not able to find. For general information about archaeology and armed conflicts, see the website of the UNESCO
http://whc.unesco.org/. Recently, Archaeology in Conflict Conference. Cultural Heritage, Site Management and Sustainable
th

Development in Conflict and Post-Conflict States in the Middle East. Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Friday 10 th

Sunday 12 November 2006, http://www.ucl.ac.uk/caa/index.htm.

8

Even though it doesn't deal with Near Eastern archaeology, Vranich (2002) is very significant study. From a theoretic point of view, it
tackles the issue of 3D Models exploitation in order to gain the best analysis of the relationship between function, use and monumental
architecture.
9

For example, see the 3D reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, http://www.digital-archaeology.com/, or the Discover Babylon
project, a collaboration between the Walters Art Gallery, the Federation of American Scientists, and the Cuneiform Digital Library, which
is working to develop an immersive gaming experience that allows players to explore an ancient civilization,
http://www.discoverbabylon.org/.
10

See http://www.learningsites.com/NWPalace/NWPalhome.html.
11

The relationship between perspective view and movement dates back to the Renaissance. Actually, from a theoretical point of view it
is very significant that Renaissance art for the first time, deserting the frontal view and acquiring a multiple perspective, expressed the
sense of movement of both human eye and man himself inside the architectural box-space enclosing him.
12

The archaeological and architectural data used as base documentation of these reconstructions are published in the bibliography
webpage of http://www.learningsites.com/Frame_layout01.htm. For a general analysis of the towers and their 3D reconstruction, see
Micale 2005: 124-125.
13

For the question of the relationship between the two- and three-dimension aspect of a wall, see ibid.: 125-127.

15

14

No crenellations have been found in situ.

15

It is strange, actually, that in Snyder 1999 there is supposed to be only a stair to the roof.
16

The great halls were probably in some cases entirely open to the air, like the court-yards of the modern houses of Mosul, whose
walls are still adorned with sculptured alabaster; and further, about the Persian Iwan, Sometimes these side chambers open into a
centre court [...] then a projecting roof of woodwork protects the carved and painted walls from injury by the water, Layard 1853: 648649.
17

The reconstruction of the Throne Room by J. Fergusson and H. Layard has been interpreted as proof of the use of Victorian style in
reconstructing ancient architecture. Many of Fergusson's reconstruction drawings seem to be inspired by contemporary architecture.
This assumption has been fostered also by the involvement of Layard and Fergusson in the construction of the so called Assyrian Court
of the Crystal Palace in 1854, which was one of the most typical Victorian buildings of that time. Since the reconstruction of a throne
room had been published first in 1849, it is not possible to assume that it directly depended on the Assyrian Court. It is certainly possible
that, as they conceived the throne room, they were affected in some way by the contemporary architecture. And this appears to be true
because, even though he was one of the pioneers of the European archaeology in Near East, Layard himself admitted that he had no
idea of the external appearance of the Assyrian buildings he had brought to light (Bohrer 2003: 207). Thus, it is possible that the
reconstruction of the throne room is an image mixed of mental suggestions coming from very different kind of architectures. Actually, in
spite of the Victorian layout of Fergusson's drawings of Nimrud, the buildings he represented clearly had been conceived as a good
blend among already known architectural features. Thus, according to a common way of looking at Mesopotamia at that time, that is a
crossway Land (Micale 2005: 144-145), Fergusson decided to insert foreign elements in the Assyrian architecture (in particular
ancient Persian elements coming from Persepolis, Pedde 2001: 1214) in order to give an image as complete as possible of it: I think
that by putting the two [Persepolis and Nineveh] together a good case can be made out, Fergusson said (Bohrer 2003: 210). The
throne room of Nimrud was as Victorian as the Assyrian Court of the Crystal Palace wasnt either. Indeed, the Assyrian Court clearly
was a blend as well. In any case, it seems that the connection between Victorian and Assyrian architecture fostered the interest in
ancient Assyrian culture by means of architecture, and thus created a third style recalled also by some later buildings such as, for
instance, the Central Rail Station of Milan (it has been defined Assyro-Babylonian in Bossaglia-Terraroli 1998: 112).
18

There exists a very peculiar and not very widespread king of findings from Ashur (Andrae 1913: 43, Pl. LVIII) and from Khorsabad
(only one exemplar, Loud and Altman 1938: Pl. 65, f) which seems to suggest that the Assyrian city-gates were arch-shaped. They are
some baked bricks stamped with a very schematic layout of an architectural faade whose main elements are two towers flanking an
arch-gate. Since the bricks from Ashur were found by the fortification walls and a city-gate, it seems to be possible to assume that in
reality they represent the draft of a city-gate and the arch was, together with the towers, one of its distinctive elements.
19

It is not necessary to quote here the dozens of data and circumstances of the present-day-life case studies where the need to live
new experiences fosters the use and the creation of Virtual Realities, both modern and ancient. And of course, despite its scientific
aims already here discussed, there is no doubt that reconstructing ancient architectural and human contexts reveals a generalized
modern attitude at creating synthetic places that exist only in cyberspace. The other worlds are Virtual Realities which, on one hand,
continuously claim their independence from the real world by creating, on the other, doubles of that reality they never will get. In order
to give just a couple of significant examples, I would like to focus on the creation of a travel agency for tours in Virtual Worlds, the
Synthtravels (see http://www.synthravels.com/) and the so-called Convention for the Protection of Virtual Architectural Heritagewhich
aims at the preservation of the virtual architecture because of the potential constantly evolution of virtual architecture itself in Video
Games (such as the architectural world heritage is protected in real world), see http://mariogerosa.blogspot.com/2006/07/convention-isback.html.
20

The issue of the double in Borges' literature is tackled in Grau 1998. Bohrer, F.N. 2003. Orientalism and Visual Culture. London,

Cambridge University Press.

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