Many travellers are familiar with the UNESCO's World Heritage List. However, less is known about the organization's List of World Heritage in Danger. It currently specifies 53 World Heritage sites under threat of "serious and specific dangers"due to factors such as climate change, armed conflict, and development pressures. The accelerated degeneration of these cultural treasures is a reality that should concern the world, since the younger generation may not have the opportunity to visit them.
For this reason, insurance company Budget Direct, and NeoMam Studios, a creative studio based in the UK, have created a series of GIFs to restore World Heritage sites and demonstrate (表明) what these ruins would have looked like if they had been preserved (保护).
Drawing attention to sites at risk, the project aims to give everyone the opportunity to visit these sites virtually. It started with in-depth research around the sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Based on the results, the team made a selection according to two main criteria: First, they were man-made places. Second, they still had standing elements(元素). Focusing on the selected sites, the team worked with architects Jelena Popovic and Keremcan Kirilmaz and industrial(工业的) designer Erdem Batirbek to research and illustrate six of these legendary (传奇的) locations.
In this series of GIFs, six sites are digitally restored to their former glory. They include Hatra in Iraq, Leptis Magna in Libya, Palmyra in Syria, Portobelo-San Lorenzo in Panama, Nan Madol in the Federated States of Micronesia as well as the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls.
Time does not stand still, and neither does technology. Thanks to these photorealistic images and electronic devices, we can travel, without leaving home, to those places that, whatever their future may be, will always be part of the collective memory.
