IIT Hyderabad Plans Digital Heritage Preservation Project

The Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad is planning to launch Digital Heritage Preservation Project. The institute has received funding from HRD Ministry. Digital preservation of Golconda will be the first initiative taken under this project. Director of IITH Prof. UB Desai said that a design innovation centre would be set up under this project. The Design Department of the institute will take charge of initiating the project. Faculty members from various departments will also take part in it. A sum of Rs. 10 crore has been granted for the heritage preservation project.

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Mr. Desai also said that currently, the institute is arranging required infrastructure like laser scanners, cameras and software. The primary objective of the project is to preserve some of the heritage sites on a pilot basis and demonstrate that it is possible to preserve the heritage sites digitally.

He was of the opinion that there is a need to protect the heritage sites. These sites often get damaged due to natural calamities and excessive heat. Hence, digitisation ensures that these sites are protected ‘forever’. He cited the example of Stanford University where digitisation has been done on the ‘Statue of David’. The same initiative has been taken for ‘Rani ki Vav’ in Gujarat by a foreign team.

He concluded that the whole idea is to create an ‘’experiential feeling’’ so that anyone could take a tour of the site which is digitally preserved by accessing the internet.