| A 3D computer reconstruction of the Kremlin was presented in Moscow For the 200th anniversary of the Kremlin museums, the German construction company Knauf gave them a gift: a three-dimensional computer film - a journey through the ancient Kremlin. Epoch after era, from the 12th century to the 20th, we will observe how the ancient city ensemble was transformed, how wooden buildings were replaced by white stone ones, and those, in turn, by red brick ones. Bird's eye panoramas are interspersed with perspectives of the Kremlin streets and squares. In the rhythm of leisurely walks we will go around ancient cathedrals, chambers, belfries and palaces. And if we’re lucky, we’ll finally understand (as is usual in Russia, with German help) who we really are. Speaking at the presentation of the film in the Patriarchal Palace of the Kremlin, Counselor of the German Embassy Wolfgang Brett considers the upcoming film “a contribution to the national identity of Russia.”
In fact, the words are slightly frightening with their obsessive claim to truth. The project being prepared by the Darmstadt University of Technology, by the very fact of its appearance, marks an important stage in our communication with history and recognizing ourselves in it. Of course, it is necessary, following the lead developer of the project, Professor Manfred Koob, and the consultant, Professor Andrei Batalov, to agree with the great scientific significance of virtual reconstruction. All scientific funds and archives of the Kremlin Museums have been mobilized, from the lapidarium (a kind of “library of stones”, a repository of excavated fragments of disappeared Kremlin buildings) to the photo library. An information base unique in terms of memory capacity is created. More than three thousand documents, both verbal and visual, were sent to Darmstadt University of Technology. They are compiled into specific electronic images. Ultimately, architectural history unfolds before your eyes, represented by more than five hundred monuments from different centuries. This is an indispensable resource for studying a short course on Russian architecture in its elite “Kremlin version”. The images of long-vanished buildings that no one has seen, softly floating before our eyes, will, of course, stimulate discussions about the degree of their accuracy, and therefore encourage new research, reconstructions, and even more comprehensive knowledge.
That's it. Only in some elusive way does the new film legitimize new priorities in the perception of the plasticity of time and space. The eye more readily perceives not the genuine objective world, which makes fantasy and imagination work, but the textures and textures of the matrix, sterilized by pixels, wiped to the point of indistinguishability. Image files add a lot of knowledge, but take away a sense of belonging, animation, and authenticity. We are identifying with this new reality now with all our might. Just take a look at the changed appearance of the Russian capital in recent years! Sergei KHACHATUROV |
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