Latest news with #digitalreplica
France 24
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
The Bright Side: Microsoft partners with French government to create Notre-Dame's digital replica
Microsoft is teaming up with the French government to create a digital replica of Paris ' Notre-Dame Cathedral, France 's most visited monument, the US tech company's president, Brad Smith, said on Monday. The 862-year-old Gothic masterpiece was reopened last December after a five-year restoration following a devastating fire in 2019. A digital replica will serve as a record of the building's architectural details, Microsoft said. It will also provide a virtual experience for visitors and those unable to visit. The cathedral became a symbol of Paris and France after Victor Hugo used it as a setting for his 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". Quasimodo, the main character, has been portrayed in Hollywood movies, an animated Disney adaptation and in musicals. Last year, Microsoft worked with Iconem, a French company that specialises in digitalisation of heritage sites, on a digital replica of St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. "One of the things we learned from the work at St Peter's is how a digital twin can help support the ongoing maintenance of a building. Because you capture a digital record of every centimetre and what is there and what it's supposed to look like," Smith told Reuters. "The ability to create a digital twin right now I think will provide an enormously valuable digital record that I believe people are going to be using 100 years from now," he said. Since 2019, Microsoft has digitally preserved heritage sites and events including Ancient Olympia in Greece, Mont Saint-Michel in France and the 80th Anniversary of the Allied Beach Landings in Normandy.
CNA
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
Microsoft to help France showcase Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral in digital replica
Microsoft is teaming up with the French government to create a digital replica of Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral, France's most visited monument, the U.S. tech company's president, Brad Smith, said on Monday. The 862-year-old Gothic masterpiece was reopened last December after a five-year restoration following a devastating fire in 2019. A digital replica will serve as a record of the building's architectural details, Microsoft said. It will also provide a virtual experience for visitors and those unable to visit. The cathedral became a symbol of Paris and France after Victor Hugo used it as a setting for his 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". Quasimodo, the main character, has been portrayed in Hollywood movies, an animated Disney adaptation and in musicals. Last year, Microsoft worked with Iconem, a French company that specialises in digitalisation of heritage sites, on a digital replica of St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. "One of the things we learned from the work at St Peter's is how a digital twin can help support the ongoing maintenance of a building. Because you capture a digital record of every centimetre and what is there and what it's supposed to look like," Smith told Reuters. "The ability to create a digital twin right now I think will provide an enormously valuable digital record that I believe people are going to be using 100 years from now," he said. Since 2019, Microsoft has digitally preserved heritage sites and events including Ancient Olympia in Greece, Mont Saint-Michel in France and the 80th Anniversary of the Allied Beach Landings in Normandy.
Reuters
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Microsoft to help France showcase Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral in digital replica
July 21 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab is teaming up with the French government to create a digital replica of Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral, France's most visited monument, the U.S. tech company's president, Brad Smith, said on Monday. The 862-year-old Gothic masterpiece was reopened last December after a five-year restoration following a devastating fire in 2019. A digital replica will serve as a record of the building's architectural details, Microsoft said. It will also provide a virtual experience for visitors and those unable to visit. The cathedral became a symbol of Paris and France after Victor Hugo used it as a setting for his 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". Quasimodo, the main character, has been portrayed in Hollywood movies, an animated Disney adaptation and in musicals. Last year, Microsoft worked with Iconem, a French company that specialises in digitalisation of heritage sites, on a digital replica of St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. "One of the things we learned from the work at St Peter's is how a digital twin can help support the ongoing maintenance of a building. Because you capture a digital record of every centimetre and what is there and what it's supposed to look like," Smith told Reuters. "The ability to create a digital twin right now I think will provide an enormously valuable digital record that I believe people are going to be using 100 years from now," he said. Since 2019, Microsoft has digitally preserved heritage sites and events including Ancient Olympia in Greece, Mont Saint-Michel in France and the 80th Anniversary of the Allied Beach Landings in Normandy.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Digital replica of Auschwitz created due to growing interest from filmmakers
Due to conservation protection, shooting films at the Auschwitz site is not possible. In order to meet the needs of filmmakers, the Auschwitz Museum has made a digital replica, which was created "out of the growing interest of directors in the history of the German camp," explains Bartosz Bartyzel, a spokesman for the museum, in an interview with Euronews Culture. Euronews Culture: Where did the idea to create a digital replica of Auschwitz come from? Bartosz Bartyzel: The Auschwitz Museum has been working with filmmakers for many years - both documentary filmmakers and feature film directors. However, due to the conservation protection of the authentic Memorial Site, it is not possible to shoot feature films at the site. The idea to create a digital replica was born out of the need to respond to the growing interest in the history of the Auschwitz German camp in cinema and the daily experience of dealing with the film industry. This tool offers an opportunity to develop this cooperation in a new, responsible and ethical formula. Why is a replica necessary? B.B.: The regulations in force at the Memorial preclude the possibility of shooting feature films on the authentic and protected site of the former camp. However, filmmakers - especially those who want to reach for more narrative forms - need a space that allows them to tell the story faithfully. With a digital replica, they can do this without compromising the integrity of the historic site. Were filmmakers consulted with before the implementation? B.B.: In fact, it was the day-to-day collaboration with filmmakers and the production needs and challenges they reported that inspired the project. The idea was not detached from reality - on the contrary, it was born out of specific conversations, experiences and questions that had been coming from the creative community for years. Who was involved in the creative process? How long did it last? B.B.: The Picture from Auschwitz project is a joint initiative of the Auschwitz Museum, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and a team of technology specialists led by Maciej Żemojcin. The very concept crystallised over several months in the course of joint work and discussions. The technical team used the most advanced spatial scanning technologies to create a digital replica of the Auschwitz I camp. At the moment, the Foundation is making efforts to raise the funds needed to continue the project - to create a digital replica of the grounds of Auschwitz II-Birkenau, as well as the interiors of some of the buildings. What reactions did you receive after the announcement of the creation of the replica? B.B.: The reactions were definitely positive - both from the film community, which sees this as a viable and professional working tool, and from the general public, for whom this is an opportunity to learn about history in a deeper and more authentic way through the medium of film. The project has also been recognised in international debate, including at the Marché du Film in Cannes. Are there already willing filmmakers who will benefit from the replica? B.B.: We have already started discussions with the first filmmakers who have expressed an interest in collaborating using the digital replica. The details of these projects remain at the agreement stage for the time being, but we hope to be able to provide more information on the first productions soon. How has this project been funded and what will it take to sustain it? B.B.: The creation of the replica is financed by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation from earmarked donations made by private donors. The Foundation is seeking funds to continue the project. Its assumption is that ultimately the maintenance and development of the programme will be financed through licence fees paid by film producers who will use the materials within the Virtual Film Location. This way, the project will become a self-financing tool, simultaneously supporting the educational and commemorative mission of the Memorials. What difficulties have arisen in implementing the project? B.B.: Such large and innovative projects always face difficulties. One of the biggest was, of course, obtaining adequate funding to start and develop the project. A key challenge was also the need to reconcile high-tech solutions with the very special status of the space we were mapping. Although we are working in a digital environment, we must not forget that every step we take concerns an authentic Memorial, which is subject to unique protection. This must be a priority thought in every action.
The Guardian
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
New ‘historically accurate' digital replica will allow films to be set within Auschwitz
The Auschwitz Memorial has launched a 'historically accurate' digital replica of the former concentration camp for filmmakers to set their pictures in, breaking a long-held taboo around shooting features at the grounds where an estimated 1.1 million people were murdered by the Nazi regime. At the Cannes film festival on Thursday, he organisers of the Picture from Auschwitz project said they have harnessed 'cutting-edge 3D scanning technologies' to build a digital model of the concentration camp that matches the site in its current state 'down to every single brick'. A second phase of the €1.5m project will involve 3D scanning the adjacent Birkenau site, which is roughly 30 times larger than Auschwitz, as well as building historically accurate digital replicas of the crematoriums and gas chambers that were destroyed by the Nazis in late 1944. 'We are responding to a growing need,' said Wojciech Soczewica, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. 'More and more people are coming to visit Auschwitz because they are interested in history, and it's our responsibility to provide the film industry with resources that are credible.' Soczewica said the licensing model for Picture from Auschwitz had not yet been finalised, but that any fees would go directly to the memorial and thus support its mission to commemorate the victims. Currently, the memorial only allows documentaries to be made on its site, a ban that has been in place since the late 1980s. In 1963, the makers of acclaimed Polish film Passenger were still given permission to film at Auschwitz. In the early 90s Steven Spielberg was denied permission to film Schindler's List inside the concentration camp, setting one scene outside the infamous Auschwitz gatehouse and building replicas of the barracks just outside the camp. Italian director Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful, which is partially set in a concentration camp, was filmed in an abandoned factory near Papigno, Umbria, while Hungarian director László Nemes's Oscar-winning Auschwitz drama Son of Saul was shot on the outskirts of Budapest. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial said the feature-film ban was due to the need to preserve the site and prevent closures, rather than moral concerns. But some film-makers and artists have argued that setting films inside Auschwitz is outright unethical. Austrian director Michael Haneke condemned Schindler's List as 'unspeakable' for drawing suspense out of the question of whether gas or water would flow out of the shower heads at the camp. Oscar-winning 2023 film The Zone of Interest was filmed on grounds next to the camp, but British film-maker Jonathan Glazer made an artistic and ethical point about never allowing his cameras to swoop over its walls. Asked about what kind of films could use the Picture from Auschwitz resource, the memorial's spokesperson Pawel Sawicki said: 'When assessing proposals for film projects, we put historical accuracy above everything else: whether this is what happened at Auschwitz, or what could have happened at Auschwitz, given the knowledge coming from the testimonies, historical documents we have, and years of historical research.' As to whether this could in principle allow horror films, action movies or video games to be set inside Auschwitz as long as they were historically accurate, Sawicki said the rules around genre had not been finalised. 'The lines have not been drawn yet, as this is something very new for us, but there will certainly be boundaries. The camp should not be used as a stage in any way. If the proposal is to make a film that distorts history, dishonours the memory of victims, or serves purely as entertainment, that's a red flag for us.' One of the people who has advised the project is Ryszard Horowitz, 86, a photographer who was interned at Auschwitz as a five-year-old in 1944, and survived after his family were taken under the wing of Oskar Schindler. 'I'm for keeping this story alive, and I like the idea of authenticity,' he said. Polish film-maker Agnieszka Holland, who is acting as Picture from Auschwitz's director, said she believes opening up the site for film-makers of the future was necessary to allow a new generation to confront the darkest moment in European history. 'For a long time, the horror of the second world war and the Holocaust was a warning lesson that brought about important changes, such as the construction of a European identity,' Holland said. 'But the vaccinating effect of the Holocaust has evaporated, and now we are in a similarly dangerous situation to where we were 90 years ago.'
