Prague’s National Museum sends mobile 3D digitization lab to Ukraine to protect cultural heritage
Prague’s National Museum is sending a mobile digitization lab to Ukraine to help preserve cultural heritage threatened by the war. The specially equipped van will create detailed 3D records of museum objects and monuments directly in the field.
The National Museum in Prague has long helped protect cultural heritage in crisis regions, including efforts to preserve monuments in Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan. Now it is expanding that work to Ukraine.
The museum is sending a mobile digitization station known as Archa III, a specially equipped van designed to create highly detailed 3D records of endangered monuments and museum objects directly in the field.
The National Museum’s director, Michal Lukeš, says the technology was developed by the museum’s own experts.
“It was developed by our digitalization experts, which means it was uniquely assembled, and we believe that no such workplace exists anywhere else in the world.”
Inside the vehicle is a specialized scanning system resembling a compact photo studio. Martin Souček from the National Museum’s digitalization department explains.
“It looks a bit like something extra-terrestrial, a kind of strange device that moves along three axes. A museum object is placed in front of it, and it is surrounded by lights and cameras.”
The system can take up to a thousand photographs in about a minute. Software then combines the images into a highly detailed 3D model within five to ten minutes. The data are stored in a secure cloud system, where specialists can study and compare the digital records.
Souček says such documentation could be crucial if cultural sites are damaged during the war.
“If, for example, an object, a building or an interior were damaged during war operations, or by Russian aggression targeting cultural heritage, we would have an exact record of what it originally looked like and could reconstruct it accurately. In the same way, we can document museum objects that might, heaven forbid, cease to exist.”
The mobile lab can operate independently thanks to its own diesel generator, and its work across Ukraine will be coordinated by the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastic complex.
The project is supported by the Karel Komárek Family Foundation. Its director, Luboš Veselý, says the initiative responds to the widespread damage already inflicted on Ukrainian cultural sites.
“UNESCO says that around 550 cultural sites have already been damaged. Among them are museums, galleries, theatres, libraries but also churches.”
Veselý says the project is also shaped by Czechia’s own historical experience.
“We have experienced it ourselves in one form or another. Now we see beyond our borders the systematic destruction of Ukrainian national identity by Russia. Our shared historical experience should bring us together.”
Two similar Czech mobile digitization systems are already operating in Ukraine. The new Archa III station will expand those efforts by creating detailed digital records of cultural heritage across the country.
