Rome's monuments may be crowded with tourists, crippled by time and damaged by pollution, but the glory days of this ancient imperial city are alive and well -- inside a computer.
Experts from around the world on Monday unveiled what they called the largest and most complete simulation of a historic city, which digitally recreates Rome as it appeared at the peak of its power.
When in virtual Rome, visitors will be able to do even more than ancient Romans did: They can crawl through the bowels of the Colosseum, filled with lion cages and primitive elevators, and fly up for a detailed look at bas-reliefs and inscriptions placed atop triumphal arches.
The simulation shows Rome in AD 320, at the time of the emperor Constantine, and reconstructs some 7,000 buildings of a vibrant and cosmopolitan city of about 1 million people, said Bernard Frischer of the University of Virginia, who led the project.
Thanks to laser scans of Rome today and advice from archeologists, experts have rebuilt almost the entire city within its 21km long wall using the same computer programs architects use to plan new constructions, said Frischer, who heads Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities.
The simulation reconstructs the interior of about 30 buildings -- including the Senate, the Colosseum and the basilica built by the emperor Maxentius -- complete with frescoes and decorations.
Advice from a panel of archeologists allowed experts to show statues and monuments as they would appear without the dark smudges left by pollution. They were also able to recreate with a "high probability" of accuracy buildings that are now almost completely in ruins, Frischer said.
The US$2 million "Rome Reborn" simulation was created over 10 years by an international team of archeologists, architects and computer specialists from the University of Virginia and the Los Angeles branch of the University of California, as well research institutes in Italy, Germany and Britain, he said.
The simulation will be useful for scientists to run experiments, for example to determine the crowd capacity of the ancient buildings.
"This is the first step in the creation of a virtual time machine, which our children and grandchildren will use to study the history of Rome and many other great cities around the world," Frischer said.
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