Manifesto: Digital “Silk Road” in 3D images
Museums never have complete collections of works of individual artists or exhibits representing a chosen style or period in art. Therefore, exhibitions that are prepared for viewers are built on the basis of the Latin maxim “pars pro toto”, or “part for the whole”. Watching only a part of the collection or selected works, the viewer should get a convincing picture of the whole and have a feeling that he saw what is most important and that it was a synthesis of the collections.
The 3D Digital Silk Road portal cannot show you original archaeological or museum artefacts from areas where, over thousands of kilometers and hundreds of years, merchant caravans passed along the Silk Road. It was built on the basis of a paraphrase of the maxim “pars pro toto”, which adapted to the requirements of the modern digital world can be formulated as follows: ”artefactum tresdimensivum pro authenticum”, or “a 3D replica for the original”.
It seems that the possibility of visiting most countries and places associated with the Silk Road, even with currently available technical means, is not feasible due to the existing state borders, political differences, terrorist threats and wars. We are aware that digital 3D models are only a substitute for original objects, but seeing them in the virtual world can encourage people to visit selected places in person.