Database Provides Monumental Information

Monuments around the world that have been damaged by war, neglect and pollution are the focus of restoration and preservation efforts through a database developed at the University of Florida.

photo by: Johan Mattson

``These sites had to be of international historic and cultural significance and also had to be under some danger, such as the walled city of Dubrovinik, which is right in the middle of the fighting in Croatia,'' said architecture Professor William Tilson. ``The World Monument Fund selected the top 100 most endangered sites, and we assisted them in developing a visual database that funding agencies around the world can access and use for information on restoration.''

Countries sent photographs, maps and information on monuments they wanted protected, and UF geoplanning graduate students spent three weeks scanning and digitizing the information into a database.

The information is now on an in-house database for the World Monument Fund, and will be used for raising funds for restoration. Plans are for the information to eventually be available to everyone via the World Wide Web.

photo by: Elizabeth D. Calvit

``You can use this database to see the surrounding geography, the damage to the monument, and what organization is in charge of the monument,'' said Frank Chang, a geoplanning doctoral student who helped program the database. ``You can click on different parts of the monument and get artwork, maps and other information. In the future we would like to get some animation or live-action camera tours.''

These monuments have been damaged in different ways. Some have been in the middle of war sites, such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Others have been victims of neglect and decay, like the Taj Mahal in India, Pompeii in Italy, or the adobe missions in New Mexico.

The World Monument Fund is a private foundation that attracts funding through governments and international philanthropic groups, then gives money to the endangered sites to use for restoration. UF was selected to install the database because of the combination of resources and expertise available.

Scott Adams