This project have been carried out by the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC) at the University of Leuven and the University College St. Lieven according to objectives of the project under the framework of the ‘Capacity building of human resources for digital documentation of World Heritage Sites affected by 2006 war in Lebanon”, which is a donation of the United Nations to Lebanon and administered by the UNESCO-Beirut for Lebanon’s Directorate General of Antiquities (DGA).
The main objective is to build capacities of Human Resources in charge, or potentially linked with, the conservation, the development and the enhancement of tangible cultural heritage in Lebanon. The target group will be the DGA staff and local experts while the main subject of the action is to prepare a ‘Risk Preparedness Strategy’ (RPS) of Baalbek World Heritage Site, based on accurate high definition 3D digital data recorded using a laser scanner.
It Involved the following activities:
- Prepare guidelines and procedures; as well as, to follow up and verify the recording of the property using a 3D laser scanning (3DLS);
- Preparation by DGA staff of a ‘Site Atlas’ of Baalbek from the 3D laser scanning (3DLS) data for Risk Preparedness;
- Assess previous investigation carried out in Baalbek, eventually identify gaps and additional issues that will provide appropriate information to prepare a RPS for this property;
- Identify methods for transferring previous ‘condition assessment’ investigations into the data collected using the 3D laser scanner;
- Provide training on RPS to DGA staff and local experts;
- The preparation and submission of the report on the activities carried out and Risk Preparedness Strategy proposed for Baalbek;
- Prepare a publication for the general public about the project results.
Team members
DGA Experts
Assaad Seif
He studied archaeology at the Lebanese University and received in February 2010 his PhD from Paris1 Pantheon-Sorbonne on “The Spatial Dynamics and the Pottery of the Syro-Palestinian Corridor from the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age : The Case of the ʿAkkār”. He taught GIS applications in archaeology for the Landscape Archaeology MA students at Paris1 in 1999. He is a Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of CMAS (A publication dealing with the Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites; Maney Publishing, UK). He worked on numerous excavations and is scientific director of more than 20 urban excavations mainly in the Beirut region. He is currently the Coordinator of Archaeological Research and Excavations at the Lebanese Directorate General of Antiquities. He coordinated many scientific research projects with the CNRSL namely covering the domains of geo-archaeology and Archaeo-seismology in North Lebanon. He initiated the current project in collaboration with the UNESCO office in Beirut, and was responsible for the overall coordination on behalf of the DGA.
Ghassan Ghattas:
He completed technical studies in surveying and civil engineering. He worked for 10 years as a support specialist for the Leica Geosystems’ local representative in Lebanon, a period during which he received extensive training on the use of total stations, GPS and surveying and photogrammetry software. He worked on several projects, one of which is the preparation of a complete IKONOS satellite imagery for Lebanon and the establishment of a geodetic network for the city of Khartoum using GPS. He is currently working at the DGA as a GIS and surveying specialist. His involvement in this project included, amongst other things, the contribution in the development of the surveying methodology and the design of a GIS database for the surface degradations. He is currently following post-graduate studies in GIS at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.
Senior experts
Teresa Patricio
She completed studies on architecture in Portugal, obtained a Master of Science in Architecture, Specialization Conservation of Historic Towns and Buildings, by the R. Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (University of Leuven) in 1993, and she obtained a PhD on “Conservation of Archaeological remains. Drawing of an applied methodology », at the Lemaire Centre (University of Leuven) in 2004. She is currently Invited Professor at the Lemaire Centre and at the University of Évora (Portugal).
She ones a private office in Brussels, she has been providing public and private clients with Cultural Heritage Expertise. Her office covers a wide range of projects and activities including conservation of monuments and heritage sites in various countries. She collaborates with major foreign and domestic institutions including UNESCO, ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments & Sites) and European Institutions.
Mario Santana Quintero, Field Coordinator
He completed undergraduate studies in architecture and obtained a PhD on ‘The use of three-dimensional documentation and dissemination techniques in studying built heritage’ at the R. Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (University of Leuven) in 2003. He is currently Assistant Professor at the Lemaire Centre and post-doctoral researcher for the MACE EU Project, University of Leuven. A Professor at the University College St Lieven and lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, he serves as Vice President of the ICOMOS Scientific Committee on Heritage Documentation (CIPA) and Executive Officer of the Virtual Systems and Multimedia Society (VSMM Society).
Pierre Smars, Structural Integrity expert
He is assistant professor at the department and graduate school of cultural heritage conservation at the national yunlin university of science & technology. He has a degree in architectural engineering from the Catholic University of Louvain, UCL (1989) and completed a master degree in conservation of monuments (1992) and a Ph.D. in engineering (2000), both at the Catholic University of Louvain KUL.
He had been working at the R. Lemaire Centre for Conservation at the KUL from 1993 to 2001. From 2001 to 2003, he was research associate at the University of Bath. From 2003 to 2005, he worked on projects in Afghanistan and in Pakistan (in collaboration with the University of Aachen) and at the World Heritage Centre in Paris. Since 2005, he is working at the National Yunlin University of Science & technology.
Koen Van Balen, Project Coordinator
Prof. Dr. Ir.Arch. Koen Van Balen: he has a degree in engineer-architecture (1979), in architectural conservation (1984) and a Ph.D. in engineering (1991). He focuses his activities on the preservation of historical structures and on the understanding of the behavior of ancient materials and building technologies. He is professor in building materials and their preservation. His research concerns technical aspects in conservation embedded in conservation methodologies for the architectural heritage. He is strongly connected to heritage organizations in Flanders (a.o. Monumentenwacht Vlaanderen) and with international NGO’s in the field.
Bjorn Van Genechten
He is an architectural engineer, active in research on photogrammetry and laser scanning. He has been active in different international laser scanner projects as the scanning of the Ramsess II statue in Cairo and a UNESCO project called "Capacity building of human resources for digital documentation of World Heritage Sites affected by 2006 war in Lebanon" among others. From 2007 till 2008, he was involved in a Leonardo project called "3DRISKMAPPING", of which the outcome is at this time considered a state-of-the-art book on laser scanning and its applications. In June 2009, he successfully presented his Ph.D. "Creating Built Hertiage Orthophotographs from Laser Scans" at the K.U.Leuven and since October 2009 he is a full time professor at the University College KaHo St.-Lieven in Ghent.
Junior experts
Liesbeth Lacroix
She is an architectural engineer, graduated at the University of Leuven. Currently, on the second of the Advanced Master in Conservation of Monuments and Sites at the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC), in which she is preparing a thesis on The use of Terrestrial laser scanning for condition mapping of historical sites. She also conducted an Internship at the Metric Survey Team of English Heritage in 2009.
Tom Coenegrachts
He is an archaeologist graduated at the University of Leuven. Currently, on the second of the Advanced Master in Conservation of Monuments and Sites at the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC). He has worked at many ruined castles, not only doing excavation work, but also equally obtaining information from the standing structures by carefully documenting it using mostly hand drawings, total station and photographs. During his first year of the Master of Conservation of Monuments and Sites his knowledge was further developed on condition assessment and preventive conservation.
