Based out of Madrid, Factum Foundation is using 3D scanning and printing to perfectly recreate the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I.

The tomb of Pharaoh Seti I is considered by many to have been the most beautifully decorated in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Though still magnificent in its grandeur, it’s somewhat less of a spectacle now than it once was, due in large part to trophy hunters.

Looking to change that is Adam Lowe and his team at Factum Foundation. Last year they began a five-year project to 3D print a perfect copy of Seti’s tomb.

Two facsimile chambers are already on display at the Antikenmuseum Basel in Switzerland. The name of the exhibition is “Scanning Seti: The Regeneration of a Pharaonic Tomb“.

Visitors to the museum can see the Hall of Beauties and the Pillared Room. True to the originals, they include all of the wearing effects caused by time and humans. And that’s what makes the third chamber so special: A second version of the Hall of Beauties, but made to look as it did when it was discovered in 1871.

Future Technologies Unveiling the Past

Along with the facsimiles, the exhibition includes several fragments taken from the true chambers. And by all accounts, it’s hard to tell the replicas from the originals.

By his own admission, Lowe is obsessed with Seti’s tomb. Indeed, it was originally his intention to begin scanning it in 2001. Unfortunately, he was taken away from his dream project in order to create a facsimile of Tutankahmen’s tomb.

That replica has operated as a tourist attraction in the Valley of the Kings since 2014.

Nowadays, King Tut tends to overshadow Seti, mostly because of the condition of his tomb. Discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, it and its 5000 artifacts were completely intact.

In contrast, when Giovanni Belzoni’s discovered Seti’s tomb in 1817, it had already been heavily looted in ancient times.

Lowe, and others like him, believe facsimiles will only become more important in the future. When asked about the technology, Susanne Bickel, an Egyptologist at the University of Basel, put it simply: “This is resurrection!”

Source: CNN Style