The Role of Virtual Re-creating in the Protection of Historical Monuments in the Case Study of Mosaic-Iwan in the City of Bishapur

Any historical monument may have lost some fragments due to various factors. The extent of defects, whether in quantity or quality, directly relates to the loss of identity and integrity of the building, and reduces the accuracy of its physical or virtual reconstruction. On the other hand, a lack of understanding of the complete form of a building affects the degree of justification for its conservation. The Mosaic Iwan in Bishapur, which has suffered the named damages, is selected as a case study. The floor mosaic decorations of the iwan were sent to the National Museum of Iran and the Louvre Museum in Paris during excavations and nothing remains of the vault above the room. The lack of understanding of the original form of the building has derailed the protective measures, i.e., supporting walls are constructed regardless of the original form of the building and the location of mosaic floorings. The interpretive-historical strategy based on documentary and visual evidence was selected along with the simulation strategy for the research method. In this research, the current state of the building is compared with existing images of mosaic designs first, the damage caused by the lack of proper understanding of the original form of the building is identified, and then, the possibility and the role of virtual reconstruction in the preservation of the monument and its values are expressed. For this, the damaged architectural elements and decorations were reconstructed virtually. According to the principles of preserving the authenticity of works in a historical site, and that physical reconstruction can lead to the production of imitative and fake pieces, the production of virtual heritage is one of the ways to provide a visualization of the initial form of the building with minimal physical interference. Visualization of the imaginable initial form of a monument guides the main preservation plans. In other words, the outcome of this study is that the virtual reconstruction of the Mosaic Iwan can protect it from damage caused by the lack of understanding of its original form.