Rome - One of the oldest neighbourhoods of Rome, destroyed in the late 19th century as part of a modern city planning initiative by the newly established Kingdom of Italy, has been reconstructed using 3D technology.
Visitors to the Jewish Museum of Rome will be able to navigate through the lost medieval alleys of the city's Jewish ghetto via a touchscreen that uses images derived from old photographs and watercolours.
Rome is home to one of the world's oldest Jewish communities:
The first members settled in the city 2 200 years ago. But from 1555 to 1870, Roman Jews were forced to live in a flood-prone area near the Tiber in one of the world's first ghettos.
Jews were given full citizenship rights only after Rome was freed from papal rule and annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. The city's new rulers decided to raze large swathes of the ghetto to build a more salubrious neighbourhood.
Today, the remaining part of the ghetto is a picturesque tourist hotspot in the centre of the city, full of restaurants and bars.
“It is very moving to be able to experience how our poor ancestors used to live and to be able to do it as free citizens,” said the head of the Roman Jewish Community, Riccardo Pacifici.
“Unlike other Jewish communities, especially in Eastern Europe, we are still around to tell who we are and where we come from,” Pacifici said. - Sapa-dpa