In response to the destruction and looting suffered by the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum since the outbreak of armed conflict in 2023, a major heritage preservation initiative has been launched. The teams at Art Graphique & Patrimoine, a company within the MEMORIST group, have taken on the challenge of virtually bringing back to life one of the most important museum collections on the African continent through the creation of an unprecedented digital reconstruction of the museum.

Led by the Sudanese Antiquities Service (National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums – NCAM) and the French Section of the Directorate of Sudanese Antiquities (SFDAS), attached to the French Embassy in Sudan, the project was made possible thanks to the support of the Fonds Équipe France of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. It forms part of a scientific, heritage, and memorial initiative aimed at preserving, documenting, and transmitting a heritage that is now inaccessible and severely endangered.

For the first time, a digital portal provides lasting access to the collections of the National Museum of Sudan through an immersive virtual tour. Accessible through the “Grands sites archéologiques” collection of the French Ministry of Culture, the experience allows visitors to explore galleries spanning from Prehistory to the Kingdom of Napata, restoring visibility and coherence to works that are now dispersed or destroyed. Ultimately, more than one thousand artefacts will be integrated into this digital reconstruction.

To carry out this highly precise work, the experts at Art Graphique & Patrimoine relied on the museum’s original plans as well as extensive photographic documentation. The project also benefited from the work of the Graphic and Digital Mediation Department of the Musée du Louvre, which created the reference 3D model on which Art Graphique & Patrimoine based its intervention. Thanks to this 3D modeling, the exhibition spaces were faithfully reconstructed, making it possible not only to recreate lost collections, but also to establish a clear and lasting memory of Sudanese heritage. The platform also serves as an essential reference tool for authorities involved in combating the illicit trafficking of cultural property by providing a reliable and usable documentary database.

The project is the result of close scientific and institutional collaboration, notably with Faïza Drici, researcher and head of the Virtual Museum of Sudan project; Séverine Marchi, director of the French Section of the Directorate of Sudanese Antiquities; Marcel Perrin, graphic designer at the Musée du Louvre; and Thomas Sagory, head of digital development at the Musée d’Archéologie nationale – Domaine national de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and project manager for the “Grands sites archéologiques” collection. Together, they helped make this reconstruction a tool at the crossroads of research, mediation, and heritage protection.

Through this achievement, Art Graphique & Patrimoine and the MEMORIST group reaffirm their longstanding commitment to the preservation, enhancement, and transmission of cultural heritage in France and internationally, mobilizing the most advanced digital technologies in service of endangered cultural assets.

This expertise continues a long series of documentation, surveying, and digital reconstruction projects carried out on major heritage sites, including Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Basilica of Saint-Denis, and Mont-Saint-Michel — emblematic sites that demonstrate the group’s ability to work on major, complex, and highly symbolic heritage landmarks.

With the virtual reconstruction of the National Museum of Sudan, MEMORIST and Art Graphique & Patrimoine demonstrate that digital technology can become a decisive tool for cultural resilience, enabling endangered heritage to continue to exist, to be studied, and to be shared despite conflict and destruction.

Visit the museum virtually by clicking HERE.