Russian team creates 3D model to preserve Palmyra as fighting rages on

The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg has joined forces with a Russian archaeological institute to build an interactive virtual model of Palmyra, as reports emerged today (20 January) that Islamic State (Isil) militants have destroyed the ancient city's amphitheatre and four pillard gates. When archaeologists and antiquities experts from the two institutions visited Palmyra, in Syria, in late September, they did not know that drone footage and co-ordinates they collected would capture a s