Virtual reconstruction of the historic city of Al-Zubarah in Qatar

Abstract

The ruins of al-Zubarah hold within them valuable information for historians and anthropologists to know the society that once lived in it. Thanks to contemporary modelling methods, and a wealth of recent scholarship and documentation of the ancient city, we can virtually reconstruct its architecture. This paper shows the value of virtual reconstruction by building a model of al-Zubarah base primarily on Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) database and present the analytical and practical methods we adopt to do so. By reconstructing the city, we uncover its unique urban form, architectural language, and a glimpse of life once there. Because remaining ruins can only tell us so much about the city, we rely on a convergence of diverse sources from archaeological documentation to historical scholarship. The project has two stages: creating a volumetric model of the city and detailing four significant buildings, which are the mosque, palace, towers, and market.