Azernews.Az

By Alimat Aliyeva

Microsoft is set to create a "digital twin" of Notre Dame Cathedral and expand the number of European languages supported by its artificial intelligence models. The ambitious project will also digitize historical opera sets and millions of artifacts housed in France’s leading cultural institutions. Among these are 15,000 cinematic models from performances at the Paris National Opera dating from 1800 to 1914, Azernews reports.

The restoration of Notre Dame after the devastating 2019 fire took five years, but as Microsoft President Brad Smith noted last November, creating a digital replica would make such efforts much easier in the future.

Recently, Smith announced that this concept is now being put into practice: a digital twin of the cathedral, originally built in 1345, is currently under development.

The digital replica is a collaborative effort between Microsoft, the Heritage Institute of the French Ministry of Culture, and the startup Iconem. The project leverages cutting-edge visualization technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) to capture and recreate the cathedral in exquisite detail.

“The goal of this project is to digitally preserve every element of Notre Dame, ensuring its structure, history, and symbolism are protected and accessible to future generations,” Brad Smith wrote in a blog post.

Once completed, the digital twin will be donated to the French government and made available to conservation specialists. It is also planned to be featured in the future museum dedicated to Notre Dame de Paris.

While the exact budget and timeline remain undisclosed, Smith told French media that the project will take at least a year and is expected to cost several million dollars.

This digital preservation initiative not only safeguards cultural heritage but also opens new possibilities for virtual tourism, education, and interactive museum experiences — allowing people worldwide to explore Notre Dame’s rich history regardless of their physical location.