DIGITAL SURVEY in BRAMANTE'S MASTERPIECES

Abstract

This paper is part of a current of researches that deal with the survey of Cultural Heritage as the first tool of knowledge and dissemination of the memory and value of ancient architecture. The progress of survey techniques and the spread of new tools and measurements instruments obliges frequents update in our project; the survey also compares itself with progression over the time, especially when the context of interest is broad as in the case here described. Here the complex of Santa Maria delle Grazie has been surveyed starting from the Chiostro delle Rane and Old Sacristy, including the room of the Candle man, by Donato Bramante, the Chiostro del Priore, built through the years with the aid of Beltrami and Portaluppi, and the New Sacristy. The cathedral survey and the Last supper room together with The Chiostro dei Morti has not yet been included; this first part has been considered as a first cross section enough to present first problems, techniques and aims. In addition, the destination of the survey in progress has been evaluated on a broad spectrum: from comparison with other Bramante's masterpieces to the map rendering of some of its decorated parts to the construction of simple meshes for the reconstruction of virtual environments. This is the reason why some part of the complex has been surveyed with more attention and high-detail while other with more simplicity and low-detail, not only to spare time.