Bringing impossible places to the public: Three ideas for rupestrian churches in Goreme, Kapadokya Utilizing a Digital Survey, 3D Printing, and Augmented Reality

Abstract

The churches of St. Eustache, the Meryemana and St. Daniel are located in the Göreme area in Kapadokya, Turkey. Each of the three structures is composed of a main church with a refuge system. Nowadays these churches have limited access: they cannot be visited by a common tourist. Thus, they are a meaningful sample of rupestrian architecture, containing important mural paintings and suggestive spaces. Using digital survey techniques, 3D modelling and 3D printing to produce physical copies from the originals, this research project tries to find articulate and well working solutions to bring these architectural structures to the public.