Virtual reconstruction of the ancient state of a Ruined Church

Abstract

Three dimensional virtual models can represent both the existing and the already destroyed architectural heritage. This project deals with the 3D reconstruction and representation of the church of San Prudencio's Monastery in La Rioja (Spain) as it is supposed to be during the 15th century. Today the monument is totally in ruins; hence severe reconstruction was needed. This is an exemplary project of close collaboration of different scientific fields. Surveying data of the monument itself and of the wider area around it, but also architectural and archaeological data were collected in situ. It was not possible from the current situation to conclude about the exact form, style and representation of the monument; hence a large part of the project is based on assumptions which have a sound scientific base. Because of the multisource data there was need to define specific criteria by which every data source was evaluated. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.