Virtually recreating churches

The technique has been used to virtually recreate five churches in the Merindad de Aguilar de Campoo, a region between Cantabria, Palencia and Burgos, which host the highest number of Romanesque monuments in the world.

’With this methodology, an exact model of the monuments or places of interest can be obtained in a virtual way’, said Pedro Martín-Lerones, co-author of the study and researcher at the Cartif Foundation in the Technological Park of Boecillo, Valladolid.

The project, which has been published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage, makes it possible to create three-dimensional plans with colour images of historical places of interest. The data is recorded by laser scanners that take the maximum number of geometric measurements from a minimum number of positions.

’This ensures that accuracy is maintained, while also reducing the time spent on field work, because generally more shots are usually taken than are needed’, said Martín-Lerones.

The data provided by the laser scanner is complimented by images captured by photographic cameras. This information is processed using two specific software programs developed by the researchers. One superimposes the information in colour of the photographs onto the three-dimensional model and another generates the final plans in 3D in a time frame that is claimed to be 40 per cent quicker than the traditional method.