Eugen Dutescu1 / Otto Heunecke1 / Johann Neuner2

(1Institut für Geodäsie, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany / 2Fakultät für Geodäsie, Technische Universität für Bauwesen Bukarest, Romania)

One of the architectural symbols of Transylvania and in special for Siebenbürgen is given by the fortified churches present in most of the sites colonized by the Saxons population during the XIIth – XVIth centuries. Built initially for defensive purposes the fortified churches served later as cultural identity for the communities that survived due to them. Nowadays, after the mass migration of the original Saxon population, the churches become the subject of increasing degradation. While the larger and important ones were declared part of the UNESCO world heritage, for most of villages churches a viable solution is still needed. One of these fortified churches is located in Dealu Frumos (Schönberg), a small village situated at approx. 60 km north-east from Sibiu (Hermannstadt). Since 2003 the fortified church is under the patronage of the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest and transformed in a study-centre of vernacular architecture in Transylvania. In 2005 the Faculty of Geodesy of the Technical University of Civil Engineering, Bucharest and the Institute of Geodesy of the University of Bundeswehr Munich jointly created a digital documentation of the fortified church. To start with, a 2D surveying plan of the church with the fortified perimeter and a geo-referencing network was realized. Further a terrestrial laser scanner was used to capture the existing exterior geometry of the church. Moreover, the roof truss of one of the building ensemble was under study due to the high interest for the wooden-frame junctions. The resulted point clouds and the 3D model created based on them were made available to the Romanian partners in order to be used for restoration and educational purposes.

Method: Digital documentation based on terrestrial laser scanning
Result: 3D Computer model with derivates

Keywords: Fortified Churches, Siebenbürgen, Laser Scanning