Rolando VOLZONE | Federico CIOLI | Matteo BIGONGIARI
(Università degli Studi di Firenze, Florence, Italy)

Keywords: Digital Survey, Kyrenia Castle, North Cyprus, St. George’s Church

Abstract:
The contribution focuses on the digital documentation of St. George’s church, built in the 10th century close to the Roman fortress of Kyrenia in North Cyprus. In medieval times, the Kyrenia castle became a focal point in the defense of Cyprus. During the Crusader period and then under the Venetians and the Ottomans, the fortress has been continuously fortified, incorporating the Church of St. George within the defensive walls. A digital survey campaign was carried out in order to study the volumes and the features of the religious architecture, integrating both the morphological data from laser scanners and the data from the photogrammetric survey (Structure from Motion), which return useful information about the materials and the state of conservation. The complex distribution of spaces, of which today only the dome is visible from the outside, is understandable thanks to the development of a three-dimensional model, obtained from the digital survey, through which to create two-dimensional drawings representing plans and elevations. In fact, the geometry of the church is difficult to read from the outside, just as the fortress is not perceptible from the inside. The digital survey is therefore an interpretative tool in order to connect these two realities. The drawings are useful instruments for the interpretation and the analysis of the construction techniques. Furthermore, the stratigraphic-evolutionary study of the Church of St. George, together with a careful analysis of historical sources, allows understanding the development phases of the building in relationship with the enlargement of the castle’s defensive structures. These processes allow us to return a critical and updated image of an emblematic building of the Kyrenia castle, easily usable and understandable to visitors.

Relevance for the conference: The paper deals with the consolidated technologies of digital suervey integrating different methods of data acquisition to obtain a database of the complete architectural structure on which to base the cognitive investigations.
Relevance for the session: The contribution deals with the digital relief methodologies focusing on the representation of the evolution of the building.
Innovation: The paper shows the first digital survey and the first three-dimensional reconstruction of the Church of St. George
References:

  • Guarnieri, Alberto & Remondino, Fabio & Vettore A, A. (2012). Digital Photogrammetry and Tls Data Fusion Applied to Cultural Heritage 3D Modeling.
  • Petre, James. 2010. Crusader castles of Cyprus: The fortifications of Cyprus under the Lusignans of 1191-1489. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.