Researchers at the University of Salamanca generate three-dimensional environments and multimedia of the archaeological heritage of Castilla y León.
Seen from impossible perspectives the vaults of the cathedral of Zamora, walk through hidden nooks of the 2,500 battlements of the walls of Ávila or enjoy a bird’s eye view of the Charterhouse of Miraflores in Burgos could become reality thanks to initiatives such as the one developed by the Group of Information Technologies for the Heritage Documentation at the University of Salamanca (TIDOP). The researchers team, led by Professor Diego González Aguilera, works to spread the Architectural and Archaeological Heritage of Castilla y León through the generation of virtual reality environments with multimedia content.
New technologies have been crucial in overcoming architectural, geographical and time barriers for people in general, especially for those who have some type of disability. To date there have been many and varied performances from TIDOP group to eliminate these limitations. His works reconstruction of the walls of Ávila or the hermitage of San Benito Abad (Navarredonda de Gredos) are remarkable, besides the virtual three-dimensional interactive graphics recreation of the roman city of Clunia and many vetone castros, places of cultural interest whose location in inaccessible places preclude their visit.
There are numerous his technical support to public entities such as the “council and the local government of Ávila”, in the context of archaeological research conditioned by reasons of urban planning and construction that after the field work will be covered again. Thanks to his digital documentation techniques have safeguarded the three dimensional configuration of sites such as the medieval tanneries of Ávila or the roman Town of San Pedro del Arroyo. Digital reconstructions of these spaces have allowed archaeologists and historians to have metric documentation for virtually recreate and preserve their spatial geometry, thus overcoming the time barrier.
The photogrammetric technologies associated with information and communication technologies allowed to advance in the overcoming spatial barriers. One of them, imposed on each of us as a result of our stature, is the immovable point of view with which we can see everything. Fact that limits the knowledge and enjoyment of cultural goods and makes always consider from the same perspective. This ‘handicap’ was mitigated by actions such as those undertaken by researchers at the University in virtual reconstructions developed under the exhibition “Las dos Orillas”, commemorating the fifth anniversary of the death of Christopher Columbus, and the work focused in the chapel of Our Lady of Sonsoles or St. Nicholas Church. Jobs that concluded in interactive graphic products in which the user can vary the point of view virtually placing it in a bird’s eye view and enjoy unreachable areas and details with a naked eye.
The solutions of the TIDOP Group also have been required by administrations forced to take stringent conservation measures in some heritage assets restricting and even forbidding access to them. An example is the metric documentation developed in the caves of the Asturian Paleolithic of “Calda” and “Peña de Candamo”, which has allowed the virtual recreation with a high degree of detail of the volumes of the walls. Recreations that then were disseminated through publications and international conferences for knowledge of the scientific community.
