Abstract
Nowadays, virtual reality technologies and immersive virtual reality (VR) apps allow people to view, explore, engage with and learn about historic monuments and buildings, historic sites, and even historic scenes. To preserve our cultural heritage for future generations. it is essential that damaged and dilapidated historic artefacts are accurately documented, and that steps are taken to improve user experiences in the areas of virtual visits, science and education. This paper describes an approach to reconstruct and restore historic buildings and mural paintings. The work process uses digital models that are then inserted into an interactive and immersive VR environment. Windows-Mixed Reality is used to visualize the said VR environment. The work method was applied at a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), thereby creating a virtual three dimensional (3D) rendering of the architectural structures of the St Augustine Church in La Laguna and its murals. A combination of topography and terrestrial photogrammetry was used to reconstruct its architectural features, and the digital imaging tool DStretch® to recover its murals. The resulting 3D model was then inserted into an immersive and interactive VR environment created using the cross-platform game engine Unity. One of the greatest challenges of this project revolved around recovering the dilapidated and virtually nonexistent mural paintings using DStretch®. However, the final result is an immersive and interactive VR environment containing architectural and artistic information created within the video game engine Unity, which thereby allows the user to explore, observe and interact with a cultural heritage site in real time.
Highlights
Ever since virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies became feasible options, there has been great interest in using these technologies to represent, restore and reconstruct cultural heritage [1]
The final result is an immersive and interactive VR environment containing architectural and artistic information created within the video game engine Unity, which thereby allows the user to explore, observe and interact with a cultural heritage site in real time
San Cristóbal de La Laguna is the first example of an unfortified Spanish city, the layout of which served as the archetype for many colonial settlements in the Americas [48]
Summary
Ever since virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies became feasible options, there has been great interest in using these technologies to represent, restore and reconstruct cultural heritage [1] These technologies provide us with an interesting and attractive channel through which it is possible to educate a wide audience about historic artefacts or sites [2]; or to assist audiences in visiting sites that are difficult, if not impossible, to access in real life. These friars arrived on the island together with Don Alonso Fernández de Lugo, who conquered the island of Tenerife for the Castilian Crown He is known as the founder and architect of the city San Cristóbal de La Laguna [49]
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