Virtual sacristy: the interaction with the heritage

Abstract

Digital technologies contribute to access, knowledge and interaction with the historical heritage. From this stimulus, the user gets to know the patrimonial asset, as well as tends to visit, appreciate and preserve it. This may help to promote tourism and strengthen local culture. This article aims to present different forms of interaction with heritage through remote and virtual communication resources. The patrimonial asset analysed is a convent named Santo Antônio do Cairu, located at the municipality of Cairu, in the state of Bahia, Brazil. This study presents a virtual visit to the Convent through photographic panoramas. The lavabo is highlighted, which has been digitally reconstituted by Dense Stereo Matching (DSM) technique. The results are available for visualization and interaction in Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR). From these resources, a website has been created for the user to easily interact with the virtual elements and to access the information about the historical and architectural details of the sacristy. This content, available on the website https://conventodecairu.wixsite.com/sacristia, seeks to facilitate the access to scientific information and to contribute to the diffusion of the knowledge regarding the convent amongst the general public and the specialists in the field.