Virtual Reconstruction of the Ancient Russian Fortress Koporye

• Published in: Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage Vol. 3; no. III; pp. 147 - 152
• Main Authors: Smolin, Artem, Borisov, Nikolay
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Институт по математика и информатика - Българска академия на науките 30.09.2013; Institute of Mathematics and Informatics - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics
• Subjects: Cultural and Historic Heritage; Information Technologies; Koporye; Multimedia Information System; Museology Heritage Studies; Russian Northwest; Virtual Reconstruction; Koporye; Multimedia Information System; SPbGU; NRU ITMO; Cultural and Historic Heritage; Virtual Reconstruction; Russian Northwest; Information Technologies
• ISSN: 1314-4006; 2535-0366
• DOI: 10.55630/dipp.2013.3.16

One of the major strategic tasks in Russia’s northwest of the past centuries was the defense of the country’s territories from enemy incursions coming from the West. In order to solve this task, a robust shield in the form of a system of fortresses was created between the 13th and 15th centuries. The system included such fortresses as Koporye, Yam, Korela, Oreshek, and others. In our age, these monuments have become an essential part of Russia’s historic and cultural heritage and an important element of the tourism cluster “The Silver Ring of Russia.” The Centre of Design and Multimedia at St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, jointly with the Department of History and the Faculty of Arts at St. Petersburg State University, working under a three-year grant from the Russian Foundation for Humanities Research (#12-01-12041), is implementing a multimedia information system “Ancient Fortresses of Russia’s Northwest”. Historically accurate virtual reconstruction of several fortresses as they existed during certain historic periods, done in such a way as to allow the future creation of virtual tours of these sites, has become the focus of this project’s research. In the present paper, we describe the main phases and results of virtual reconstruction of the best-preserved fortress, Koporye.