Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, this is how the PoliMi works on the restoration of the floor

The Politecnico di Milano is also working on the restoration of the floor of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher by implementing the Heritage-Bim detection system designed by the University. The Politecnico di Milano has in fact created the guidelines for the modeling and data sharing of the conservation and restoration project of the floor of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and has carried out a campaign for the detailed survey for the documentation of the pre-conservation state -intervention. The researchers created models of the floor and the architectures needed to frame it, starting from the laser scanner data. The latter was acquired by the coordination group – headed by architect Osama Hamdan – for the project on site, in the midst of the pandemic phase. The PoliMi researchers explain that the high-resolution photogrammetric survey phase, carried out on site by the researchers of the Politecnico between September and October 2021, saw the acquisition of over 50,000 high-resolution images, with a system designed ad hoc. “The system we designed – explains professor Luigi Fregonese of the Department of Architecture, Construction Engineering and Built Environment of the Politecnico di Milano – consists of a special trolley on which an articulated lighting and acquisition system has been engineered, with intensity and controlled coloring “. All this, he continues, “saw the integration of a topographic survey for the processing and verification of the final result, a digital image, an orthophoto, at very high resolution, metrically reliable and precise, of the entire floor of the Basilica. of the Holy Sepulcher “. The research group of the Polytechnic, MantovaLab – Hesutech group of the Territorial Pole of Mantua of the Polytechnic of Milan (Abc Department), which is coordinated by the professors Andrea Adami, Luigi Fregonese, Stefano della Torre and the Vice Rector of the Territorial Pole of Mantua Federico Bucci, he carried out his work by constantly coordinating with the internal staff of the Basilica, so as not to interfere with the normal liturgical activities and the visits of pilgrims and visitors who, despite the period, still flocked inside it every day. The person responsible for the conservation and restoration of the floor – whose start of work has just been announced – on behalf of the Custody of the Holy Land, is the Conservation and Restoration Center La Venaria Reale in Turin, with which it collaborates a multidisciplinary team, while the direction of the archaeological excavation was entrusted to the Sapienza University of Rome.