Preservation of Virtual Reconstructions

Abstract

3D visualisations of complex cultural heritage objects, such as archaeological objects and sites, historical landscapes, buildings and other man-made structures of the past, are more and more common in current day cultural heritage research and communication. Nearly always, they represent large amounts of financial and intellectual investments and rely on a wide range of data, people and interpretation processes. The documentation of the creation of such complex cultural heritage objects has been outlined in the widely accepted London Charter, but preservation of these objects in practice still has to overcome a range of issues. A recent survey showed that only 0,5 % of such projects do document their process. This short chapter tries to provide an overview of the six most important issues and proposes some solutions and methodology to overcome them.