This paper describes the research and development of a virtual reality visualization project “Passing excellence” about the world famous architectural ensemble “Kizhi”.

The Kizhi Pogost is located on an island in Lake Onega in northern Karelia, Russia. The building housing the museum is a historical structure that was constructed in the ancient wood-based architecture tradition which is native to the region. The structure is a particularly fine example of the traditional wood architecture of medieval and post-medieval orthodox settlements, and is considered to be a unique artistic achievement, preserving a concentration of masterpieces of Russian heritage. The site is currently included in the List of Most Endangered Sites of the World Monuments Watch protected by World Heritage List of UNESCO.

The Kizhi Project strives to create a unique virtual observation of the dynamics of the architectural changes of the museum area beginning from the 15th Century up to the 21st Century. The visualization is being created to restore the original architecture of Kizhi island based on the detailed photographs, architectural and geometric measurements, textural data, video surveys and resources from the Kizhi State Open-Air Museum archives.

The project is being developed using Electro, an application development environment for the tiled display high-resolution graphics visualization system and can be shown on the virtual reality systems such as the GeoWall™ and the C-Wall.

Keywords: Art, historical restoration, visualization, computer graphics, Virtual Reality (VR)

PDF

Tsoupikova, D., Passing Excellence, IS&T / SPIE Electronic Imaging 2007 Conference Proceedings, January 28th, 2007.