argument

During the last decade, also as a consequence of the permanent concern for the conservation and valorisation of the cultural heritage, the concept of accessibility to top information, destined to both specialists and large public, has found new development areas. The improvement of new digital technologies of investigation and information storage, the quick development of new media, but also the important changes in mentalities had a decisive contribution to this evolution. Once the European Commission’s fifth Frame Program for Research and Technological Development (FP5 – 1998-2002) was launched, in 1996, followed by the sixth Frame Program (FP6 – 2002-2006) and the sub-component Information Society Technologies (IST), the concept of „virtual/digital heritage” has gained, within the large „multimedia” family, an accurate theoretical and practical outline, being, nowadays, a consecrated term in the field of conservation and restitution of the historical-cultural heritage. In addition, The Frame Program 7 (2006-2013) brings in some new purposes of social and economical nature, stipulated to be achieved in a European perspective in the near future.Thus, the conservation and value enhancing of the common cultural-historical heritage from European countries are expected to play an important role in the increase of the citizens’ living qualilty and the human comunities’ development by assuring a climate of multicultural and religious tolerance, the knowledge transfer and the enlarged acces to the culture. In the European Union countries, the cultural heritage’s research, conservation/restoration and valorisation have benefit by the contribution of some new dedicated technologies, and also by certain results of the fundamental and applicable research, which have found important applications in the field. It is the case of non-contact 3D laser-radar scanning systems – LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) – initially used for relief and urban mapping, for territorial monitoring or natural resources’ management; shortly after, LIDAR was adapted to 3D non contact scanning, for archaeological sites’ study or for the evaluation, conservation and digital reconstruction of historical monuments. Very much likely, the technological development of digital photogrammetry and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) had a substantial contribution in monitoring and managing the natural and urban environment and in the archaeological research. The dedicated software production has also developed modules and components able to ensure the inter-operability between the sources of information captured by 3D scanning or by digital photogrammetry and the CAAD programs suites, which are used to generate 3D models (Point Model – points cloud, Wireframe Model, Digital Surface Model), and also their visualization and animation. At international level, the advanced optical-electronic technologies have found applicability in the fields of research, restoration, architecture, visual arts and, in the same time, they have enhanced the access to multi-disciplinary detailed and diverse information. In Romania, the situation in the field of culural-historical heritage is one of the most tragic and urgent issues. Those who are activating in the cultural-historical heritage field are aware of the destructive fury that, for the past 15 years, rushed mostly the architectural monuments and archaeological sites. The restoration and conservation efforts, still insufficient, could not keep up with the consequences of the indifference of the due local institutions as regards heritage protection and with the demolition actions undertaken by certain city leaders. In Romania, except for about 30 monuments, listed also in UNESCO files – in which case monitoring and protection on behalf authorities has been, along time, quasi-present - the other over 30,000 edifices, monuments and sites are under a permanent danger of being vandalised, mutilated or even structurally modified, or simply demolished. Regarding the presented situation, the conclusion we reached, which grounded the elaboration of this project, is that only the development of an inter/multi-disciplinary research integrated with the accurate and highly precise digital conservation on virtual support might be able to decisively contribute to the preservation and the scientifically and also cultural value enhancing of an important part of the Romanian immovable cultural-historical heritage.