We work digitally and virtually in the Koronowo Basilica
November 17, 2022
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The Koronowo Basilica is a former monastery church of the Cistercian abbey dating back to the 13th-14th centuries. The church has very rich furnishings and architectural elements. In the chancel, two Gothic ceramic masked vault supports are preserved. The outer arm of the transept is covered with fragments of a 14th century frieze made of colorful glazed ceramic tiles. The vaults are covered with rich stucco decoration.
However, the most impressive piece of equipment is the monumental main altar with paintings by Bartholomew Strobel, a Polish painter of German origin, a representative of late Mannerism and early Baroque. And it is largely to him that the church owes our visit.
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While carrying out the digitisation work inside the church was not a great challenge for us, we had to proceed with caution outside. This is because the former monastery buildings, which directly adjoin the church walls to the south, have been converted into a prison. As a result, we could not use drones to film the body of the church or develop a photogrammetric map of the area, as this is a restricted zone.
As part of the foundation’s pro bono project to partially digitise and virtualise the interior of the church and its furnishings, we did:
- A gigapixel photograph of the main painting in the altarpiece “Assumption of Mary with St John the Evangelist, Bernard of Clairvaux and the apostles at the tomb” by Bartholomew Strobel from 1647, measuring, bagatelle, 350 by 274 cm;
- A gigapixel photograph of the painting ‘Christ’s Greeting of Mary in Heaven’ by Bartholomew Strobel, 1647, measuring 274 by 208 cm;
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- 3D models of some of the most valuable pieces of furnishings, including carved fragments of stalls, sculptures of angels in the form of caryatids supporting the colonnade of the main altar, etc;
- Photographic documentation of the architecture and furnishings of the church;
- A virtual walk using a 3D camera.
The work carried out will result in the creation of a publicly accessible, free interactive VR guide for any type of media, including smartphones and virtual reality goggles. The results of the work will also be published on the Trail of Marian Temples (maryjny.org), which was created by our foundation.
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