A Virtual Heritage Case Study: A Modern Approach to the Revival of Ancient Historical or Archeological Sites Through Application of 3D Real-Time Computer Graphics

This paper presents the case study of a real-time interactive digital narrative visualisation of the Namaz Pray of a simulated Ottoman Imam in the 16 century virtually restored mosque of Küçük Aya Sofya (previous St. Sergius and Bacchus church) as well as in the Hagia Sophia mosque (previous cathedral of Hagia Sophia), in Istanbul, Turkey. This case study illustrates that the abandonment of traditional concepts of static cultural artefacts with interactive, augmented historical character-based narrative representations, can propel virtual reconstructions of cultural heritage sites to an exciting new edutainment medium. Furthermore, a reconstruction and real-time immersive visualisation is presented by simulating these edifices both as churches (original form) and as mosques, fully respecting the archaeological, historical and architectural premises.