Documentation and virtual reconstruction of historical objects in Peru damaged by an earthquake and climatic events

This paper deals with the possibilities of creating a 3-D model and a visualization technique for a presentation of historical buildings and sites in Peru. The project Nasca/CTU is documenting historical objects by using several techniques. This paper describes the documentation and the visualization of two historical churches (San Jose and San Xavier Churches) and the pre-Hispanic archaeological site La Ciudad Perdida de Huayuri (Abandoned town near Huayuri) in Nasca region by using photogrammetry and remote sensing. Both churches were damaged by an earthquake. We use different process for the documentation of these objects. Firstly, PhotoModeler software was used for the photogrammetric data processing of the acquired images. The subsequent making models of both churches were different too. Google SketchUp software was used for the San Jose Church and the 3-D model of San Xavier Church was created in MicroStation software. While in the modelling of the “Abandoned town” near Huayuri, which was destroyed by a climatic event (El Niño), the terrestrial photogrammetry, satellite data and GNSS measurement were applied. The general output of the project is a thematic map of this archaeological site; C14 method was used for dating.