Reconstruction of Archaeological Sites in Virtual Environment: Case Study of Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai Historical Park World Heritage

Abstract

Historical tourism is a form of tourism that has become popular and has created revenue for the local communities. Tourists who are interested in visiting and learning from historical monuments are often met with disappointment due to the monument’s poor condition. They receive most of the information about the monuments from guidebooks or description plagues at the site. Therefore, they are unable to fully perceive monuments in their original state. Moreover, environmental factors such as temperature, sunlight, seasons and climate can sometimes interrupt the learning experience at the real location. The objective of this research is to create a newtype of learning tool that reconstructs dilapidated historical monument in virtual environment. The case study is Wat Mahathat and it’s immediate physical surroundings at the Sukhothai Historical Park in Sukhothai province. This historical park is an important site for the study of architecture and archeology. However, the architecture in the Sukhothai Historical Park has suffered from tremendous damages overtime. In current state, there are only ruins of buildings, columns, remnants of chedis, Mondapus and Viharas. The archeological evidence, empirical studies and field survey inform the process of architectural analysis which is an important tool in estimating and finally reconstructing the original design of the architecture. This learning tool will be a pivotal equipment that tourism organizations can further develop in order to enhance historical tourism prior to the actual location. Moreover, this research will be a part of standard setting for sustainable tourism.