COMPARATIVE INVESTIGATION OF THE 3D REPRESENTATIONS OF THE HOLY AEDICULE OF THE TOMB OF CHRIST

The significance of preservation of cultural heritage is undeniable, which is why both their geometric documentation and the creation of their digital “twins”, i.e. reconstructions and replicas at any scale, are essential procedures. A special category of cultural heritage is sacred sites which combine historical, spiritual and religious values. The most sacred monument of Christianity is the Holy Aedicule covering the Tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This paper aims to investigate and compare the various three-dimensional representations of the Holy Aedicule of the Tomb of Christ, which exist both in physical and in digital form. Initially, the main structural phases of the Aedicule are presented, including its destructions and restorations. Moreover, the different categories of the three-dimensional representations of the monument are defined.  With reference to the replicas, both the reasons of their construction and their list in the form of a dataset table are presented. More specifically, in the context of this research, the three-dimensional representations of the Aedicule are divided into two major categories: the replicas constructed worldwide and the geometric documentations of the monument's condition through the years. Regarding the replicas, a list of the discovered representations is created and this database is visualized and depicted in an online web map along with essential information with the use of an open-source Geographic Information System (GIS). Based on this visualization an online web map has been created. Furthermore, the previous geometric documentations and surveys of the Holy Aedicule of the Tomb of Christ are presented. A comparison is conducted between the 3D models of the Aedicule, which were created by the University of Florence in 2007-8 and the National Technical University of Athens in 2015-17. The impact of the Holy Aedicule across the world is examined through statistics based on the type, date of construction and location of the replicas. The possible deformations of the monument's structure are detected from the assessment of the results from both the processing and the comparison of the 3D models. In conclusion, future works are suggested focusing on the discovery of the total number of replicas worldwide and the monitoring of the condition of the Aedicule.  Cultural