Abstract: The paper deals with the issues of preserving the cultural heritage associated with the construction and operation in the late XIX - early XX centuries of the Great Siberian Way (later called the Trans-Siberian Railway - Transsib). The Trans-Siberian Railway is the largest infrastructure project of the Russian Empire, created with the state budgetary funds in 1891-1916. An important task for the builders of the highway was the creation of its infrastructure, including the construction of stations with all the necessary buildings and structures. In the smaller stations (and there were most of them), the passenger buildings were original wooden structures of architectural and functional interest. Almost all of them have lost their original appearance, characterized by the "Russian style" of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The purpose of this article is to create a virtual reconstruction of passenger buildings (as well as other buildings) that stood at small stations on the Great Siberian Way. The source base for creating 3D models of typical buildings of railway stations on the mainline, including drawings of these buildings, photographs of their construction period and a later period, Yandex satellite images, as well as text descriptions of virtual reconstruction objects, is considered in detail. 3D models of passenger buildings and other structures of railway stations are presented, their visualization is given on the Twinmotion Cloud online platform; it is available for viewing by QR-codes on mobile devices and personal computers on any operating system.

Abstract: Modern epoch of information and computer technologies provide new opportunities for solving the problem of cultural heritage preservation. Virtual reconstruction of historical interior is a task different from 3D reconstruction of monasteries, palace and park ensembles or historical urban buildings. Studies of great historical characters are conspicuous of their way of life, personal traits, activity and those internal changes which a person sooner or later transfers to everything around including the surroundings. The article thoroughly discusses a technique of virtual reconstruction of the interior of Nicholas’s I "Bottom" Study in the Winter Palace in 1850-1855 with the help of augmented reality and panoramic video technologies. The topic of historical interior virtual reconstruction often arises in the context of museum studies and is currently underdeveloped. However, the personal side of interiors is no less important for history than external architectural reconstruction.  

Abstract: The article reconstructs the building system of the antique fortress town Gorgippia in the 6th-4th centuries BC that was located in the south-west part of the Bosporan Kingdom. The development of the town center on the territory of modern Anapa for a period of 2.5 thousand years has changed the ancient landscape. However, the traces of the ancient town can be seen when archeological excavation materials, historical documents (cartographic materials and other visual sources in particular) are analyzed. Using modern methodological approaches such as BIM, photogrammetry and aerial photography, 3D modeling and sculpting, the authors step by step create 3D reconstruction of the ancient landscape, restore residential, commercial, religious, administrative and fortification buildings of Gorgippia in the Archaic Era. The results obtained allow the authors to reconstruct the life of the ancient seaside trading town with its distinctive culture, to deeper consider the formation of its individual districts as well as transport routes and the building system itself from its foundation to destruction. The study of the formation processes of the ancient town and its 3D reconstruction contribute to the development of historical urban science in general.

Abstract: Whitestone St. Georger’s Cathedral is one of the most well-known monuments of pre-Mongol stone architecture in Vladimir-Suzdal Rus in the 13th century. The unique feature of the cathedral is the carved whitestone décor which themes are those of Christian iconography, pagan images and floral ornament. In the 15th century the cathedral fell down and was restored, but the integrity of stone reliefs was lost. Later the reliefs were restored by masters of Vasiliy Ermolin in random order thus complicating the task of their correct order reconstruction. During reconstruction the temple became lower, lost its original proportions and the unique ornament. Some reliefs were lost while the others happened in hard-to-get places. Some stone reliefs can be found in the cathedral masonry under the temple roof or in the columns. Inside the building one can see reliefs which have not been used by masters during reconstruction. Researchers have attempted to reconstruct the cathedral many times, but the oddness of reliefs and their multiple damages complicated this work. Modern information technologies (laser scanning, photogrammetry, 3D modeling programs and BIM) provide for solving the problem of reconstructing the cathedral original appearance and lost ancient themes as well as testing the cathedral reconstruction hypotheses at hand. Digitization of stone reliefs allows the researcher to work with them in digital format preserving the integrity of the object. One of the results is the software environment developed by the authors to systematize stone reliefs. Within this environment the authors have reconstructed a number of lost mythical and biblical themes of stone reliefs located on the cathedral walls.