Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of forming a source complex on the history of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin of the XIX - early XX centuries in order to create its scientifically based virtual reconstruction. As a result of many years of work, the author has collected a significant documentary base on the history of the temple, which includes four large groups of sources: written, pictorial (graphic), cartographic and material (museum exhibits). Each of them is analyzed in detail with the allocation of materials that are most important for the three-dimensional reconstruction of the designated historical object. The paper also discusses methods and technologies for analysis, verification and initial digital processing of pictorial sources from its composition. The scientific novelty of the study is expressed in the fact that for the first time a relevant source complex on the history of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the 1830s was formed, which radically distinguishes this study from previous excursion and tourist virtual reconstructions of this temple. In addition, the technique of digital processing of visual sources and their translation into 3D format, developed by the author and presented in this article, has a certain novelty, which allows to preserve their original appearance as much as possible. The collected documentary base on the history of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin allowed us to assert the possibility of its authentic historical virtual reconstruction.

Abstract: The article searches for and analyzes stable scientific discourse patterns within the subject area named by means of bibliometric tools. To achieve this goal it uses analytical opportunities provided by the Scientific Electronic Library eLIBRARY.RU. Its platform has a selection of Russian research papers studying virtual reconstructions of historical and cultural heritage objects. The author has selected a pool of highly cited works and by means of Gephi software has created an oriented graph that provided for visualizing the links between the selected works, identifying "sub-subject" areas and finding their interaction and mutual influence within this research domain. The research novelty is the use of citation data to identify and analyze the structure of communications in this subject area. As a result, the article clarifies and supplements the existing typology of this research field. The author has distinguished seven relatively independent types of virtual reconstruction technologies use in history and has identified the leading research teams affiliated with Moscow State University, Siberian Federal University, Novosibirsk State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Moscow Institute of Architecture and Center for Virtual History of Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is these research groups whose papers have had a significant theoretical and methodological influence on other authors in the process of formation and development of this research domain and thus confirmed their scientific value.