The specifics of working with historical sources in virtual reconstructions of cultural heritage objects (on the example of suburban estates)

Trishin Ivan Master of History, Historical Information Science Department, Moscow State University  301570, Russia, Tul'skaya oblast', pos. Volovo, ul. Aleksandrova, 4A, kv. 2 trishin_ivan@rambler.ru Other publications by this author

For a number of years, the Department of Historical Informatics of the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University has been carrying out projects of historical 3D-reconstructions of objects of historical and cultural heritage.^[1] If we combine these studies according to their structure, we can distinguish two large groups of works. The first group includes interdisciplinary projects of large teams, carried out not only by the staff of the Faculty of History, but also by representatives of other areas, from architects to specialists in the field of information technology. Two main projects from this group should be distinguished: the virtual reconstruction of the Holy Monastery on Pushkin Square^[2] (the project was completed in 2014 in three time slices) and the virtual reconstruction of the historical urban landscape of the White City (completed in 2020 with the participation of research groups of socio-humanitarian and natural science areas).^[3],[4] The common features of these projects are the presence of a team of specialists, the division of competencies with the active interaction of project participants, the support of leading Russian scientific foundations. Such projects are built on the basis of a large number of historical sources, which undergo a source assessment and subsequent processing by the joint efforts of the team members.

The second group of projects is individual research, carried out more often as part of the final works of undergraduate and graduate students of the Department of Historical Informatics. An important section within the framework of the work of this group is devoted to virtual reconstructions of suburban estates that have been completely or partially lost. Since 2019, more than ten such projects have been completed, possible thanks to the cooperation of the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Main Archival Department of the Moscow Region.^[5] The difference between this group of projects is that all stages of reconstruction are carried out by one researcher (student or graduate student) who has the necessary knowledge and competencies both in historical research and in the use of modern software in the field of 3D modeling. The source base in this case is significantly inferior in size and variability to the bases of the first group of projects, but there is a difference in the goals and objectives of such studies. As a rule, individual projects affect one time slice, and the main attention can focus on one object (in the section of manor complexes, the main manor house most often becomes such an object), less often — on the complex as a whole. Thus, the projects for the reconstruction of estate complexes in the Moscow region represent a typical series of reconstructions performed on the basis of homogeneous software and using the same research methods.

This article will focus specifically on estate projects as more local examples of processing historical sources in virtual reconstruction. Historical sources in this case include text materials, graphic sources (photographs, drawings, engravings, etc.), as well as scientific and technical documentation, the use of which has its own significant differences. Until recently, scientific and technical documentation (NTD) was not allocated to a separate category of sources, but the problem of classification of historical sources used during virtual reconstructions required a more thorough study of NTD as a separate category of resources. The problems of classification and evaluation of sources used in 3D reconstructions are thoroughly considered in the work of Yu.Yu. Yumasheva "The source base of virtual historical reconstructions of objects of historical and cultural heritage: towards the formulation of the problem".^[6] All the mentioned estate projects used scientific and technical documentation received from the Central State Archive of the Moscow Region (hereinafter — TSGAMO). Individual studies were conducted in the format of project work of students who jointly mastered the skills of research in the field of 3D reconstructions. A significant part of the source base is occupied by sources formed in the 1970s during the preparation of manor complexes for planned restoration works (which, however, were not implemented). Most often, dimensional drawings and building plans are presented in the funds (Fig. 1-2). Since such sources can be described as "typical" (by origin, purpose and presentation of information), the project participants faced similar problems in each study. Such problems were solved during collective discussions, which allowed researchers to gain experience working in a team. Let's focus on the problems that have emerged in most of the work on the virtual reconstruction of estates, in order to characterize the developed approaches to solving these problems.

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The first and most significant problem is the degree of preservation of documents. Since all the documentation was received by TSAMO not so long ago, the conditions of its storage before entering the archive left much to be desired. A number of documents contain water spots that blur part of the drawings and diagrams, ink has faded on some sheets, and only faint traces remain on the paper. Also, mechanical damage was present on some drawings, which did not allow obtaining complete data. For this reason, the data were supplemented from the documentation of the same unrealized restoration project, as, for example, clarifications obtained from the plans of longitudinal and transverse sections of the main manor house, in the reconstruction of the Molodi estate created by D.I. Kondrasheva ^[7], or from other drawings (for example, in the work on the virtual reconstruction of the Olgovo estate, performed by K.E. Sorokina^[8]). Together, several damaged drawings reflecting the facade or part of it give a more complete idea of the location of the elements in question.

The second problem is the alignment of perspective and the comparison of drawings after scanning. Large-format sheets folded in archival files are only partially placed in the scanner, and therefore it is necessary to put them together already in a virtual environment. At the same time, the downforce of the scanner is not always enough to digitize the document without distortion, which greatly complicated the process. The solution to this problem was to restore the perspective of the drawing in the graphic editor. This process is performed manually, and therefore the complexity of work at the stage of digitizing sources increases.

The third difficulty is inconsistencies of information in different types of sources.  For example, during the virtual reconstruction of the Nikolskoye-Uryupino estate^[9], it was revealed that the dimensional drawings of the estate contain information about the presence of large stone lions at the northern facade of a Large house^[10], while a comparison of the drawing with a photograph showed the presence of a small visor over the door from the northern facade (not specified in the drawings), and the size of the stone lions turned out to be much smaller than indicated in the drawings. When restoring an object to a certain time slice, such nuances can be very important. For this reason, each individual source requires comparison with other resources for the most accurate determination of the appearance of the estate. In cases where such a comparison is impossible, you have to trust the only available source.

Difficulties also arise when working with text sources. Some information obtained from documents requires verification, as its interpretation may lead the historian to incorrect conclusions. Again, let's take an example of a 3D reconstruction of the Nikolskoye-Uryupino estate: an eyewitness to the extinction of the estate, Baron N.N. Wrangel, in his memoirs mentioned the presence of a bust of Prince Yusupov in a White House.^[11] This information was reprinted by various researchers and even got into the historical part of the restoration plan of 1973. Such a fact could lead the researcher to a possible connection of Prince Yusupov with the Nikolskoye-Uryupino estate (if we take into account the fact that Yusupov bought the Arkhangelsk estate from N.A. Golitsyn, who also owned the Nikolskoye-Uryupino estate), but the supporting literature and documents did not confirm the presence of such a bust, and the original most likely depicted the first owner of the estate from the surname of the Golitsyns, Nikolai Alekseevich.

The availability of up-to-date photographs of the object while preserving it significantly contributes to the success of the study. The estate projects used participants' own photographs obtained both from the ground (Pushchino-on-Nara estate, the author of the reconstruction — S.A. Mamonov^[12]) and from the air (Petrovskoye-Alabino estate, the author of the reconstruction — S.A. Poshevel^[13]). The preserved elements of the manor complexes help to link the reconstructed objects to the terrain, as well as to identify possible inaccuracies of historical sources.

The results of the synthesis of sources of different taxonomies are the design of the verified reconstruction of the estate complex. Verification of reconstruction is one of the most important aspects, since the verifiability of the obtained result serves as confirmation of its reasonableness. In all these projects, the buildings and structures of the estate complexes are inscribed in the landscape recreated according to schemes and plans, which increases the value of these works. There are more than 600 manor complexes on the territory of the Moscow region, most of which are in a ruined state.^[14] With a further increase in the number of reconstructions of suburban estates, it is possible to create a GIS map containing information about estates and their reconstructions. This group of projects needs to be integrated into a single resource, since the accumulation of knowledge on the declared topic can attract more researchers and, subsequently, qualitatively increase the level of awareness of the community about the phenomenon of the noble estate of the Moscow region.

The preservation of cultural heritage objects in the form of 3D reconstructions is no less important due to the constant reduction in the number of such objects. Many manor complexes are abandoned and are in various stages of destruction. Virtual reconstruction of their appearance and interiors at this stage is the only way to preserve the memory of which objects of cultural heritage existed in a particular territory in the appropriate socio—cultural context. The ability to preserve a piece of the historical memory of the region is an undoubted advantage of virtual reconstructions, which you need to use until all the possibilities are lost. The author of this article hopes that virtual reconstructions of estates in the Moscow region will continue their development and attract new researchers who are not indifferent to the problem of the loss of cultural and historical monuments.

Fig. 1. Dimensional drawing of the Petrovskoye-Alabino estate

Fig. 2. Dimensional drawing of the southern facade of the Nikolskoye-Uryupino estate