26 historic churches digitized in Rivne region
Researchers in the Rivne region have digitized 26 historic churches to preserve their authentic appearance.
The Zdolbuniv Museum of Local History in the Rivne region has presented a project titled “Religious Architecture of the Zdolbuniv Area in Digital Form,” under which specialists created 3D models and 360-degree panoramas of 26 historic churches, Suspilne Rivne reports.
The project covers the oldest wooden and stone churches in three local communities, built between the early 18th and mid-20th centuries. For each site, researchers prepared a three-dimensional model of the exterior using drone photography, a virtual tour of the interior, a five-minute audio history, and an archival overview.
Museum director Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi explained that digitization helps preserve the authentic appearance of sacred buildings threatened not only by military operations but also by poorly executed renovations.
As an example, historians pointed to churches whose wooden exteriors have been covered with plastic siding, preventing the wood from “breathing.” They also recalled cases in which historic 18th-century wooden churches were simply dismantled for firewood.
As the UOJ previously reported, an augmented reality (AR) model of a UOC monastery containing the burial vault of Ukrainian hetmans is to be created in the Sumy region.
