Documenting cultural heritage sites and objects to the highest possible standards.

The first phase of aerial LiDAR recording in Amazonia, led by Martti Pärssinen in collaboration with the Ibero-American Foundation in Finland and the Factum Foundation together with many Brazilian, Finnish and US partners is coming to completion. The 3D LiDAR data covers an area of 4,500 km². They show large clusters of geoglyphs indicating substantial human occupation of the area.

Orthophotos taken during the LiDAR flights are being processed. AI analysis of the imagery will focus on the identification of semi-domesticated and domesticated trees that are further evidence of human presence through the millennia. The first scientific results will be published this year.

In February 2025, a team from Factum Foundation will install a Selene PSS in their archives. Objects from the collection will be recorded and explored in high resolution, including Cuneiform tablets, inscriptions on bone and palm leaves, early maps, manuscripts, bindings, copperplate and woodblock prints and pasted-down watermarks.

The Selene Circle is growing as more and more institutions realise the importance of the surface of their objects! Digitising now means presenting artefacts online as things you can handle in a virtual space.  More news coming soon!

As part of a new collaboration made possible thanks to the support of The Helen Hamlyn Trust, Factum Foundation installed a Selene PSS unit at the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan in Madrid. The goal is to record a selection of objects from the institution’s collection to facilitate their study, preservation and dissemination, and reveal hidden details. The Instituto is one of the most important, and possibly the most unknown, collections of Andalusian art in the world. It contains more than 9.000 objects including textiles, ceramics, coins, seals, weapons, carved gems, paintings, manuscripts, books and a vast archive of over 60.000 documents.

Earlier this year, a team from Factum Foundation carried out a photogrammetry training session at the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos with young members of the Igbo Ukwu community. During the training, six iconic 9th-century AD Igbo Ukwu bronzes, excavated by the archaeologist Thurstan Shaw in the 1950s, were recorded in high resolution.

Through the use a new method of 3D printing in steel, Factum has surpassed the level of detail that can be rendered using centrifugal bronze casting, opening up many possibilities for sculptures with complex surfaces. The facsimiles will be electroplated in bronze and then patinated to match the originals.

In April 2025, they will be presented to the Igbo Ukwu community and will be put on permanent display, thereby giving the community access to these objects in an act of “internal repatriation”. The project was supported by Cambridge Africa and Factum Foundation.

In collaboration with the Universidad de Zaragoza’s Master in Cultural Heritage Management, Pedro Miró, Osama Dawod and Carlos Bayod led an intensive seminar on 3D digitisation of the Oratory in the Aljafería Palace. Students recorded 11th-century carved plasterwork using high-resolution photogrammetry. This was made posible by Servicio Gestor del Palacio de la Aljafería and Cortes de Aragón.

Factum’s “learning-by-doing” approach engages graduate students in real digitisation projects. In January 2025, Carlos Bayod will teach at the Universidad de Granada’s Master in Advanced Methods in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. The focus will be on recording the yeserías in La Madraza Palace, an iconic Nasrid architectural site founded in 1349. 2025 is the 675 anniversary of La Madraza, and Factum Foundation is playing an active role in its celebration.

We are delighted to announce that Aaltosiilo Ry has officially joined the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative as a partner – one of six in Finland and the only one in the North of the country.

The New European Bauhaus, launched by the European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen, envisions a future where sustainability, inclusivity, and aesthetics come together to inspire innovative solutions for our built environment. Joining this vibrant network allows Aaltosiilo Ry to collaborate with like-minded organisations and strengthens our commitment to ensure the preservation of Alvar and Aino Aalto’s first industrial building and its transformation into a hub for social gatherings, performance, interdisciplinary collaborations and research.