Recording the Ipogeo dei Cristallini

In December 2024, a team from Factum Foundation travelled to Naples, Italy, to record a rare testament to the city’s Hellenic period: the Ipogeo dei Cristallini. Located in the city’s Rione Sanità, the Ipogeo dates back more than 2300 years when it was built as an underground burial complex (hypogea) and its rock-cut tombs are an exceptional example of funerary art and architecture.

Ferdinand Saumarez Smith and Pedro Mirò recording the walls of Hypogea C © Otto Lowe | Factum Foundation

Over the course of a week, Pedro Miró, Otto Lowe, Ferdinand Saumarez Smith and Gabriel Coleman carried out a high-resolution recording of all the four funerary chambers, which are organised over two levels. Chamber A, B and C were recorded using LiDAR, photogrammetry and a portable version of the Selene Photometric Stereo Scanner; Chamber D was recorded with LiDAR. While the chambers share similar structural layouts, their decoration differs in their vibrant polychrome trompe-l’œil effects effects that imitate architectural details and luxurious furnishings.

The digital data will be processed over the coming months and will become part of the conservation records in order to aid the Ipogeo’s preservation and dissemination under the Soprintendenza Archeologica, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per il Comune di Napoli and in collaboration with the Central Institute for Restoration of Rome (ICR).