Pedro Miró recording historic wall reliefs at the Aljafería Palace’s Oratory as part of a seminar with Universidad de Zaragoza © Osama Dawod | Factum Foundation
During the workshop, Factum’s Carlos Bayod, Pedro Miró and Osama Dawod worked with a group of nine graduate students to record one of the six mixtilinear plaster arches, which combine concave and convex curved lines with straight lines in both horizontal and vertical orientations. The aim of the workshop was to obtain high-resolution data (both in colour and 3D) using photogrammetry, that can later be used to create an exact facsimile.
The arch, dating from the 11th century and richly carved with vegetal and geometric motifs, represents an outstanding case of Islamic art from the Taifa period. The Oratory is one of the few examples that preserves remnants of 11th-century pictorial decoration, which were uncovered in the mid-19th century after the whitewash that had covered them was removed.
Factum’s “learning-by-doing” approach engages graduate students in real digitisation projects, training a new generation of preservationists by teaching the possibilities offered by digital recording techniques. Since the collaboration with the Master’s in Cultural Heritage Management began in 2022, students have had the opportunity to take part in projects at some of the main heritage sites in Spain. The data obtained through this initiative provides an unparalleled source of information that can support future conservation and restoration work, or be shared with those unable to access the site in person.
This initiative was made possible by Servicio Gestor del Palacio de la Aljafería.
