CIPA 2005 XX International Symposium, 26 September - 01 October. 2005. Torino. Italy 
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Fig. 2. The photogrammetric processing was carried out rather easily using a bundle of images covering all around the entire 
buildings 
The current paper is describing the recent attempt of three 
different institutes in Greece (the 5th Ephorate of Byzantine 
Antiquities, the Depertment of Architectural Engineering of the 
Democritos University of Thrace and the Cultural and 
Educational Technologies Institute of Greece) for the 
documentation of two Byzantine churches in one of the richest 
in Byzantine antiquities sites in Greece, Mani. The current 
attempt has been directed to the creation of the virtual models of 
the two buildings, giving the opportunity to potential visitors of 
the local museums and other people through the Internet to 
navigate inside and around them. The models are also giving the 
capability to relevant researchers and archaeologists in general 
to study the models and help them in their own research. The 
remote study of the models either from researchers or from 
everyday people was one of the main goals of the cooperation 
between the three above-mentioned institutes. 
The two churches provide not only a typical form of several 
similar churches in the region but they are also internally 
decorated by a great number of fresco paintings. The decoration 
of the two churches is present also in their outer surface. Very 
unusual and beautiful anaglyph figures and paintings are present 
in both of them giving them great archaeological, cultural and 
mainly religious value (fig. 1). 
2. BASIC PROCESSING 
2.1. Photogrammetric Modelling 
Although the laser scanning (Beraldin, et.al. 2002) would be the 
most appropriate method for the creation of the textured models 
of the two buildings, instead the photogrammetric modelling 
has been chosen due to the following reasons: 
• low budget 
• no demand of great accuracies of the derived documentation 
products 
The 3D model of the outer surfaces of the two churches has 
been acquired through the photogrammetric processing of the 
images using two off-the-self, very well rated photogrammetric 
packages Photomodeler and 3D Builder. 
The camera that was used for the image capturing of the 
photogrammetric images was a 6.3 Mpixel NICON D1X dSLR 
camera equipped with a 17mm wide-angle lens. Additionally, a 
second NIKON D1 dSLR camera was used just for the 
evaluation of its features. The cameras have been properly 
calibrated using the embedded module of the Photomodeler 
application. The calculated calibration parameters are illustrated 
in table 1. 
Parameter 
value 
Std. Dev. 
f (camera constant) 
16.465255 
0.003 
xo (of principal point) 
11.153535 
0.009 
yo (of principal point) 
7.398465 
0.006 
Format width 
22.594353 
0.007 
K1 
3.418e-004 
5.5e-006 
K2 
-1.092e-006 
l.le-007 
K3 
0.000 
PI 
-1.013e-005 
6.4e-006 
P2 
-1.547e-005 
6.0e-006 
Table 1. Calibration parameters 
The photogrammetric processing was carried out rather easily 
and with no particular problems using a small number of 
measurements and a bundle of images covering all around the 
entire objects (fig. 2). Horizontal and vertical measurements of 
distances between well-distinguished and properly distributed 
feature points on the 3D objects gave the appropriate control for 
the registration of the images in the 3D space and the final 
calculation of the 3D model. Additional measurements gave the 
appropriate validation points in the photogrammetric 
processing. 
The overall accuracy of the derived 3D model was 0.5-0.8%. 
The generated models were accurate enough for the production 
of satisfactory solid models that would be the basis of the 
textured Virtual Reality Model (VRML) of the two buildings. 
2.2. Texture Mapping 
The model was exported in DXF format providing all the basic 
geometrical features describing the entire 3D model. The final 
surface model was imported in 3D Studio Max where also the 
texture mapping was accomplished. The final texture images of 
the planar outer surfaces were produced in Z/I Imaging IRASC 
software application giving the best resolution of the rectified 
images that were applied on the models’ surfaces.