CIPA 2003 XIX th International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey 
models have to be prepared for real-time platforms. 
Furthermore precise and reliable source data is critical for a 
scientifically correct and accurate restitution. Interpretative and 
comparative issues are also necessary when the restitution is 
targeting lost architectural elements of the heritage site. 
The present paper is a continuation and real-time finalisation of 
the work that we started as described in Foni et al. Thus hereby 
we conclude the steps of the real-time virtual realistic inhabited 
restitution of S. Sergius & Bacchus and Hagia Sophia in 
Istanbul, both as Byzantine cathedrals and Islamic mosques. 
The common problems, pitfalls from the modelling and pre 
processing stages (Foni et al) and real-time solutions and 
specific choices are analyzed and explained in order to establish 
a complete real-time methodology of bringing large, complex 
and endangered edifices to life and simulating historical 
characters as well as their architectural evolution. It has to be 
noted, that Hagia Sophia was proved to be a very challenging 
edifice to reconstruct, due to its immense complexity, size and 
detail. Of course complex edifices of that scale are never fully 
and finally reconstructed due to their immense detail (e.g. 
lamps etc.) and with the current efforts we tried to encapsulate 
as much as possible in the given project time. 
Finally the use of new immersive VR technologies, in 
conjunction and with the essential support of traditional sources 
and materials, has been presented here in order to describe a 
complete methodology for the restoration and renovation 
process of ancient monuments. 
Hence with the utilization of the mentioned methodology for 
the situations where architectural restoration and protection are 
not available, virtual restoration and conservation is exhibited. 
Such virtual heritage simulations are a fundamental aspect for 
the full understanding of the historical and social development 
of vast communities and form a ‘virtual material witness’ of the 
process of civilization. 
5. REFERENCES 
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Coyne, R., Technoromanticism, digital narrative, holism and 
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Foni, A., Papagiannakis, G., Magnenat-Thalmann, N., “Virtual 
Hagia Sophia: Restitution, Visualization and Virtual Life 
Simulation”, UNESCO World Heritage Congress, October 2002 
Heidegger, M., Sein und Zeit, Max Niemeyer Verlag, 
Tübingen, 1993, p. 38 (translated according to the English 
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6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
We would like to thank Nedjma Cadi-Yazli for her additional 
modelling and design contribution and Michal Ponder, 
Branislav Ulicny, Bruno Herbelin, Sebastian Schertenleib and 
Tom Molet for their support with the VHD++ framework. The 
presented work is supported by the Swiss Federal Office for 
Education and Science in frame of the EU INCO-MED 
CAHRISMA project (ended March 2003) and the VHD++ real 
time framework in frame of the EU 1ST STAR project. 
7. APPENDIX 
The Following Figures illustrate further examples of the Hagia 
Sophia fully real-time VR reconstructed edifice (as a 16 th 
century mosque), which constitutes the only known, published 
effort of this kind and scale, for the selected cultural heritage 
site (added in 1996 in the annual list of endangered monuments 
by the World Monuments Watch).