Yedi Kule - Monument Road Race: The Construction of the 3d Mapping Animation of the Old City of Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract

This project refers to the construction of a 3D map of Thessaloniki’s historical route. The Yedi Kule Conquest – Monument Road Race took place in the old city of Thessaloniki, which was built during the Byzantine and Ottoman period. The purpose of this project is the digital recording of the castles, the monuments, the old churches, the traditional buildings, and the squares which are prime examples of the architectural beauty of the place. The methodology of the project is based on the online software Google Earth Studio and Adobe Premiere Pro. These are the tools of digitization, rendering, and building process of the animation. With this methodology, the authors achieved the documentation of land use and the architectural landscape. The animation is a credible graphic index of the historical background of Thessaloniki. The Yedi Kule area constitutes of a cultural mosaic made from different historic periods. The buildings and the neighbourhoods give the sense of transition of the narrow roads, the old Christian churches, the house of the first Turkish governor, and the byzantine castle to the modern city. In Thessaloniki, three historic periods coexist the Ancient Greek/Roman, the Byzantine, and Ottoman Empire. The responsibility of the governmental politics and of every citizen of Thessaloniki is to promote and preserve the historic background of the city. The final product offers a good opportunity for the digital storage of Thessaloniki’s old city. The animation creates an interactive environment that portrays the current image of the transition from the old to a modern city.