Resumen de Documentation, understanding and enhancement of CulturalHeritage through integrated digital survey: Ínsua fort in Caminha(Portugal)
Rolando Volzone, Pietro Becherini, Anastasia Cottini
The Ínsua fort is located on a small island, south of the Minho River mouth (north of Portugal, at theborder with Spain). The construction of the fort took place in the mid-17th century (during the PortugueseRestoration War) and surrounded the pre-existing convent of Santa Maria da Ínsua, founded in 1392 bythe first observant Franciscans. This fort allowed the protection of the entrance via the Minho River,integrating a defensive system formed by a network of small coastal forts and other fortresses alreadystanding along this river. During the first French Invasion (1807), the space was invaded by Spanish troops.Moreover, the Franciscan community was forced to abandon the convent, due to the Portuguese dissolutionof religious orders (1834). Ínsua was managed and occupied by the Army until 1970’s. However, despiteits classification as a National Monument (1910), the abandonment and degradation of the last decades, aswell as the lack of alternative reuse, led to the on-going conversion into a tourist accommodation. Scholars,mostly in the historical and architectural fields, have deepened the diachronic evolution of both the conventand the fort. However, there is a lack of studies that analyse the physical evidence through the elaborationof digital documentation. This study seeks to fill in this gap, and it is even more relevant, because it wasconducted before the building rehabilitation. The digital documentation of the whole complex was carriedout through integrated digital survey methodologies, with TLS and photographic instruments, combiningterrestrial and aerial data. First results of the digital survey operation allow the creation of a digital modelfor further studies on the historical and architectural evolution of the complex. Moreover, different outputsfor the visualisation, the preservation and sharing of this historical cultural heritage can be enabled.
