About the consortium

Gros plan sur le pied de croix de l'abbaye de Saint-Bertin. On y voit un évangéliste devant son pupitre. Réalisé en image de synthèse à partir d'une photogrammétrie

Medieval goldsmithing put to the test of digital modeling

eThesaurus was born from a collaboration between UMR IRHiS at the University of Lille and the Geomatics and Art, Archaeology, and Heritage research unit at the University of Liège. It brings together a Franco-Belgian team of art historians, university professors, museum curators, and researchers in computer science and applied sciences. Starting from the beginning of the project in 2018, the team was joined by the Roubaix-based company Holusion, which specializes in the diffusion of digital models on various formats.

eThesaurus

Analysis of the foot of the cross of Saint-Bertin

The study focuses on Northern goldsmithing techniques from the 12th-13th centuries, and is associated with physical-chemical and radiographic analyses to deepen our understanding of the objects' manufacturing techniques and materials. The information gathered will be used to enrich the eCorpus online database, where informative and analytical data will be associated with the 3D models of the studied elements.

eThesaurus is part of several project calls, for which it was awarded in 2017-2018 and 2020-21. The first call was launched by the research structure MAuVE (Visual Mediations): Digital Culture and Creation, supported by several universities and the Hauts-de-France Region (CPER). The most recent call was the ADNI-2021 of the DRAC-Hauts-de-France.

Future Prospects

The use of the eCorpus platform and its eThesaurus demonstrator allows for a wide and accessible dissemination of 3D digital objects and their metadata. This platform aims to solve the problem of access and valorization of digitized cultural and artistic heritage, which has long been limited to a narrow audience, often reserved for professionals in the field.

Presentation of eCorpus at Sorbonne Abu Dhabi

March 2022

The Sorbonne Abu Dhabi (SUAD) University has acquired three holographic showcases (two small IRIS 22 models and one large IRIS 32 model) from the company Holusion. This acquisition aimed to provide teachers and students with a new 3D visualization tool as a support for courses and/or research projects.

March 2023

SUAD has complemented this first acquisition by integrating the eCorpus system, set up as part of a consortium, to enable the manipulation of previously digitized objects in holographic showcases and to insert information.

This very important step for the university allows it to move from the spectator stage to the actor stage, both in the manipulation of objects and in the ability to integrate information. SUAD was able to test the presentation of its data through two departments: Art History and Engineering, Science, and Technology, producing content of different types ranging from historical context to microscopic photographs. This was an opportunity for SUAD to experiment with the collaborative aspect of eCorpus.

Presentation of research work by students on an Iris 22 at Sorbonne Abu Dhabi

The recent inauguration of an exhibition of student research on archaeological furniture extracted from excavations carried out by SUAD and the DDCR (Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve) allowed testing of this new system and presenting the results to a large audience, including teaching professionals, museums, and students. Their very enthusiastic feedback attests to the importance of this device for both museum and university establishments.

SUAD plans to strengthen this device within its establishment in order to allow students a better understanding of the objects they will study. Students from the Department of Art History and Archaeology have already had the opportunity to use these new tools, which have been very intuitive and not time-consuming. The aim is now to fully integrate them into the educational curriculum and to benefit from the students' feedback.

At the same time, SUAD plans to collaborate with several cultural institutions in the Arabian Peninsula around this new device in order to share this new approach to the study of an artwork, which can also be the subject of mediation: digitizing an object, integrating all the research carried out, sharing it, and promoting it.

We would like to thank OPUS (Observatoire Paris Sorbonne Université), Christophe Moulherat, and Delphine Sylvilay for their contribution to this project, as well as all the partners who have made this technological advancement possible in service of culture and digital heritage. We hope that this progress will foster new collaborations, research, and discoveries in this constantly evolving field.

Logo of the IRHIS laboratory, University of Lille (France) Logo of the University of Liège (Belgium) Logo of the company Holusion
Logo of CAPSO, Community of Agglomeration of the Pays de Saint-Omer (France) Logo of MESHS, European House of Human Sciences and Society, Lille(France) Logo of the Cluny Museum, Paris (France) Logo of the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille (France) Logo of the Hauts-de-France Prefecture (France) Logo of the City of Saint-Omer (France) Logo of the Hotel Sandelin Museum in Saint-Omer (France) Logo of the SFR Numérique & Patrimoine, Federative Research Structure Logo of the Treasury Museum of Liège (Belgium) logo of the University of Lorraine, Nancy (France)