Digital survey and material analysis strategies for documenting, monitoring and study the romanesque churches in Sardinia, Italy

The position of the Sardinia Island made it the crossing point of many cultural and political events, but at the same time its isolation has favored the manifestation unique Cultural Heritage phenomena. The network of the Romanesque churches disseminated all around this island clearly shows how an architectural language can be declined. On the bases of different architectural characteristics and petrophysical features of lithologies used, 18 significant churches have been chosen from the different medieval geographical-political areas of the Sardinia named “Giudicati”. Each of these were surveyed with the following methods: photography, 3D Laser Scanner for the whole interior and exterior parts, photogrammetry of a selected set of stone surface samples, direct sampling of representative rocks for geochemical and petrophysical analysis. All data were then treated and analyzed to deepen the knowledge about the most meaningful aspects of different construction techniques and use of materials, provenance of raw geomaterials, stone alterations and structure decay As the result, a base was created to read common behaviors, design choices, recursive constructive solutions, and the “models” guiding the ancient intentions. This contribution will present the progress state of this research and its results.