Tu Duc Tomb, inside The Complex of Hue Monuments, is the first Vietnamese historical site to have been documented by the team behind Open Heritage 3D. A digital scan, alongside photos and a concise introduction to the site, is displayed on the Google Arts and Culture platform, which can be accessed here.

The Open Heritage 3D project was established through a collaboration among Historic Environment Scotland, the University of South Florida Libraries and the non-profit organization CyArk, which provides 3D documentation of historical sites. CyArk started documenting and collecting visual data of prioritized areas in the Hue complex in June 2018 with support from the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC).

Among the selected sites are Hoa Khiem Temple, the Tu Duc Tomb Stele Building, the Tu Duc Queen’s tomb and nearby An Dinh Palace. At the time of writing, the CyArk team is working on data collection for An Dinh Palace.

Using laser scanning and drone cameras, the documentation produces spatial data of the site's interior, exterior and aerial views, as well as high-resolution images that can be processed into 3D models. The data set yielded from the project is available online for free download, making the initiative a valuable resource for education, research, preservation and community work, especially when cities are changing at a breakneck pace. 

Have a look at the 3D model of the Tu Duc Tomb Stele Building below: 

[Photo via VietnamNet]

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