17 September. The seventeen ARIS 09 participants from as many different countries are at work documenting the frescoes, vaults and marble alters of the right nave of the Paleochristian Basilica of Santa Cecilia. The Basilica is being used as a case study to present various documentation techniques and tools such as rectified photography, stereo photogrammetry, total station measurements and laser scanner.

The objective of the course is to better inform conservation decisions through appropriate tools and techniques of documentation. Other topics in this first part of the course include information management, hand measurement, photographic lighting, thermal photography and condition mapping.

A study tour was organized to the archaeological site of Ostia Antica, where the participants were introduced to Global Positioning System (GPS) techniques.

The course is sponsored by ICCROM and the Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, California.  Leica Geosystems has generously donated the use of survey equipment.

The course schedule:

• Week 1 – Recording, collecting and managing data using various tools and techniques
• Week 2 – Processing and analyzing the data collected in the previous week
• Week 3 – Using the data to make informed conservation decisions
• Week 4 – Disseminating the results and exploring future tools

Member States represented: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Slovenia and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

updated on: 13 April, 2010