Florence As It Was: the Digital Reconstruction of a Medieval City

Started by Professor George Bent in 2017, Florence As It Was represents the beginning of a new way of approaching art history and of preserving it for future generations. Florence As It Was will combine an interactive map with three-dimensional representations of buildings, designed according to measurements gleaned from the scholarly literature and on-site examinations. Layered onto these reconstructions will be images of original works of art situated in the places that contemporary users of the building described them (the photographs of which are in the public domain). "Hot spots" throughout these buildings and images will direct viewers to selected documents, descriptions, and interpretations that help us understand the messages, functions, uses, and reception of art and architecture in the past. We imagine a day when technological advances will allow us to take a Virtual Reality tour through these buildings that enables us to recreate the visual experience of a fifteenth-century Florentine.