REMOTE SENSING OF CITY. DIGITAL DATABASES FOR ARCHITECTURE

Abstract. The study proposes advanced analyses of the monastic citiy of the western coastal area of the Athos Peninsula in Greece. This research is the result of architectural and environmental survey campaigns conducted since July 2020.

The current bibliographic documentation is limited, and most of the volumes focus on an art and historical description of the paintings in the monasteries, as well as on visitors’ travel notes.

Through the consolidated phases of the discipline of representation, such as digital surveying, point clouds and the processing of flat surfaces, a journey of knowledge of the third arm of the Chalkidiki peninsula is proposed with regard to the religious architecture considered as micro-cities.

The initial part of the research was developed with photographic documentation from the sea, while in subsequent survey phase of the monasteries on the west coast was carried out.

The instrumental survey activities, carried out with the help of quadrihelix drones and terrestrial photogrammetry, concerned the Monastery of St. Dionysius, the Monastery of Xeropotmus, the Monastery of Zographos, the Monastery of Dochiario, the Monastery of Simonpetra, the Monastery of St. Paul, the Monastery of Xenophon, the Monastery of St. Gregory, the Monastery of St. Pantaleimon and the Monastery of Konstamonitou.

The research aims to expose, for the first time, the unpublished instrumental surveys carried out in the Athos community, which has been averse to the access of tourists and curious people for centuries.