Publication Spotlight: A Heritage Digital Twin for the Integrated Study of a 16th-Century Cypriot Icon

APAC Labs researchers Sorin Hermon, Raphael Moreau, Rahaf Orabi, Mehmetcan Soyluoglu, Valentina Vassallo, Nicolette Levy, and Nikolas Bakirtzis recently contributed to a new publication that showcases how an integrated approach can unlock new ways of understanding and preserving heritage, presenting both the conceptual foundation and practical implementation. The study highlights the Heritage Digital Twin (HDT) concept: a semantic-aware framework that connects diverse datasets into a unified, intelligent system. By building a shared knowledge graph, researchers can align and explore information from multiple disciplines in a more meaningful and interactive way. Additionally, this case study prepares the foundational work in advancing the ECCCH which is the European initiative The Cyprus Institute is involved and contributing in. 

The proposed approach is demonstrated through the examination of a 16th-century Cypriot icon. The study combines multiple complementary methods of analysis, including 3D documentation, spectroscopy-based analytical techniques, technical imaging, dendroarchaeology, and art historical analysis. Data produced from these investigations were systematically aligned and semantically described according to the HDT ontological framework, facilitating interoperability and enriched interpretation. 

This article demonstrates the potential of the Heritage Digital Twin framework to support integrated, semantically enriched research practices in the field of cultural heritage. By enabling the consolidation and interactive exploration of diverse forms of data, the approach contributes to more comprehensive documentation, analysis, and interpretation of heritage objects.

Read the article here.