Great Statues and Seismic Vulnerability – A Photogrammetric Approach for Early Safeguard

In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to create safeguard measures in protecting masterpieces, art items, and large statues, from the uncontrollable event of an earthquake [Agbadian et al. 1988]. In this paper a comprehensive analysis of a set of significant statues currently located in the Bargello Museum in Florence (Italy) is proposed. The work includes the geometrical survey of the object, until arriving to measure their seismic safety level. While the correct definition of the shape of the elements is fundamental in this processing, an attention will be given to the phase of the digital survey, here operated using photogrammetry based on Structure from Motion procedures. All the steps of the workflow will be analyzed and described in its main issues, lessons learned, new procedures. A set of different procedures will be compared, a brief method based on a 50 MP resolution camera with high quality optic and highly accurate modeling and its integration with direct measurements and/or 3D Laser Scanner Survey. The results of the procedures will be matched to the results of the simulation analysis, suggesting affordable approaches for any similar conditions about the interpretation of the state of safety of this important cultural heritage