Maastricht, the city, the maquette and the collection at the Palais de Beaux-Arts in Lille (France), Photogrammetry and digital twin creation for an ancient urban physical model

During the CHNT 2017, while attending together one of the social events, Gilber discussed with Willem Beex the possibility of scanning the famous maquette of Maastricht from 1750. Willem suggested a collaboration between his agency and the Dipartimento di Architettura (Architectural Department) in Florence, Italy, to start what clearly was a nice, involving, not easy and fascinating research and work, centred on a large maquette (about 6 × 7 metres) representing the old town of Maastricht in 1750. The Maquette was under restoration in Lille, France, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, during the reorganization of the specific maquette room in that museum. A very good condition for a survey intervention. In the middle of 2018, the project was going to be supported financially by the Maastricht Municipality and soon there would be the need for an operative proposal and an effective presence in place to bring on the survey and the following postprocessing. Willem announced the possibility to start the surveys in June 2018, it was the start of an interesting adventure with a very specific cultural heritage subject. The large size, the high level of details and the high expectations about the quality of the results needed a proper set of smart and technical solutions. The creation of a digital twin of the “Ancient εaastricht εaquette” was undoubtedly the first step to bring this heritage into the new information technology age, but also an excellent occasion to bring back the precious data from the past to match with the contemporary city, rising the value of the main building but also the precious witness of the old urban pattern and the past relationship with the territory. This paper will tell the story, methods, procedures of this last work with Willem Beex, completed without him, and here presented in his memory.