The Cathedral of Santiago centuries ago housed a monument ahead of its time: a stone choir by Mestre Mateo representing polyphony. Although it disappeared centuries ago, now the KosmoTech_1200 project has brought it back to life thanks to technology and digital reconstruction.
Polyphony, a technique of singing in several contrasting voices, emerged at the School of Notre Dame during the 12th century. Some members of the ecclesiastical body of Compostela who were in France decided to commission Mestre Mateo, author of the Portico de la Gloria, a space in which to practice this discipline inside the Cathedral of Santiago.
This became the first of its kind. Not even the Cathedral of Notre Dame, cradle of polyphony, had a choir with these characteristics. Its decoration included religious figures of apostles and prophets with their left hand raised to represent the so-called ‘guidonian hand‘, a musical code of the time with which musical notes could be read according to the position of the fingers.
In 1605, this work was dismantled. Some parts were reused in different structures and monuments of the Cathedral, others ended up outside the temple.
Now, more than four centuries after its disappearance, we can once again contemplate the stone choir thanks to the KosmoTech_1200 project of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), which has digitally reconstructed it down to the last detail.
This initiative, headed by Francisco Prado-Vilar, professor at the Faculty of Geography and History of the USC, has used cutting-edge technology, such as laser beam measurement, and techniques such as photogrammetry or anastylosis, to recreate the original appearance of the monument by means of a 3D model.
For the furnishings and colors, the team relied on extensive research of historical-artistic documentation and miniatures of the period, as well as analysis of the remains present in the cathedral museum.
This project demonstrates the great potential of digitization for the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage. In this case, it would be possible to create a virtual scenario inside the Cathedral in which visitors could use augmented reality glasses to visualize what the choir of Mestre Mateo would look like if it were still in its original place.
In addition, it also opens up the possibility for the material reconstruction of works lost over time. In this way, with the appropriate resources and funding, it would be possible to create reliable replicas that ‘resurrect’ missing artistic pieces.
Restoring the past for the future
The KosmoTech_1200 project is part of the activity of the Digital Cultural Heritage working group of the CRUSOE Network as an example of public-private collaboration in the valorization of cutting-edge basic research.
The initiative focuses its actions on the Cathedral of Santiago and, specifically, on two structures created under the direction of Mestre Mateo: the three-story narthex of the Portico de la Gloria and the stone choir. Both monuments are unique in their typology and examples of the complexities of the artistic revolution that transformed the European scene in the 12th century.
In addition to producing advanced digital restorations, KosmoTech_1200 seeks to have a social impact by designing pedagogical tools to help specific groups improve their cognitive and creative skills.
