Discovering the Old Dubrovnik Cathedrals: Stone Fragments Analysis, Cataloguing and Structured Terminology Development in Digital Environment

The research and educational project Discovering the Old Dubrovnik Cathedrals was launched in 2015. Its activities were focused on the study of archaeological finds originating from the site of two consecutive medieval cathedral buildings under the actual Baroque Cathedral in Dubrovnik. The archaeological excavations at the site were undertaken after the earthquake of 1979, and the resulting finds have not been studied since. The primary activity of the educational project that so far involved over 40 students was the study of stone and glass fragments, as well as fragments of wall paintings and pottery. Out of approx. 3000 stone fragments, 250 were selected for detailed cataloguing, analysis and indexing. A metadata record was created for each object and each record was accompanied by multiple photographic representations of the fragment. Whole-part relationships between records allow the structuring and simulation of certain architectural units (e.g. the Romanesque ambo). Another important result of the project is the development of structured terminology via multilingual thesaurus (equivalence, associative and hierarchical relationships have been established among concepts). The aim of the article is to present an application of data processing in the field of digital art history and in the broader context of digital humanities.