“Centochiese”: A hundred churches in Rome. An archival photogrammetric project

Rome is the city where two different cultures have found their greatest architectural achievement, the Latin civilization and the Christian civilization. It is for this reason that in Rome there is the greatest concentration in the world of Roman buildings, monuments and Christian buildings and churches. Rome is the seat of the papacy; say the head of the Christian Church. Every religious order, every Christian nation has created its own headquarters in Rome, the most representative possible, as beautiful, magnificent as possible. The best artists, painters, sculptors, architects, have been called to Rome to create their masterpieces.This study describes the photogrammetric documentation of selected noteworthy churches in Rome. Spherical Photogrammetry is the technique used. The survey is limited to the facades only, being a very significant part of the monument and since no permission is necessary. In certain cases, also the church interior was documented. A total of 170 Churches were surveyed. The statistics that one can derive from such a large number is particularly meaningful. Rome is the ideal place to collect the largest possible number of such cases. This study was motivated by the desire to provide technicians, architects, engineers and students with a technique that is easy to use and accessible and to show the great potential of the used photogrammetric technique. This article is a prelude to a book where all the panoramas obtained will be presented and made available to a larger public. Guidelines and tools to plot the facades will also be made available.