Digital Restoration of Seokguram Grotto: The Digital Archiving and the Exhibition of South Korea´s Representative UNESCO World Heritage

The digitalization of Seokguram Grotto, a UNESCO World Heritage: KAIST GSCT produced a digitalized mapping of Seokguram Grotto, a UNESCO World Heritage and South Korea´s representative cultural heritage, on two separate occasions in year 2008 and 2011. The Seokguram Grotto was the first to be registered at UNESCO among South Korean cultural heritages in year 1996. Hence, we are able to understand the value and the significance of the existence of Seokguram Grotto amongst numerous cultural heritages of South Korea. The team had performed the digitalization process of Seokguram Grotto in cooperation with the National Museum of Korea in year 2008 and had also performed the digitalization process of Seokguram Grotto with the Cultural Heritage Administration in year 2011. Through the process of 3D Scans and et cetera, the team had successfully digitalized the Seokguram Grotto as the world´s first. This thesis consists of the process of the digitalization of Seokguram Grotto, the process of generating its 3D stereopsis and the future blueprints for creating Seokguram Grotto´s Virtual Museum in the future. In other words, the current level is limited to archiving and creating 3D stereopsis of Seokguram Grotto, and the Seokguram Grotto Virtual Museum is expected to be built at Sejong City in the future on the basis of 3D scan data of Seokguram Grotto. The values of Seokguram Grotto which upholds cultural legacy and how they can be digitalized with advanced exhibition technology in delivering quality approaches of its exhibition are the core subjects of this thesis.