3D documentation for cultural heritage, from field capture to immersive experience

Photogrammetry, Gaussian Splatting, RTI and VR for museums, heritage sites and European research consortia.

Director, Department of Photographic Communications

Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College

Associate Researcher, Cities and Territories

DINÂMIA’CET, Iscte, University Institute of Lisbon

Senior Researcher

Jerusalem Institute for Research and Digital Documentation of Cultural Heritage

PhD in Communications

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

What I do

Documentation and reality capture

Scientifically precise, non-destructive 3D documentation of sites, monuments and artifacts, using photogrammetry, RTI, gigapixel imaging and Gaussian Splatting. I capture at sub-millimeter detail and deliver data ready for archives, research and public presentation.

Immersive heritage experiences

Virtual tours, VR and interactive installations that let audiences move through a site and read its surfaces up close. I design the experience and build it with game engines and web platforms that run on everyday devices.

Training and consultancy

Masterclasses and tailored training for heritage teams adopting 3D methods, grounded in more than twenty years of university teaching. I also advise institutions and consortia on capture strategy, workflows and deliverables.

Selected work

Recent fieldwork includes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where I combined RTI and photogrammetry to document the pilgrims’ crosses incised on its walls, and churches and monasteries in Cyprus, including a UNESCO-listed painted church in the Troodos mountains, where I document historic graffiti and build virtual tours.

VR from a point cloud

The Spirit of the Cloud: a VR walk through the Kidane Mehret Church in Jerusalem, built from a photogrammetric survey.

360° sacred spaces

The New Jerusalem: 360° video of sacred sites in Jerusalem, including the Chapel of Saint Helena in the Holy Sepulchre, experienced in a VR headset.

Gigapixel imaging

Billion-pixel panoramas that take the viewer from a whole site down to a single detail.

Dr. Doron Altaratz

Research behind the practice

My practice grows out of research on computational photography, heritage imaging and visual culture, published in journals including New Media & Society, Philosophy of Photography and Sustainability. I hold a PhD in Communications from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and have taught photography and digital media at university level for more than twenty years. Today I direct the Department of Photographic Communication at Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College.

Research collaboration and project enquiries

I welcome enquiries from museums, heritage authorities, universities and research consortia about documentation projects, joint research and training. I would be glad to learn about your work and to explore how we might collaborate.

doron@altaratz.com | +972 50 221 1436 | LinkedIn | ORCID