3D survey of the Mont saint-Michel Abbey and Merveille building

A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT TO PRESERVE AND RESTORE

A technician setting up a camera and laser scanning equipment for comprehensive architectural surveys at Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey.

The prestigious Mont-Saint-Michel complex is highly vulnerable to the elements, which makes its conservation of the utmost importance. To carry out restoration work, the Centre des Musées nationaux commissioned MEMORIST to conduct comprehensive surveys of the abbey, the Merveille building and the chevet at Mont-Saint-Michel.

Our teams employed various techniques, including terrestrial laser scanning, helicopter-borne photogrammetry, topographical surveying with total stations and GPS georeferencing. This vast volume of data (comprising around 700 scan positions and over 30 billion points) was used to generate point clouds, orthoimages, orthophotographs and drawings, proving invaluable for the restoration work.

A 3D app to explore Mont Saint-Michel

TOUR APP FEATURING AUGMENTED REALITY AND 360° PANORAMIC VIEWS

In partnership with ALTO, we have developed a tour app for the Mont Saint-Michel Abbey. The app incorporates 3D content modelled from our 3D survey campaigns. The app recreates the site as it appeared during various historical periods, with six rooms featuring 3D characters. With an accompanying audio guide enabling total immersion in augmented reality, users can explore and delve into the architectural and religious history of this iconic French heritage landmark – a political and cultural crossroads and pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages.

Mobile app interface displaying an augmented reality view of historical rooms and 3D characters inside the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey.
Screenshot of the Mont-Saint-Michel 3D tour application showing historical room interiors, zoom functions, and interactive navigation icons.

3D historical reconstruction and white model for ARTE documentary

OBSERVING ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENTS

To produce the documentary “The Enigmatic Labyrinth” (produced by ARTE, Gédéon Programmes, Inrap, CNRS and CMN), our teams created 3D historical reconstructions and an animated white model of the Merveille building at Mont Saint-Michel. The point cloud sequences and 3D animations illustrating the architectural evolution of the Merveille are the result of numerous digitisation campaigns using laser scanning and photogrammetry.

Animated white model and point cloud sequence illustrating the structural developments of the Merveille building at Mont-Saint-Michel.
Detailed 3D historical reconstruction showing the architectural evolution of the Merveille building at Mont-Saint-Michel for the ARTE documentary

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