Skeiron digitalized Ukraine’s cultural heritage: 3D tour of the Mariupol Drama Theater case

The Lviv studio Skeiron digitalizes the cultural sights of Ukraine. As part of the #SaveUkrainianHeritage initiative, which aims to preserve Ukrainian cities and historical heritage in the face of full-scale war, it creates detailed 3D models of buildings.

Skeiron’s new project is a 3D tour of the Mariupol Drama Theater, which was hit by an air strike on March 16, 2022, and was subsequently completely destroyed by the Russians.

“#SaveMariupolHeritage is the beginning of a big project about Mariupol. Now it presents a 3D cloud of points of the central part of the city and a 3D tour of the Mariupol Drama Theater. This is how we want to draw the world’s attention to Mariupol and continue to revive other important architectural and historical monuments of the city,”

Andrii Hryvnak, co-founder of Skeiron studio, says.

The process of digitizing the Drama Theater lasted more than three months. “This is a rather long and painstaking work, and the long terms are also due to the lack of the necessary detailed data of the building because it was not easy to find them in open sources,” tells Skeiron. In order to recreate the building of the Mariupol Drama Theater and the surrounding area in 3D in detail, the studio launched a crowdfunding campaign in the fall of 2022 to collect photos and videos.

In January 2023, Skeiron established a partnership with the Center for Spatial Technologies SpatialTech.info, which specializes in research and analysis of civilian damage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Using the Center’s expertise, as well as laser scanning and photogrammetry technology, the Lviv studio team managed to create a comprehensive 3D model, as well as a 3D tour inside the Mariupol Drama Theater.

“Creating a 3D model of a destroyed landmark is a difficult and complex process, but it is also an extremely important task for preserving the cultural heritage of Ukraine. We strive to preserve the history and cultural spirit of our country so that future generations can learn about what the Mariupol Drama Theater was like and the role it played in the life of the city,”

the Skeiron claims.

The team has no intention to stop at the Drama Theater and already has plans to create 3D tours of other sights of Mariupol destroyed by the Russians.

About Skeiron

The Lviv studio Skeiron was created in 2016 by three classmates Yuriy Prepodobny, Andrii Hryvniak, and Volodymyr Zayts. In March 2022, the team launched the #SaveUkrainianHeritage project, within the framework of which it digitized 39 historical monuments, including the Dominican and Sophia Cathedrals in Ukraine.