This is my work in progress of 3D reconstruction of Diocletian’s Palace. It started as a project during the first lockdown when there was a lot of downtime and we were permitted to do any tourism business. So I figured I could use the extra time to learn a new skill. So I chose 3D modeling and after I’ve got a grasp of the programs I started this historical project.
I am trying to achieve a reconstruction of the Palace as close to the original as possible. I’ve done numerous reads and found many educated references which I am using on the model. So far as of May 2021, I am almost halfway through the modeling process. When that phase is done, I will have to learn how to properly texture it.
This is what I have for now.
The north part of the Palace is almost complete.
Below is a reconstruction of the Palace according to E. Hebrard from 1912. It is slightly outdated in terms of new founds and discoveries about the Palace, but nonetheless its the most famous reconstruction.
This is a top-down view of the model.
And below is the layout that I am using so far. As you can see the Palace is not a perfect square, with buildings not aligning to each other on a perfect angle.
This is a closeup of the Golden Gate, the main entrance to the Palace.
And the reference I’ve been using to model it.
Golden Gate today.
Side-by-side comparison.
Silver Gate reconstruction. Out of 4 gates of the Palace, these are the eastern ones.
This is the latest edition to the model, the center piece of the Palace – the Peristyle Square.
View from Peristyle toward the Golden Gate, or what is today Dioklecijanova Ulica (Diocletian’s Street).
View towards the western gate.
View of the decumanus street, the one running perpendicular with the main street connecting Perystile square and the Golden Gate.
There is still a lot of work to do. Some of the capital structures are still to be made like the Mausoleum and Temple of Jupiter. I am satisfied by how its all turning out so far, if I take into account the fact that I’ve only started 3D modeling during the pandemic. Hope I see it finished soon.
Next on the to do list:
DiocleSpot 