Saving temporary exhibitions in virtual environments: the Digital Renaissance of Ulisse Aldrovandi

Our goal was to obtain the digital twin of the temporary exhibition "The Other Renaissance: Ulisse Aldrovandi and the Wonders of the World", to make it accessible online to users using various devices (from smartphones to VR headsets). We started with a preliminary assessment of the exhibition, focusing on possible acquisition constraints - time, space, and materials - and related solutions. Then, we proceeded with the creation of the digital twin by acquiring, processing, modeling, optimizing, exporting, metadating, and uploading the exhibition. We adopted a hybrid use of two distinct acquisition techniques, i.e. structured light projection scanning and photogrammetry, to create new digital cultural heritage objects and environments, and we used open technologies, formats, and protocols to make available the final digital product. We described the process to collect and curate bibliographical (meta)data of the exhibition and digital twin creation process to foster its findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability.