La metrofotografia e l’invenzione di un rilievo virtuale per la ricostruzione dei monumenti

In 1930 Henri Deneux published a short manual entitled La métrophotographie appliquée à l’architecture. Metrophotography is the progenitor of photogrammetry and is the reverse operation of putting an object into perspective. Its application to architecture, proposed by Deneux, made it possible to derive the real dimensions of an object from photographic images. In comparison with traditional survey, this method made it possible to notably shorten time, measure the inaccessible parts of building and even reproduce ruined monuments from post cards and photographs taken before their destruction. After the WWI, the metrophotography answered the need to rebuild an architectural heritage that had not yet been documented, protected, or listed in an inventory. Therefore, using Deneux’s manual as a starting point, the article aims to examine the potential and limits of modern technologies for reproducing and spreading images of architectural heritage in relation to the preservation of its materiality.