Cultural Heritage Documentation and Conservation: Three-Dimensional (3D) Laser Scanning and Geographical Information System (GIS) Techniques for Thematic Mapping of Facade Stonework of St. Nicholas Church (Pisa, Italy)

This paper reports the mapping of the stones, including marbles and brick masonry, used for building the façade of the medieval church of St. Nicholas (XI century A.D.), one of the most interesting church in Pisa, due also to the nearby famous octagonal bell tower. Mapping of stone materials was performed using a CAD/GIS software package for storing and processing spatial information of the ashlars, obtained using 3D laser-scanning data, combined with high-resolution images, and stone-to-stone observations.Based on collected data, the façade of the church of St. Nicholas appeared mostly composed of rocks belonging to the metamorphic Tuscan sequence, quartzites and marbles from Mt. Pisano area. Other type of rocks were also observed, as black limestones quarried at some kilometres northwest from Pisa in the Monti d’Oltre Serchio area, white Apuan marbles and Macigno sandstones. Conversely, intarsia appeared mainly made up of serpentinite and, subordinately, red limestones laid in white Apuan and Mt. Pisano marbles.