In the early 10th century, a Spanish bishop and 200 monks made a
pilgrimage to a small monastic church in the holy town of Santiago
de Compostela, where the body of the Apostle St. James was buried.
By the Middle Ages, millions flocked on carriage, on horseback and
on foot to what had become a Romanesque cathedral. Â
Today, thousands of pilgrims still travel each year the 500
miles of the famous route ““ the Camino de Santiago ““ to
experience a place rich with Medieval and Christian culture.
Their experiences were recently shared by dozens of UCLA
students who have been making the journey to Compostela over the
last four years through a summer travel study program.
It is, in part, these students’ experiences that have also
made a journey to this historical site within reach of every
student on campus. This pilgrimage can now be made in the comfort
of a cushioned seat and an air-conditioned room.
While all roads in France and Spain lead to the real Compostela,
all red and black signs in the Math and Science building lead to a
virtual Compostela.
With the use of the Visualization Portal, a virtual reality
theater and a three-dimensional lab hidden within the halls of the
Math Science building, John Dagenais, a professor of Medieval
Spanish literature, began realizing his dream ““ a virtual
reconstruction of the cathedral as it existed in the year 1211.
The dream of creating the virtual model coincided with the dream
of making the Medieval Spanish literature course more interesting,
Dagenais said.
Dagenais said he decided to incorporate the pilgrimage road as a
motif for the course, and to actually make the trip with students
during the summer.
“Instead of saying, “˜This week we’re in the
13th century,’ I could say, “˜This week we’re in
Leon,'” he said. “(The trip) is a concrete hook
to hang the Middle Ages on.”
For many of the 26 students in this year’s program, the
trip ““ from which they returned in mid-July ““ was an
opportunity to connect with the past.
“You realize that millions of people walked these same
roads and you feel like you know them or have a glimpse of what
they might have seen,” said Douglas Reid, a fourth-year
economics student.
Many also said the trip was better than learning the material in
a classroom.
“It is way better just because you are actually in that
historical place,” said Wendy Medrano, a fourth-year Spanish
and psychology student. “You are actually listening because
you are in this place and you want to know about it.”
Gregory Milton, a graduate student of history and a teaching
assistant for the course, agreed that traveling was an effective
way of teaching the material.
“That’s one of the nice things about this class;
it’s not just sitting and hearing about the Middle Ages,
it’s actually going to the places we are talking about. …
Traveling is part of teaching about the Middle Ages,” Milton
said.
This year’s “pilgrimage” began as students
boarded a tour bus in Paris and continued down to the southern
French city of Arles. From there, students traveled through the
Spanish border and to the entrance of the Santiago de Compostela
Cathedral, covering a total distance of about 1,300 miles in three
weeks. Â
It is about the last three miles of the pilgrimage and the
entire cathedral that Dagenais is working to recreate as a virtual
model.
He said the model, which currently covers about one square
kilometer (0.62 miles), requires the contribution of various
skills. Everyone ranging from students who have made the journey to
graduate students of art and architecture to Academic Technology
Services contribute to the creation of the model. About $50,000 has
gone into the project so far, Dagenais said.
“(The model) has exceeded my expectations and become the
project I’m most passionately interested in,” he
said.
Students are assigned to photograph and record measurements in
extreme detail of one section of the cathedral during their trip.
This year, some students were also required to record different
sounds of the cathedral for five minutes at a time so a sound
element could be included in the model.
In addition to sound, the three-dimensional model will
incorporate illumination to add to its authenticity in the future,
Dagenais said. He stressed that the project is ongoing ““
there is always more detail to be added.
Dean Abernathy, a graduate student in art and the head modeler
of the cathedral, said the base model was made by using the
published research and drawings of a 20th century architect as a
“point of departure.” He added that the cathedral was
digitally constructed and then textured using photographs,
measurements, descriptions and sketches provided by the
students.
Having been involved with the model since its inception,
Abernathy got the opportunity to see the real thing for the first
time this summer.
“It was obvious that the photographs can’t do (the
cathedral) justice,” he said.
But he added that he will be able to enhance the model through
his first-hand experiences.
Having viewed the model before departing, Reid said the model
came “pretty close” to what the real thing probably
looked like in the 13th century. The gothic elements added to the
cathedral since then have obscured the medieval qualities.
“A lot of people have contributed their skills; students
have been very enthusiastic,” Dagenais said. “It is a
dream come true.”