High-tech scans by London non-profit help to digitally preserve Vimy Ridge history
Vimy Foundation says the plan is to make the 3D models available online in March
A London, Ont.-based non-profit is using state-of-the-art technology to make an important piece of Canadian history accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.
The group Canadigm has started a project to digitally preserve prototype sculptures, or maquettes, created for the construction of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in northern France.
The maquettes, designed by the memorial's architect, Walter Allward, are smaller drafts of the 20 symbolic human figures which dot the towering limestone memorial, unveiled in 1936.
Three of the maquettes are on display at the Military Communications and Electronics Museum in Kingston, while 17 are in the custody of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, according to the museum website.
To preserve them for future generations, the Vimy Foundation has tasked Canadigm with creating digital replicas of the maquettes using 3D scanning technology.
"The figures that are there are life-size, so they're not small by any stretch," said Zenon Andrusyszyn, who founded Canadigm in 2010. The largest maquette, he said, is for the figure known as Canada Bereft, which is also the largest figure on the monument.
Sculpted out of clay by Allward in England and then cast in a plaster mould, the maquettes were shipped to France, where sculptors reproduced them twice as large using measurement markings which are still visible in the plaster.
"The maquettes... you can actually see the sculptors' marks in there. You can see the way he filed or chiselled away the plaster. It's just phenomenal. There's no words to describe it," Andrusyszyn said.
Towering over the Douai Plain atop the highest point of Vimy Ridge, known as Hill 145, the monument stands where Canadian forces faced some of the toughest fighting of the three-day Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Thousands of Canadian soldiers from all four Canadian divisions fought to successfully capture the heavily-fortified ridge from Germany, but at a cost. Roughly 3,600 of them died and more than 7,000 were wounded.
The monument honours the sacrifices made by hundreds of thousands of Canadians during the war, and the more than 66,000 who died.
To scan the historic maquettes, a two-person team waves handheld scanners across the plaster to create something akin to a topographical map, along with a colour image of the surface.
The data is fed into a laptop, where a program assembles the parts to create a 3D model. A high-resolution camera is also used to take 360 degree photographs. The process is being documented by London-based filmmaker Paul Culliton.
Not including data processing, it can take up to two-and-a-half hours to scan each maquette to ensure as much detail is captured so future scans aren't necessary.
Given their delicate condition, the Canadigm team has to travel to the maquettes to scan them, which they'll be doing this week in Ottawa.
"They are publicly visible. Certainly the ones at the War Museum have been visitable for quite some time, but... they don't travel. They're too fragile to go from museum to museum," said Caitlin Bailey, executive director of the Vimy Foundation.
In addition to creating high-resolution files that can be used for conservation activities, the hope is that the 3D scanning will make it easier for all Canadians to view the maquettes, even if they can't get to Ottawa or Kingston, she said.
The plan is to have the 3D models available to view on the Vimy Foundation website by late March as part of a larger educational project that will be announced soon.
Some of the maquettes are for figures located at the top of the Vimy monument pylons, meaning it's the only way most people can see them up close. Drone images of the top of the monument are also available through Google Maps.
"(It gives) people a chance to really get close to them and see all of the little details, and think about not just the figures themselves, but also how they were made and the people who were involved," she said.
This isn't the first time Canadigm's has helped scan Vimy Ridge history. The group has made multiple visits to Maison Blanche, a former medieval-era chalk quarry where Canadian soldiers stayed in the lead-up to the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Connected to a network of military tunnels, or subways, dug beneath Vimy, the cave walls contain carvings made by soldiers of their regimental badges, their names, service numbers, and other messages.
"It's a very moving experience, let's put it this way. It's still. It's quiet. You can hear your heartbeat," Andrusyszyn said. "I can just well imagine the number of troops that were down there waiting for the battle with nothing to do but carve their names on the wall."
Canadigm could return to the caves in the future, pending approval by the French government, as part of an ongoing project led by U.K.-based Durand Group, Andrusyszyn said, noting there is much more Canadian history left to explore.
"Across the Canadian frontlines, there are over 14 tunnels that have yet to be explored, two of which are part of the Vimy memorial site," he said.
"They've got names, Canadian names, there as well. Many of the others haven't even been touched."
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