Virtual Worlds
Medieval Turku -- The Lost City by Kari Uotila & Minna Sartes

A vivid commercial network was established in the Baltic Sea area during the Middle Ages, mostly through the influence of German merchants of the Hanseatic League. Well organized towns were established on the southern coast of the Baltic already in the 12th century, and from the beginning of the 13th century, also in Sweden, Finland and the Baltic states. Typical for these towns was that the majority of the leading merchants were German and that the towns were equipped with handsome churches, town halls and stone buildings. The only significant Middle Age town in Finland - Turku - was one these regional centers, through which furs and miscellaneous products of the northern forests were hauled to Europe.

The Medieval city plan of Turku was preserved until the beginning of the 19th century, when a disastrous city fire destroyed the entire city to the ground. What remained was leveled under a 2 -3 meters thick layer of fill, and the new, Empire-style city was built on top of the old. Research of the old, lost city has been conducted by archaeologists and historians during various excavations for more than a century. In the beginning of the 1990s a large excavation was started in the very core of the Middle Age town, where the museum "Aboa Vetus" presently resides. Several Medieval streets, city blocks, and buildings were discovered during these excavations, and the idea of creating a reconstruction of the Medieval city of Turku was born.
 

(click on the image for a detail view, 145k)

(click on the image for a detail view, 210k)

All available archaeological and historical data has been used in the 3D reconstruction of the medieval city of Turku. Historically recorded differences in the social status and its influence on the buildings of various parts of the town were noted. The initial goal was to construct a model of the town at the end of the 15th century, of a clearly distinct period, which would enable the use of historical data regarding city fires and other events. The exact time frame placed demands on the model in terms of the layering of the constructional history of the town; some buildings were old and tattered, some were usable, while others were new and in a good condition.
 

(click on the image for a detail view, 435k)

(click on the image for a detail view, 140k)

The software used in the project comprises various versions of AutoCad^TM (presently Release 14), which was used to create the basic model, which was then transformed into the 3D Studio Max^TM environment (presently Release 2). The 3D Studio Max^TM software was utilized to create different animated sequences of the town, which present both airborne and street-level views. In 1998, a VRML model was added, created by using Max technology and run with the Cosmo^TM Player software.

The Lost City virtual presentation was opened at the Aboa Vetus museum in April, 1998, and it will be updated during the following years. A broad database is linked to the presentation, which will inform the visitors of the Middle Ages and the research regarding it.

The project creators can be reached at: kari.uotila@kolumbus.fi or minna.sartes@utu.fi