Lost Cities in the Digital Era: the case of pre-earquake Lisbon

Abstract

Lisbon was ruined by a major earthquake on November 1st, 1755. The seismic shocks, the tsunami, and the fire that followed massively destroyed its urban and architectural fabric, and its written and iconographic memory was seriously curtailed. There is a significant historiography on pre-earthquake Lisbon, particularly dating from the last 30 years. However, it was vital to convert this knowledge into a global outlook on the city which was lost. Virtual archaeology provided the necessary tools, from a technical and a methodological perspective. City and Spectacle: A Vision of Pre-Earthquake Lisbon was thus devised as a virtual re-creation/simulation of all the area of Lisbon destroyed by the 1755 earthquake and on which the new city was built. Developed at the Centre for Art History and Artistic Research (CHAIA), of the University of Évora, this project aims to re-create the physical, social, and cultural dimensions of Lisbon on the eve of the earthquake, through the use of Second Life®/OpenSimulator technology. The documentary sources available, either primary or secondary, are being tested in an interactive and immersive model and in a collaborative real-time environment, so as to give the project an innovative laboratory dimension. Also, the fact that users are able to interact with the model as well as with other users in realtime transforms the data itself and, as a result, the object of study. The Lisbon that is being re-created/simulated is not just a working hypothesis presented as a glimpse into the collective memory, but is also a means for contemporaneous fruition of this memory.