Historical minorities have left behind many decayed buildings and ruins. Their digital reconstruction by means of computer animation technology should play therefore a basic role in documenting this lost cultural heritage. A small but impressive project on the ruin of Corfe Castle in Southern England shows in an exemplary way how such an undertaking can be realized:

The huge potential of this digital archaeology is also underlined by this slide view of today’s ruin and the reconstructed original condition of the castle. The 3D model should also be usable for others purposes such as virtual reality.

As considerable as this method is, the reconstruction took its programmer four months, including extensive research on historical accounts and representations of the castle in order to provide historical accuracy. However if there will be in the near future tools available which are usable without significant expenses even for technical nonprofessionals, 3D-reconstructions will surely reach a considerable output in the field of cultural work.