Executive Summary

Figure 1: Modern map of bell tower locations in the Venetian Lagoon

In order to preserve these important Venetian structures, it is important to further understand their current state. In 1992 the Venice Project Center began collecting data on the bells and bell towers, and as of 2013, had mapped and collected information on over half of these towers in the region, including field note data on dimensions and features, photographs, and some audio recordings. Because this data was incomplete, and in some cases outdated (and, because new technologies now allow for more rigorous data collection) this project aimed to update and complete data collection on the bells and bell towers on the Vicariate of Cannaregio and the northern lagoon. In total, we were able to visit and document complete information on 20 bell towers during our seven week stay in Venice from November 5th to December 6th. We collected data on the exterior of each bell tower as well as the interior shaft, including its walls, supports, landings, the belfry, and specifically the bells within the belfry. In order to publicize this information to online applications such as Venipedia, the Bells Application at bells.veniceprojectcenter.org, and the Cartography application, and to draw conclusions about the conditions, accessibility, and features of these artifacts, we prioritized the bells and took over 9,000 pictures for photogrammetry purposes. From these, we made over 48 3D models of Venetian bells that will be valuable resources for further analysis. We were also able to produce 3D belfry models when the belfry and shaft of the towers were clear enough.

Our four objectives, over the course of the term, were to update and organize the current inventory of bell towers, update and organize the current inventory of bells, publicize information and develop a plan to allow for future updates, and to create a plan for the long term preservation of these structures. We were able to accomplish the first two objectives by conducting field work for a month and a half. As a team we were able to concisely update and expand upon data collection for the 20 bell towers we had the opportunity to visit. GoPro ascended videos, bell sound audio, and pictures used for panoramas, photogrammetry, and overall analysis were collected for each other the towers and their bells. The technology used for all this data collection was the latest technology for audio recording, and the quality was heavily improved from previous project years. This quality of data collection was essential to our publicizing objective because the panoramas, 3D models, and specific pictures of the exterior, shaft, and belfry would be used for the various applications that we worked on. The sound recorder was crucial to our sound documentation for each individual bell due to its sophisticated design. By recording the ringing of each bell in the tower we were able to identify the musical note and frequency of the bell at its strike note.

After collecting the information on both bells and bell towers, we organized it into a machine-readable spreadsheet, which allowed us to transfer the information into online applications such as

• • “Venipedia” - A wikipedia like website containing all information on Venice. All of the towers visited by this group already had their own Venipedia pages before the project started, so the team simply updated the displayed information for each page and modified the template. These updates included new photos, links to other applications, and factual information on external and internal data.

  • bells.veniceprojectcenter.org - An application created by past groups to display more interactive forms of data such as panoramas and audio in a more engaging way. Updates for this application is where the team put most of their time.

  • cartography.veniceprojectcenter.org - An application used to display six archaic maps of Venice, functioned by storing a number of layers for each catographic map that could be toggeled to highlight different points of interest. This application was modified to accurately display the 20 towers that we visited on the first four maps of Venice.

In addition to publicizing this newly collected data, we also researched and developed plans for preserving, promoting, and raising funds for historical artifacts like bells. After reviewing what other organizations have done, we further explored several possibilities, including donation/collection boxes, audio tours, and merchandising (including sale of ringtones and bell souvenirs) for the purpose of fundraising and education. We created a set of recommendations and plans that included these strategies and further developed a plan for creating and marketing bell tower keychains. Funds from these keychains would help the churches in the preservation of their towers.

Ultimately, since the development of this project in 1995, we are the first team to successfully visit 20 towers in the seven week study period. We were able to perform detailed ascended surveys for each of these towers and by doing so we were able to analyze our data collection process for future groups. We believe that future studies on the bells and bell towers of Venice will find our data useful, the analysis of our methods of data collection beneficial, and our modifications to user applications helpful in their field work.

Over the past seven weeks, we have had the great opportunity of increasing our knowledge of bells and bell towers in collaboration with the Campanologia Organization and sharing it with the public. We have spent these weeks developing ways to reach our mission by collecting, organizing, and analyzing data; producing 3D models of bells and bell tower belfries, stitching together panorama views from the top of the tower,analyzing bell sounds, modifying the bells.veniceprojectcenter.org application, and the cartography application. We are hopeful that our work has been beneficial in helping preserve the historic bells and bell towers of Venice and reconnecting them to the public.