Documentation of historical caravansaries by digital close range photogrammetry

Heritage and culture are two important components in life of societies. Monuments and monumental groups are constructions of great value because of they represent the history and memory of the communities where they are placed. Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Conservation of cultural heritage is a major issue for modem societies, both from economical and cultural viewpoints. Caravansaries are one of the cultural heritages. Caravansary means home or shelter for caravans (caravan meaning a group or convoy of soldiers, traders or pilgrims engaged in long distance travel). Caravansaries supported the flow of commerce, information and people across a network of trade routes of Asia, North Africa and South-Eastern Europe. There are several documentation techniques available in order to document cultural heritage. These techniques are indispensable tools for the conservation of heritage monuments. These methods and equipment commonly are used for the documentation and surveying of buildings. Digital close range photogrammetry is one of the most important methods in documenting of cultural heritage. In this study, historical Zazadin Caravansary (Khan) on Silk Road was evaluated and documented by digital close range photogrammetry. It has shown that this method is very efficient compared with traditional method in documenting cultural heritage. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.