Have you ever wondered what an old building previously looked like? Have you ever seen pictures of a building and thought “wow, I wish I could see that”? Historical reconstruction is the recreation of the building based on blueprints, pictures, books, and other archival materials.
The problems that face reconstructing a historical building is that preservationists claim that reconstructing a building is unethical and more detrimental to the historical value of the building; Some historians agree with this stance, but it is inevitable for a historical building (since they are incredibly old) to either be destroyed, altered, or receive a complete remodel.
(Daria Kareeva and Valeriya Glazkova, “Reconstruction and restoration of historical buildings of transport infrastructure” IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1-7)
With the rise in technology, people are utilizing the 3D elements and archival material via libraries (such as the Oklahoma State University Library Archives) to reconstruct historical buildings.
Examples of virtual historical reconstruction: