Photos in the tunnel

information

fotos no túnel (Photos in the Tunnel) was the first virtual archaeological reconstruction carried out in Galicia by computer, as far as we know.

The aim was to show the public what the original Tower of Hercules built by the Romans in A Coruña would have looked like and its evolution over time.

The first edition, made in 1993 in postcard format, was published in January 1994 and consisted of five images.

The good reception by the public and specialists led to a second edition, already in poster format in 1997 and a third one in 1999.

In the second edition, the representation of the relationship between the monument and its surroundings, considered from a wide spatial perspective, was presented as a novelty.

Due to the limitations of the techniques available at that time, it was necessary to use several aerial photographs, as well as the corresponding virtual models of the Roman construction and a primitive virtual model of the peninsula of the Tower. All this implied a considerable post-production work as long as the previous production.

The essential process of study, research and contrast as well as the realization itself were carried out entirely with our own means, although it is fair to recognize the disinterested contribution of leading specialists in the field, both in Galicia and outside it.

The result obtained is the one presented in these images and was edited under the brand of fotos no túnel (photos in the tunnel).

The repercussion of the work was considerable in the media, critics and public. The City Council of A Coruña acquired a print run of 50,000 copies and the Xunta de Galicia a special print run of 125 plates in 90×60 cm. format, dated and numbered.

This work had its continuity in another project entitled “Tras las huellas perdidas” (Following the lost tracks), which aimed to recover virtually different abandoned or lost monuments of the Camino de Santiago and which would culminate with the representation of the Romanesque Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela itself.

The project was also initiated with its own resources for the necessary and intense field work, but once it was completed, it had to be abandoned due to lack of institutional support.

Even so, efforts were redirected exclusively to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, although this work was well advanced, but we decided to interrupt it and to this day it remains unpublished.

This decision was difficult to take, but there was a sufficiently justified cause.

By this time we had already had more than ten years of experience in virtual reconstruction and in the study of its problems, as well as in the search for a solution to tackle any virtual reconstruction work in archaeology and history with coherence and method.

All this stimulated us to work in this direction with the intention of creating a valid system to solve any problem of this nature. Consequently, with the change of focus, the field of study was extended to other areas of science such as Geology and other Earth Sciences, in addition to Archaeology and History.

The final result of all this represents the content of the project entitled VISUAL STATION that we are currently presenting to the competent public and private institutions, in order to seek sufficient support to enable us to implement it after more than 10 years of work, exclusively with our own funding.

fotos no túnel images (Hypothetical reconstructions)

The Tower of Hercules in A Coruña in the 2nd Century

Hypothetical view of the territory of A Coruña in the 2nd century when the construction is supposed to have been completed. In the background, five bonfires can be seen, from left to right, marking different identifiable places in the area. These are the Old City, the settlement of the current University Hospital Complex (CHUAC), the Plaza de la Palloza, Castro de Elviña and Monte de Santa Margarita.

This is the most widespread image of the series, having been published in various books, magazines, television documentaries, websites, studies and works related in one way or another to the history of the city and others.

The Tower of Hercules in the 2nd Century

This is a close-up of the Roman tower as seen from the southeast. The figure of a soldier near the southwest corner helps to understand the actual size of the building and its appearance when it was built, showing the outer wall which, together with the inner core, supported the ramp that allowed the ascent to the upper floor.

After the preliminary investigation we decided to adopt for the most part the hypothesis of the German archaeologist Theodor Hauschild as it is also the one most widely supported by specialists.

This decision was also prompted by the excavation carried out in 1992 at the base of the tower and seemed to confirm, with little doubt, the existence of the outer wall, hitherto the most disputed. Although it was not officially recognised until later, the continued monitoring of the excavations and the opinions of the experts encouraged us to take this decision.

Since the publication of this work, all subsequent representations of the primitive Roman tower by different authors have continued to adopt, with greater or lesser variation, this model.

Tower of Hercules. Lighthouse. 2nd Century

Doubts about the supposed illumination of the lighthouse and the system used for this purpose remain unanswered, pending new studies or hypotheses.

The existence of one or more statues may also be confirmed, but the hypotheses in this respect do not meet with the general approval of the experts. Nevertheless, during the course of the present work, some possible hypotheses were explored, without reaching convincing results, neither for the authors of the work nor for the experts themselves. Some of these attempts can be seen in the Test column.

In the end, a classical solution based on Roman models represented in mosaics, frescoes, graffiti, etc., was chosen, and no new news on the subject has emerged in the meantime.

As in the rest of the images in the series, the human figures that can be seen in this shot are represented on a real scale.

The Tower of Hercules between the 5th and 11th centuries

The monument must have suffered the collapse of its outer wall at some uncertain date and in unknown circumstances. For this reason, there is insufficient data to represent this event with more precise dating.

However, thanks to the excavation carried out at the beginning of the 1990s, there is reliable evidence that in the Middle Ages there were living quarters attached to the outer wall of the Tower, which confirms its existence, although we do not know whether it remained whole or only in part, and if it was in part, we do not know at what height.

Although these doubts were present in the preparation of this image and the one assigned for later dates, it was decided to take on the challenge of representing them because of what they could contribute to the dissemination of knowledge of the existence of the outer wall and its structural function, for a person unfamiliar with the study of the monument.

The Tower of Hercules from the 11th century onwards

At some point after the time depicted in the preceding image, the outer wall, based on the existing documentation, must have become an almost total ruin from which Eustaquio Giannini would start in the 18th century for his famous reconstruction of the monument.

This image represents a period before the total disappearance of the outer wall. Between these last two images we are concerned to contribute both to the knowledge of the internal structure of the building and to point out the starting point for understanding the renovation that can be seen today, beyond a specific historical event – the collapse of the outer wall – which took place at an unknown date.

Part of the text is taken from the authors’ original entitled “Visual Reconstructions of Archaeological Spaces. An Outreach Strategy. The Visual Station” from the chapter entitled “Tools of Visual Language” A Coruña, 2018.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version

preliminary tests