Les portails et les sculptures de la cathédrale de Modène: problèmes d’histoire de l’art, de documentation, de conservation. I. L’histoire

The portals of the Cathedral of Modena, as well as the complex of architecture and sculpture of this important monument of Romanesque art in Italy, has long attracted the interest of several scholars in regard to various aspects: historical, structural, stylistic, iconographical. In the nineteenth century there were also partial surveys of the structure and the portals. During the twentieth century, in-depth studies on the architecture and sculpture have produced some campaigns of photogrammetry mapping and more recently laser-scanner measurements. In recent years the entire building and its bell tower (Torre “Ghirlandina”) were involved in a campaign of laserscanning conducted by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, which produced high-resolution surveys especially of the sculptures. These measurements were taken for documentation purposes, but also to control the state of conservation and monitoring of the sculptures and architectural structures.