Digitizing Challenging Heritage Sites with the Use of iPhone LiDAR and Photogrammetry: The Case-Study of Sourp Magar Monastery in Cyprus

Documenting and preserving cultural heritage assets is increasingly important, with threats from natural disasters, conflicts, climate change, and neglect, and some sites are both contested and physically difficult to access or document, posing the issue of “challenging heritage”. A range of innovative digital methods have emerged, offering practical, low-cost, efficient techniques for the 3D documentation of threatened heritage, including smart phone-based mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and photogrammetry. Such techniques offer quick, accessible, and cost-effective alternatives to terrestrial laser scanners, albeit with reduced accuracy and detail, offering practical solutions in cases with restricted funding, limited time for access, complex architectural geometries, or the unavailability of high-end equipment on site. This paper presents a real-world case study integrating iPhone LiDAR with aerial photogrammetry for the rapid documentation of Sourp Magar Monastery, a Medieval site located in a forested slopes of the Kyrenia Range, Cyprus. Due to its poor state of preservation and years of abandonment, as well as its remote nature and location, the monastery is considered a “challenging heritage” monument. In the context of a recent international restoration initiative, a preliminary digital survey was undertaken to both document the current condition of Sourp Magar and contribute to a better understanding of its construction history. This paper outlines the workflow integrating the use of smartphone LiDAR and aerial photogrammetry, evaluates its efficacy in challenging heritage sites, and discusses its potential implications for rapid, low-cost documentation. Finally, the present paper aims to show the multifaceted benefit of easy-to-use, low-cost technologies in the preliminary study of sites and monuments.