An active cultural-heritage protection project digitizing heritage sites across the Niš region in 3D and presenting them as 360° virtual tours and VR — aimed at revitalizing the Niš Fortress as a centre for the creative industries. Delivered across the City of Niš and the municipalities of Svrljig, Gadžin Han and Merošina, with the Regional Development Agency JUG (RRA JUG), funded through EU PRO Plus.
Field acquisition used a Mavic 3E drone. The Niš Fortress was captured from an average height of 70 m, gathering over 7,000 high-resolution photographs. The data was processed with 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) using PostShot and SuperSplat — giving far higher fidelity of texture and lighting than traditional mesh models.
Sites and tours delivered:
· Niš Fortress — full 3D reconstruction with an interactive tour through five strategic points: the Arsenal, Summer Stage, Gunpowder Magazine, Bali-beg Mosque and the Belgrade Gate.
· Mediana archaeological site — precise photogrammetry of the ancient architecture, with a five-point tour.
· Svrljig (Old Town — Kulina) — a five-sphere tour shot with specialized equipment for high cliffs.
· Gadžin Han (Church of the Ascension, Veliki Krčimir) — exterior and interior digitization across five points.
· Merošina (Tatkova zemunica & Gospojina Church) — three optimized spheres per site.
All models and tours were retopologized and optimized for fast web delivery, then prepared for integration on the official project portal — ensuring long-term public access to the digitized heritage.
Image slot — drop a real screenshot from this project here.