PROCEEDINGS of the23rd International Congress on Acoustics
9 to 13 September 2019 in Aachen, Germany

Digitization of cultural heritage of the UNESCO site - Lipnica
Murowana
Pawel MALECKI1; Jerzy WICIAK1; Katarzyna SOCHACZEWSKA1 Natalia KRYGOWSKA2
1

AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland (pawel.malecki@agh.edu.pl)2

Jagiellonian University, PolandABSTRACT
Lipnica Murowana is a unique, although a small town in the center of the Małopolska Region. It is known of
the 15th century St. Leonard wooden church that was entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003.
The article shows the activities of THE MULTISENSORY UNESCO project that was aimed at digitalizing
and sharing the cultural and national heritage of Lipnica Murowana. The paper focuses on acoustical layer
digitalization. It shows soundscape analysis and recording and the acoustics of the St. Leonard church andother interesting historical monuments.
Keywords: soundscape, ambisonics, wooden church, UNESCO

1. INTRODUCTION
In our life, not only do we seek a sense of security, but also a sense of belonging, which enables
us to understand both our own selves and the surrounding reality. This is possible if we reach to thepast, which surrounds us everywhere. It manifests itself not only through material objects, but also
through stories, memories, everyday life routines, rituals related to some events. Buildings are durable
traces of the past, while immaterial resources constitute the binder that fills whole narrative with acontent and anchors it in the present.
The sound is not a dominant sense in human perception. Nevertheless, it takes special role in art
and human esthetics. It is inseparable element of any landscapes or environment and the acoustic
response characterizes any buildings or interiors.
As a part of the THE MULTISENSORY UNESCO project (1), the employees of the Department ofMechanics and Vibroacoustics at AGH UST in Krakow have registered, recorded and analyzed
soundscape of Lipnica Murowana together with acoustic measurements in Lipnica’s Churches.

2. THE MULTISENSORY UNESCO
Acoustical research and activities shown in current paper were part of complex project THE
MULTISENSORY UNESCO (1), that was realized by Pełni Kultury foundation (2) in 2017. Within
the project, among others St. Leonard’s church from the UNESCO site was fully digitalized (Figure 1).
In 2003, the wooden churches in southern Małopolska were entered on the UNESCO World Heritage
List. The church of St. Leonard in Lipnica Murowana is among these six sites. The justification saysthat they constitute a unique example of different aspects of the medieval church construction
traditions in the Roman-Catholic culture. St. Leonard’s church in Lipnica Murowana is one of thehistorical monuments included in the Wooden Architecture Route in Małopolska which connects over250 sites. Also, the St. Andrew’s church and St. Simon’s church located in Lipnica were digitalized
as well. St. Andrew’s church in Lipnica is over 650 years old and was erected by a decree of King
Casimir III the Great in 1363. The contemporary appearance of the church is the result of multiple
actions concerning its reconstruction. St. Szymon’s church stands on the site of his former family
house. It was built in 1636 thanks to the efforts of Stanisław Lubomirski, according to the order ofKing Władysław IV. The church was rebuilt in the 1960s. The pipe organ inside comes from the 19thcentury.

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The uniqueness of the project goes with sociological, cultural, ethnographical and artistic layers
digitalization together with traditional material heritage. Within the project, traditions, oral history,socio-cultural practices such as customs, rituals, annual ceremonies, knowledge and skills related to
traditional crafts were digitalized. Therefore, sound and acoustical layer was almost as significant as
visual part of the project.

Figure 1 – 3D model of St. Leonard church (3)The project allows free distribution and sharing of its content in open access philosophy. It ispossible to share, transform and use its results to create any new digital content.
Among others, advanced 3D models by laser scanning of all three churches together with theirequipment were executed by 3Deling company (3). Additionally, high resolution photos, orthophotos
and visualizations of every entry were made.

3. ACUSTICAL LAYER
There were several activities according to the sounds and acoustics within the project:• acoustical measurements (Figure 2) and analysis of all interiors listed in previous chapter,
spatial impulse response measurements using 1 st order ambisonic microphone Soundfield
ST350, standard omni-directional sound source, commercial full-range active loudspeaker
QSC K10 within several locations (Figure 2);• soundscape of Lipnica Murowana town and surroundings recordings preceded by
ethnological surveys and sociological research in order to classify soundscape soundfutures and role in local society,• recordings of unique and local sounds associated with Lipnica Murowana (such as local
traditional songs, folklore bands and a positive organ); a positive organ is a portable
instrument. It is very similar to a regal. From the outside, it has the form of a wooden
coffer or chest, hence its other name: chest or box organ. It contains a keyboard, a systemof pipes and two bellows. The instrument in the Lipnica church is dated back to the early
17th century. The positive organ in St. Leonard’s Church in Lipnica Murowana is one ofseven working instruments of such type in Poland,6758

Figure 2 – St. Leonard church interior during the measurements next to its floor plan withmicrophone and sound source locations•audio description of the project causes that it is also easily available to people with sight
disfunctions.

Measurements results together with the impulse response files are freely available on the project
website (1). Results were prepared in numerical and graphical form for: reverberation time (Figure 3),
sound clarity for speech and music, spatial and timbre features, speech intelligibility index and otherstandard room acoustic estimators.

Reverberation time2,5T20 [s]

2

1,5

1

0,50125 Hz

250 Hz500 Hz1000 Hz2000 Hz

4000 Hz

8000 Hz

St. Andrew’s church

1,96

2,025

2,035

2,03

1,94

1,65

1,15

St. Leonard’s church

0,91,06

1,1

1,08

1

0,87

0,66

St. Simon’s church

2,32

1,94

2,01

2,05

1,92

1,59

1,06

Frequency

Figure 3 – Reverberation time of measured churches in Lipnica Murowana

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SPL
measurements
together withsoundscaperecordings

Binauralized

Direction of soundB-formatfollows photo angle

recordings,
synchronized withphoto panorama
position

Figure 4 – Reverberation time of measured churches in Lipnica Murowana
On the project website, there is also a set of all impulse responses in several formats and all otherrecorded sounds free to download. As all recordings were conducted using the ambisonic microphone,there are following formats available:- B-format,- stereo,- binaural,- 5.1,- 7.1.
Together with soundscapes recordings, sound pressure level was measured so this data is available

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for future use within psychoacoustic test or accurate soundfield playback in laboratory conditions.
Some of Lipnica Murowana soundscapes were synchronized with photo panoramas. The concept ofconnection of ambisonic sounds with photo panoramas is shown in Figure 4. Sounds are decoded fromambisonics to binaural format according to view angle of panorama in real time. In the photopanoramas inside rooms there is sound of guide or an instrument convoluted with current spatial
impulse response.

4. SUMMARY
After the success of Lipnica Murowana digitalization, Pełni Kultury foundation continue efforts
with another Polish UNESCO sites. The project allows an opportunity to learn about the history ofunique places, but—first of all—the people who inhabit it, their stories, traditions and customs. The
intensions are to discover this with all senses: to smell the wood of which the oldest buildings here
are built, admire the colorful flowers that decorate the famous Easter palms in Lipnica, listen to theconversations of the locals, or touch the oldest historical monuments.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Project was subsidized by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage within the framework ofthe DIGITAL CULTURE 2017 program and by the Lipnica Murowana Community.

REFERENCES
1. The MULTISENSORY UNESCO project website, http://digitalunesco.pl/, accessed: 29 may 2019.
2. Pelni Kultury foundation website, http://pelnikultury.pl/, accessed: 29 may 2019.
3. 3Deling website http://www.3deling.pl/, accessed: 29 may 2019.

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