Ontology for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage 3D Models
OntPreHer3D is an ontology designed to support the documentation, analysis, and publication of 3D digital reconstructions of lost or never-built architectural heritage. It enables structured and semantically rich descriptions of 3D models, their sources, interpretation processes, and preservation context.
Namespace: https://www.ontscidoc3d.hs-mainz.de/OntPreHer3D/
Prefix: oph
OntPreHer3D builds upon and aligns with the following established ontologies:
This ontology was developed by Igor Bajena as part of a PhD dissertation focused on the documentation and publication of hypothetical digital 3D reconstructions of lost or never-built architectural heritage.
It provides:
- A semantic framework for tracing the origins, uncertainties, and sources of 3D reconstructions
- Structures to support transparency and reproducibility in 3D digital heritage workflows
It also served as a base for semantic repository of hypothetical 3D reconstruction models within the scope of the CoVHer – Computer-based Visualization of Architectural Cultural Heritage project, funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme, Key Action 2 (KA2) – Capacity Building in the Field of Higher Education. The classes and properties developed in OntPreHer3D are aligned with the CoVHer Glossary, which reflects a shared conceptual foundation developed by partners of the CoVHer project from:
- 🇮🇹 University of Bologna (Italy)
- 🇩🇪 Hochschule Mainz – University of Applied Sciences
& Interessengemeinschaft für Semantische Datenverarbeitung e.V. (Germany) - 🇵🇱 Warsaw University of Technology (Poland)
- 🇪🇸 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
& La Tempesta: City, Culture & Technology (Spain) - 🇵🇹 Faculdade de Arquitectura, Universidade do Porto (Portugal)
The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The contents of this ontology and repository are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
Development was supported by Mark Fichtner, Peggy Große, and Robert Nasarek, who each contributed in distinct ways:
- Mark Fichtner provided technical guidance and support regarding Linked Open Data principles and helped establish a solid foundation for working with semantic technologies.
- Peggy Große acted as a mentor throughout the ontology development process, offering continuous conceptual feedback and thorough revisions of the ontology structure.
- Robert Nasarek, along with the WissKI Community, assisted in resolving technical issues related to the implementation and integration of the ontology.
ontology/ → All RDF/OWL ontology files (by version)
docs/ → Documentation, diagrams, and usage examples
LICENSE.md → CC-BY 4.0 License
CHANGELOG.md → Log of changes across versions
CONTRIBUTING.md → Guidelines for collaboration
- Browse the
ontology/folder to find the latest RDF/OWL file. - Import into Protégé or another OWL editor.
- Review documentation in the
docs/folder for modeling guidance and example queries.
This project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
You are free to share and adapt the material with proper attribution.
If you use OntPreHer3D in your work, please cite it as:
Bajena, Igor. Ontology for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage 3D Models (OntPreHer3D), Version X.X.X, 20XX. Available at: https://github.com/igorbajena/OntPreHer3D
For example, for version 1.0.1:
Bajena, Igor. Ontology for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage 3D Models (OntPreHer3D), Version 1.0.1, 2024. Available at: https://github.com/igorbajena/OntPreHer3D/releases/tag/v1.0.1
The development and conceptual framework of this ontology is described in:
Bajena, Igor (2025). Digital 3D reconstruction as a research environment in art and architecture history. Infrastructure for documentation and publication. [Dissertation thesis], Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna. Dottorato di ricerca in Architettura e culture del progetto, 37 Ciclo.
Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
For questions or feedback, please open an issue or contact:
📧 igor.bajena@hs-mainz.de