The baroque marble altars in some church of Bari (Italy): 3d survey, characterization and prevenance of materials and valorization hypothesis

This paper focuses on the polychrome marble altars of the crypt of the St. Sabino’s Cathedral and of the St. Giacomo church, both in Bari (Italy), precious evidences of use and reuse of ancient marble, combined with local materials. The study is part of a larger research project (MARMORA), related to ancient marbles used in the Cultural Heritage of Puglia, and aims to improve knowledge and preserve these works, in order to improve their valorization and enjoyment. Therefore, firstly a high definition investigation was performed, then the characterization and provenance studies of the stone materials were carried out. Preliminary results allowed to obtain a virtual and digital representation of the altars, including the whole dataset on the characterization of the materials and suggested valorization and conservation hypothesis.