Project Overview
The Visionary Cross Project began in the early 2010s as a collaborative initiative by Daniel Paul O’Donnell (University of Lethbridge), Roberto Rosselli Del Turco (University of Turin), Catherine Karkov (University of Leeds), Martin Foys (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Dot Porter (UPenn Library). The project emerged from a shared interest in developing a new kind of digital scholarly edition—one that not only preserved Old English texts but also integrated them meaningfully with cultural artifacts. Specifically, the project focuses on 3D visualizations of monumental stone crosses from the Old English period, such as the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses. These artifacts are significant not only for their inscriptions and iconography but also for their connection to Old English religious poetry, particularly The Dream of the Rood, which shares thematic and visual motifs with the carvings on these crosses.
In 2012, a 3D scanning campaign took place in order to obtain a high-quality 3D representation of the Ruthwell Cross. The whole data processing pipeline was completed using MeshLab, the open-source mesh processing tool created by Visual Computing Lab. In 2017, there was a second scanning campaign, this time for the Bewcastle Cross. As these first two models were being developed, separate divisions of the project worked on using photogrammetry to make a model of the Brussels cross. The photos were captured by a separate project in 2005 but were usable for the Visionary Cross Project. With the models in place, the project can focus on creating the edition.
Research Outcome
The goal of the Visionary Cross Project is to move beyond traditional print or static digital editions by linking these 3D models with annotated texts, translations, and scholarly commentary—creating a multimodal edition that facilitates deeper engagement. This will be done by creating a 3D Edition that is usable by both the general public and scholarly communities.
About the researchers
The Visionary Cross Project has always been a highly collaborative project with investigators and researchers coming from different institutions around the world. At the University of Hong Kong, there is Jocelyn McKnight, an Mphil student in Linguistics and recent alum of the University of Lethbridge. For more information on the current team and past researchers, visit the website https://visionarycross.humanitiesinnovationlab.ca.
For inquiries, please contact
jocelyn.mcknight@connect.hku.hk
atlab@hku.hk
