Anaglyphs and stereoscopic vision in interdisciplinary education and outreach: The historical-artistic heritage of two Spanish cities seen through stereophotographs

Stereopsis is the most advanced stage of vision. This characteristic of our visual system and its applications is particularly interesting for optics and optometry students and professors. It is also significant for other disciplines, including history of art, history, fine arts, and architecture, where stereophotos and anaglyphs provide an effective, easy-to-use tool for enabling depth perception of historical-artistic heritage (monuments, architecture, sculptures, etc.). Stereoscopic vision has also led to attractive applications for the general public in the field of entertainment (3D cinema, virtual reality, etc.). However, people's knowledge about how our stereoscopic vision works, or how a stereo photo is made, is limited. To improve the teaching and learning process about these issues in formal education, we developed an innovative interdisciplinary teaching project, carried out over four academic years, which connected stereophotography and stereoscopic vision with the historical-artistic heritage of Granada, Spain. The participants included professors and undergraduate students from the degrees in optics and optometry, fine arts, history, history of art, architecture, and law at the University of Granada. They studied various monuments and visited these, sharing their knowledge, working collaboratively and writing reports, as well as making stereophotos, stereoscopes and 3D glasses. We also provided scientific and cultural outreach through a publication (involving interdisciplinary knowledge and anaglyphs of Granada), and carried out several conferences and exhibitions, some of which were part of the International Day of Light in Spain, such as the exhibitions "GRANAglyphs" (Parque de las Ciencias Science Museum, Granada) and "Anaglifos galdurienses" (Jodar, Spain).