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Traditional documentation of historical architectural objects typically consisted of architectural plans, manually acquired measurements, sketches, and a series of photographs accompanied by descriptive notes regarding their positioning and context. With the accelerating development and increasing accessibility of digital technologies, including advanced 3D graphics, new possibilities have emerged for contemporary art historians. At present, the process of cultural heritage digitization can be conceptually divided into two distinct yet complementary stages. The first involves shape and color acquisition, carried out primarily by specialists representing broadly defined computer science and engineering disciplines, such as scanning engineers and computer graphics experts, supported when needed by art historians. The second stage encompasses historical classification and description of architectural components and interior furnishings, conducted by domain experts in art history, both in situ and through analysis of the digital outputs obtained during the previous phase. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effective collaboration between specialists from both areas of expertise. The 3D digitization process, based on terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and near photogrammetry (NPG), enabled the generation of precise point cloud and mesh‐ based digital models of Polish churches: St. Josephat in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and St. Archangel in Radom, Illinois, USA. High‐detail models – based on scans of 2mm accuracy and texture‐mapped using color data from NPG – were utilized for the detailed documentation of church interiors, architectural elements, furnishings, stained‐glass windows, paintings, and inscriptions. The ability to freely explore and magnify any part of the model made it possible to substitute physical examination of fragile or not easily accessible heritage elements with an analysis of their digital twins. The resulting 3D models constitute a form of permanent archival record of the historical architectural state of these monuments at the time of scanning.
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