A UNIVERSITY student has produced a stunning digital reconstruction of Corfe Castle to make it appear like it was never destroyed 400 years ago.

Ciprian Selegean's clever video footage is so realistic it looks like someone has filmed the medieval ruin in its prime today.

In fact the 22-year-old has used computer animation technology to digitally rebuild the castle that was blown up by Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarian army in the English Civil War.

Ciprian spent months researching the history of the hilltop fortress studying drawings of it to determine exactly how it used to look.

He then brought it to life using several software programmes to create a realistic moving 3D representation.

The clever historical reconstruction makes it look as if the impressive stronghold was never destroyed and even has a period guardsman standing watch outside the impressive castle gate.

Ciprian, who is from Romania but moved to Britain to study in September 2012, is doing a masters degree in computer animation at Portsmouth University and the Corfe Castle project is part of it.

He said: "I'm interested in medieval culture anyway and wanted to reconstruct a castle.

"I found out about Corfe Castle and thought it would be perfect because it is in ruins but it is still a really beautiful castle with great views. It really captured my attention.

"I started gathering material about the history of the castle and found some illustrations but the problem was all of them were different in some way.

"I managed to find more detailed descriptions in a few history books.

"I had a really hard time figuring out what kind of battlement the castle had but from visiting the castle I found a small area that has some preserved battlements.

"I wanted to combine real live action film with digital effects, it's the same techniques they use in films.

As the footage rolls in the digital reconstruction is morphed with real film shot today to reveal how it actually looks.

Staff at the National Trust, which owns the historic tourist attraction, are so impressed with Ciprian's work they are showing the video in their ticket office to help visitors understand what the castle looked like complete.

Pam White, from the National Trust, said: "We are absolutely delighted with the video. It really shows the castle as it would have been in medieval times as a castle and then a massive country house.

"It's brilliant the way it then falls away to show it as it is now."