Has this guy ever done anything in preservation?
A plague on these dudes! Let them build new steel and glass decorated
boxes and leave the old stuff alone.
-jc
On Mar 10, 2004, at 8:29 AM, Gabriel Orgrease wrote:
> Rome-Born Architect Dreams of Completing Colosseum
>
> Mon Mar 8,11:30 AM ET
> By Claire Soares
>
> ROME (Reuters) - The Colosseum will come full circle if one
> septuagenarian Roman gets his way.
>
> Architect Carlo Aymonino wants to rebuild the outer wall of the world's
> most famous amphitheater, once rocked by earthquakes and quarried to
> build other glories in the Eternal City.
>
> "It wouldn't be an Italian Disneyland. In fact it would be the exact
> opposite -- a careful scientifically correct reconstruction," the
> 78-year-old told Reuters in an interview.
>
> His planned revamp could well become the next chapter in a long and
> often bitter debate about whether archaeological and artistic wonders
> should be left to succumb to the effects of time or be restored to
> their
> original beauty.
>
> The recent staging of pop concerts and art exhibitions in the
> Colosseum,
> where once the baying Roman mob feasted on gory gladiatorial battles,
> is
> proof that time for Italy's treasures has not stood still.
>
> Sitting in his studio, surrounded by sketches and models, the softly
> spoken Aymonino had more ammunition to use against those arguing for a
> hands-off approach to antiquity.
>
> "The Colosseum now has an electronically operated lift which the Romans
> certainly didn't," he said with a wink.
>
> Slaves sweated and toiled for about eight years to build the original
> Colosseum, which was inaugurated in 80 AD with a 100-day festival of
> ferocious warfare.
>
> But Aymonino is unfazed by the thought of rebuilding the outer wall of
> Italy's most visited archaeological site, which attracts almost three
> million tourists a year.
>
> "It wouldn't take much, you could use brick," he said.
>
> UNDOING MUSSOLINI
>
> Aymonino also wants to pull up the road built by 20th-century Fascist
> dictator Benito Mussolini, which carves a path straight through the
> Roman Forum.
>
> "It's ridiculous, that street. They covered up lots of ruins and split
> the Forum in two," he sighed, adding that he doesn't buy the argument
> that removing the thoroughfare would gridlock an already-congested
> city.
>
> "Traffic, like water, always finds a way," he said.
>
> With the sites reunited, the bespectacled white-haired architect wants
> to rebuild ruins like the Temple of Mars, which hosted solemn religious
> ceremonies before being turned into a museum of art.
>
> "The three surviving upright columns are beautiful but there are bases
> of many more. So why not put them back up, making them smooth not
> ridged
> to distinguish the old from the new?"
>
> And then, he says, it's time to inject some vitality.
>
> "We don't need streets of shops but why not have the odd bookshop and
> cafe dotted around ... something that gives an idea of how lively it
> might have been?"
>
> Aymonino gives no figure for the cost of realizing his dream, but his
> fundraising ideas may stoke controversy.
>
> "It would be a good thing for someone like Coca-Cola to fund in terms
> of
> publicity. They could ... tell the whole world that they'd completed
> the
> Colosseum."
>
> He will hand his plans to Rome's mayor on April 21, the anniversary of
> the city's foundation. Then it's wait and see.
>
> But modern-day visitors seem as averse to the idea of reconstructing
> the
> Colosseum as 19th-century novelist Charles Dickens, who declared "God
> be
> thanked: a ruin!"
>
> "If there was a risk that the Colosseum would fall down or disintegrate
> then that would be a different matter. I think the original structure
> should be conserved," said Alex Wenham, a 26-year-old English
> stonemason.
>
> And Lisa Goldscheider, a London lawyer, agreed.
>
> "It's amazing it's still standing. Maybe it's best not to play with
> history."
>
> --
> This is a signature file: "Beaver had invented a 'portable kitchen
> garden weighing no more than a pound. It was a mica box containing a
> synthetic earth in which he planted certain fast-growing seeds. Every
> other day each one of these devices produced a ration of green
> vegetables sufficient for one-man -- plus a few delicious mushrooms.
> He had also tried to exploit modern methods of tissue culture. Instead
> of raising cattle, he said to himself, why not raise beefsteaks
> directly? But his experiments had not advanced beyond the stage of
> requiring heavy and fragile equipment that produced a revolting slime,
> and he gave up the effort. We would do better going without meat."
> René Daumal, Mount Analogue.
>
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
>
--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
|
