Planned Restoration of the Colosseum May Cause Irreparable Damage

[M II A II R II K]

Plans to restore crumbling Colosseum cause rumblings in Rome


January 6, 2012

By Laura Allsop

Read More: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/06/wo...sts/?hpt=wo_c2

It sits in the ancient heart of Rome and is an emblem of the city's imperial history as well as an icon of Italy. But plans to restore Rome's nearly 2,000-year-old Colosseum are causing rumblings among heritage workers and restorers, compounded by reports in December that small amounts of powdery rock had fallen off the monument. The current $33 million (25 million euro) restoration plans to restore the Flavian amphitheater, which once hosted spectacular shows and gruesome gladiatorial battles, are being sponsored by Diego della Valle, of luxury Italian brand Tod's, in exchange for advertising rights.

- Restoration of the monument, which attracts up to two million visitors a year, is due to go ahead in March and will involve cleaning of the travertine exterior, the restoration of underground chambers, new gating, the moving of visitor service stations to an area outside of the building itself and increased video security. But members of the Restorers Association of Italy are unhappy about the plans, which they believe has sidelined them in favor of non-specialist restorers and which "run the risk of causing irreparable damage to the monument," according to the group's President, Carla Tomasi.

- "Italian law states that restorers can restore things like statues, ceramics, mosaics and decorative surfaces but not architecture," said Rossella Rea, Director of the Colosseum, adding that the workers employed to do the restorations are in fact "specialized in architectural restoration, they're not just ordinary workmen." Rea was also quick to stress that the reports of the Colosseum crumbling were false and that only 8cm of tuff -- a porous rock formed by consolidation of volcanic ash -- had come off, something "that happens all the time to monuments."

- And while the current Colosseum project aims to improve visitor services in addition to cleaning and restoring the amphitheater, Quaedvlieg-Mihailovic believes that its underlying problems also need to be addressed -- the main one being the car traffic that surrounds the site and causes the exterior to be tarnished with pollution. "You can do wonderful restoration works but you haven't yet tackled the things that will continue to cause damage and this is an issue at the level of the urban management of the city," she said.

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[photoLith]

I wish they would completely restore it and return it to the way it looked during the height of the empire. But that will never happen.

[vid]

Ruins are nice and all but it would be cool to see the building restored. Keep as many historical features as possible, while making it more than a dust collecting museum piece.

[theWatusi]

What's better: a derelict '54 Chevy rusting away on some redneck's lawn or a fully restored '54 Chevy in a garage?

[THE BIG APPLE]

Advertisement rights. Hello. This building should stay the way it is. It's looked the way is does since before the 1700's. Its been crumbling for the past 300 some years. It's a museum itsself now. What I think they should do it clear the flora and other plants that grow around the building, and find a way to keep it up.

BTW you could buy any old Chevy but there will only be ONE Colosseum just like one Empire State Building. That reminds me it's the same as taking the antenna off the ESB. While the building wasn't built with an antenna, it makes the building. Every book I've read, every picture I've seen, the Colosseum is half crumbled and it fits. It looks good. So only problems (plants, and staying up).

[vid]

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

It's looked the way is does since before the 1700's. Its been crumbling for the past 300 some years.

It's way older than that...

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

What I think they should do it clear the flora and other plants that grow around the building, and find a way to keep it up.

So, "it has been crumbling for years" but "we should prevent it from crumbling"?

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

BTW you could buy any old Chevy but there will only be ONE Colosseum

Exactly, and once it is gone, it is gone.

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

That reminds me it's the same as taking the antenna off the ESB. While the building wasn't built with an antenna, it makes the building.

But you could argue that the antenna is just as damaging to the integrity of ESB's architecture as any renovations to the Colosseum would be.

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

Every book I've read, every picture I've seen, the Colosseum is half crumbled and it fits.

That's because people like rustic, crumpled shit. If the building was in good condition still, people would be fighting to maintain and preserve it.

[THE BIG APPLE]

^ I know this building is old. It's Ancient. I said it looks the way it does (meaning half of it is crumbled) since before the 1700's. The antenna on the ESB when it was put on, was in everyones mind the missing piece. The building looked perfect with it. It's definitely not damaging to the ESB's integrity. (If you want to know waht's damaging to the ESB's integrity, it's the satellite dishes that are molded on the sides of the building). We are fighting to maintain and preserve it. It has looked like this since the 1700's. Before that it was how it looked when it was completed. This renovation could be more damaging than helpful.

[Innsertnamehere]

it isn't a complete restoration, but rather more along matenience to maintain it the way it currently is.

[texcolo]

They could change the name to like Ferrari Field at Colossium Center.

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

Advertisement rights. Hello. This building should stay the way it is. It's looked the way is does since before the 1700's.

Your point? It was finished in 80 c.e. and therefor almost has a 2000 year history. And, I personally think ESB would look much better restored to the way it was in the 30s, before all the junk was added to the top.

[Tyler Xyroadia]

Ah, another one of "these" threads...

I see few people have come to grips with the meaning of the orginal post.
That the Restoration proposed may hurt the structure itself.

Hey I've got an idea! Lets rebuild the great Pyrimids of Giza, they are falling apart? Or how about make straight the leaning tower of Piza? Or "fix" any number of crumbeling ruins?

Do you think people have not considered that over the past several hundred years? Any idea WHY no one has tried to rebuild these works?

The answere is simple, to "rebuild" them would be to destroy them.
Preservation is just that, PRESERVATION of existing structure.

I am willing to bet many of you do not quite understand what it is like to work with 2000 year old mortar or the engineering obstacles involved.

[The_Architect]

The ruins are a part of their history..

[RudyJK]

Sounds like a union vs. non-union squabble. It usually comes down to money.

[CGII]

Originally Posted by theWatusi

What's better: a derelict '54 Chevy rusting away on some redneck's lawn or a fully restored '54 Chevy in a garage?

To restore a ruin is to destroy all of its value as a piece of history. Disregarding the obvious dishonesty in recreating a ruined building as speculated (not withstanding this city's obvious connection to fascist architecture), consider how great the desire is to rebuild the ruin. The nature of the building in ruin is that it becomes an overwhelming urge for the person who stands in its presence to try and complete it in his imagination. But to actually rebuild the building according to one ideal would be to snuff out the magic that a destroyed building holds.
It is also important to consider that the history of built Rome is that of mosaic and collage, new is built out of old and even greater architectural value is built out of the fearless decay that rehabitation brings. Case in point, the Arles Coliseum in France:


wikipedia.org

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the coliseum there was used as architectural scrap; homes were built into the framework of the existing building. Over a thousand years, the coliseum became a coral-reef like village feeding off of a corpse.
However, under an enormous cultural preservation campaign undertaken by the French in the 19th century, the village was swept away and the remnants of the coliseum were preserved enough to look like the kind of ruin they wanted it to look like:


moorewallpaper.com


I am currently living in Rome and this morning took a walk through the remains of the Imperial Fora. To really believe that our generation is infallible enough to correct the sands of history strikes me as naiive. One thought that springs to mind is the Renaisance era renovation of the Pantheon, which is today widely regarded as probably the most destructive act in that building's history.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by theWatusi

What's better: a derelict '54 Chevy rusting away on some redneck's lawn or a fully restored '54 Chevy in a garage?

A 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Duh.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

A 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Duh.

You want the convertible version. It looks much better than the hardtop IMO, even as it gets rid of the iconic gullwing doors.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by dchan

You want the convertible version. It looks much better than the hardtop IMO, even as it gets rid of the iconic gullwing doors.

Good point. Like.

[NYC4Life]

Besides a restoration, they can also add the canopy roofs that existed there during its early years.