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L’Aquila, the capital city of the Abruzzo region in central Italy, is merely at 100 km from Rome. The epicentre was located at 7 km from L’Aquila and reports said that the destruction was verified on a 30 km radius reaching several historic villages such as Villa Sant’Angelo or Borgo di Castelnuovo. The first efforts were devoted to rescue the possible survivors but the loss of lives and homes is devastating: a total of 294 people were killed, 28,000 were left homeless and up to 15,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. After the rescue operations the attention shifted to the cultural heritage. In mid April, the Ministry of Culture started an inventory of the churches, historic building and their respective contents in the region of Abruzzo. According to the Italian ministry of Culture, at least 500 historic churches have been destroyed or damaged in the catastrophe. The historical centre of the city was completely devastated. The transept of the 13th century basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio collapsed. The cupola of the Santa Maria del Suffragio church cracked leaving the stucco at open sight. Among the damaged churches was also Sant’Agostino church, which dome collapsed onto the city’s historical archives. Rare documents were later salvaged from the building, such as the 13th century charter granting city status. The bell tower of the church of San Bernardino di Siena collapsed as well as Porta Napoli, a gate built in 1548 in honour of the Emperor Charles V, was reduced to rubble. Some few building, however, survived such as the church of San Liberatore a Maiella, which was rebuilt in the 11th century after an earthquake in 990. Outside L’Aquila, the 14th-century Tower of Medici and the altar of the church of Sant’Angelo collapsed, the ceiling of the church of Poggio Cono felled down and the facade of the church of Sant'Agostino was damaged. In Rome minor damages were also reported, such as cracks in the 3rd century thermal baths built by the Emperor Caracalla. On a more positive note, the earthquake made possible an archaeological discovery, according Italian daily La Stampa. 15,000 year-old prehistoric dwellings up to five meters high were unearthed in L’Aquila. Local experts are exploring the caves which are considered to have been shelters used by the first shepherds to inhabit the area. A Vatican official, Francesco Buranella, issued an appeal to international conservation-restoration institutions to adopt damaged objects and to perform the necessary interventions. 30 million euros were requested for the emergency works required in the main historical buildings. The Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has promised access to a special fund. However, the total cost of the conservation-restoration operations was estimated in 100 million euros. The reconstruction of the city may cost as much as 12 billion euros. Meanwhile, the Italian government allocated 5 million euros to help rebuild museums damaged by the earthquake. There is hope to recover one day some of these valuable historic monuments from their loss and with them, the identity of Abruzzo region and of its inhabitants will hopefully be recovered. ▲TOP
The historic centre of the millenary city of Kashgar is in danger of disappearing. Kashgar is regarded as the most important trade centre in the Silk Road, an extensive network of commercial routes that have connected Asia, Europe and Africa for over 2000 years. Kashgar is home of the Uighur people and is located in the southwest of Xinjiang, China, near the border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is a 2100 years old city where most of the buildings are historic monuments.
The preservation of the city of Kashgar is very important - without it the Silk Road couldn’t be classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, nowadays the city is facing problems related to the real estate, the increase of tourism and lack of proper preservation policies. The government was planning a renovation of the city but the plans were not known until the beginning of this year. In February, the local government started a program called “Old Town Reconstruction Project for Old and Dangerous Houses” focusing on the houses of nearly 50,000 families. Local authorities have been requesting the cooperation of every citizen. According to the plan, 65,000 houses were at risk, in need of renovation or reconstruction. However, the project seems to plan the demolition of the old houses and the construction of high apartment buildings. Plus, the government has started to relocate many of the Uighur people to settlements out of the city. The future of Kashgar seems to be undermined, either on its social or cultural dimensions, and this significant city may be lost forever if proper urban plans in respect to the historic heritage are not made in time. For details on the impact this is having on the city, please see
Open Source Software for Conservation Documentation
A new project that has the purpose of building an open source application for documentation in conservation is being started. The project is supported by the Mellon Program in Research in Information Technology (RIT) and in its initial phase, it is focused on the community design of the software. This year the project will gather input from conservators and conservation scientists concerning their requirements, in order to establish an “application that would support and help to manage their work, its documentation, and related scientific data”. Two community design meeting took place in March (New York) and April (London) and the narrative summaries of the discussions as well as a final document with the results will be available for the public by the end of the year on the project’s blog. ▲TOP
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