The city of Venice has been the argument of a Torres Balbás Seminar of the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the University of Granada, where research works on its architectural heritage were analysed, as well as concrete proposals for its maintenance, preservation and urban restoration. The conclusions of these work sessions in which renowned Spanish and Italian architects have taken part, are included in the book “The image of Venice in the culture of architectural restoration”, now published by the University of Granada, under the supervision of Professor Javier Gallego Roca. According to Amedeo de Francis, ambassador of Spain in Italy, “Venice is an essential reference place for restoration culture taking into account the quantity and quality of its different works of art, a reflection of its long and prestigious history.”
Professor Javier Gallego, for his part, says that “Venice sets up as paradigm of the cities of art; as they all it fights between the permanence of its plastic and architectural values and the intervention criteria of its splendid architectural heritage.” It also refers to the position of restoration and maintenance in contemporaneous project culture, where these subjects are “a professional requirement and an obsessive theoretical demand”, to such extent that the cultural strength attributed to the historical architectural, urban and scenic heritage forces projects to be founded on links of works of the past.
The Professor of Architectural Restoration of the University of Granada, Javier Gallego, is convinced of that “the world is rapidly changing, and architects will have to join the social requirements of our times, and he quotes Wright to point out, referring to Venice, that “the problem of the architect is to know construction scientifically and understand what is the real beauty of Venice to preserve what makes it be as beautiful as it is. Progress of the art of construction should be now useful to preserve the city.”
The book, profusely illustrated, includes in 180 pages contributions of Italian architects Carlo Magnani, Eugenio Vassallo, Francesco Doglioni and Mario Palma, as well as one of the person in charge of this edition, Javier Gallego Roca.
Reference: Prof Javier Gallego Roca. Professor of Architectural Restoration of the UGR.
Phone numbers: 958 240813 / 246304.
E-mail: arqui9@azahar.ugr.es
