Week 1 of 12
Module 1: Introductions and Orientation
The course opened today at the ICCROM offices in Trastevere, Rome.
The ICCROM Director-General Mounir Bouchenaki welcomed us onto the 17th International Course on Stone Conservation, being held for the first time in Rome. We were also welcomed by Joseph King and Simon Warrack (the course coordinator) of ICCROM and Susan MacDonald of the Getty Conservation Institute. There are 20 participants in total, each representing a different country.
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, India, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Nigeria, Palestine, Romania, Russian Federation, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria & Scotland
This afternoon Jukka Jokilehto (conservation architect, World Heritage Advisor to ICOMOS and consultant to UNESCO) gave us ‘An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of Rome’. We were told that much of modern central Rome is 6-10 metres above the ground level of Ancient Rome. This is due to factors including flooding of the Tevere (Tiber) River (which runs through the centre of the city) depositing silt, the destruction of old buildings due to a high level of historic military action and continuous rebuilding over the top of what was essentially seen as ‘rubbish and debris’. This is essentially the same way in which a sedimentary rock deposit is created, through the accumulation and deposition of different layers of material. In this case, however, it’s centuries of deconstruction and reconstruction of a city. In addition, many buildings in Rome incorporate parts of historic buildings from single stones to full foundations. Tomorrow we will be going on a tour of Foro Romano (the Roman Forum).
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