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April 25, 2014

Conservation of the Fortress of São Sebastião, Ilha de Mozambique

The approach to the reading of the materials and structures of the fortress of São Sebastião in Ilha de Moçambique must be accompanied by knowledge of the stages that marked its building.

April 20, 2014

Enlisting Tourism to Preserve World Heritage. From Little Things, Big Things Grow.

Ilha de Moçambique—the Island of Mozambique—once a significant link in the centuries-old African trade route to India and Europe, has a fascinating past and a fabulous contemporary culture.

April 20, 2014

Ilha de Mocambique–Mozambique Island–Muihipiti: A Personal Account

Mozambique Island is a tiny island among the many that crown the coral reefs stretching along the coast of the Indian Ocean off northern Mozambique. If the sea rises, as it might according to the worst climate change scenario, the island will soon disappear. At the moment it is still very much alive.

April 18, 2014

Celebration at a Temple in Luxor, Egypt

The Amenhotep III Temple/Colossi of Memnon project in Luxor, Egypt, is probably one of the largest and most ambitious archaeological and conservation projects of our time. Dr. Hourig Sourouzian and her team took on the almost impossible task to recover and piece together the huge statues of the pharaoh that once flanked the three gates of the temple.

April 18, 2014

Venice’s Commemorative Monument to Bartolomeo Colleoni

Bartolomeo Colleoni (1400–75) is far from a household name but his legacy was immortalized in a monumental equestrian statue found today in the Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. To local Venetians, this is a very familiar spot as the Colleoni monument sits in front of the Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo and the hospital of the same name.

April 17, 2014

A Plea for Volunteering: Young Architects at the Wooden Churches of Hunedoara

The 60 wooden churches project became very real all of a sudden when we were invited to take part in it as volunteers in the summer of 2012. Barely out of architecture university, a young, pretty inexperienced but enthusiastic bunch, we were sent to Boz and Târn?vi?a, two small villages in Hunedoara County, to supervise the emergency interventions on the roofs of two small wooden churches, without really knowing the places or their issues.

April 16, 2014

Work in Progress

Those who travel in the southern area of the Carpatian Mountains can easy discover beautiful villages with small wooden churches spread throughout a scenic landscape. The life in these villages is changing, become modern, and so are also the houses. Small wooden construction are abandoned and destroyed.

April 15, 2014

Emergency Rescuing of 60 Wooden Churches: A Civil Society Mobilization

Since 2009, a very important project has been underway in Romania focusing on the conservation of 60 wooden churches in the center of the country. These wonderful structures are part of the national heritage. However, these countryside treasures could disappear entirely since their remote location and diminishing congregations has meant fewer resources to care for them.

April 07, 2014

A Monument in Peril Reveals its Secrets

I had studied Mren for a long time before getting there. Mren is a famous Armenian church, constructed in the seventh century during the wars of the Byzantines, Persians, and Arabs. I knew it for its soaring architecture, sculpted reliefs, and precious historical inscriptions. But going to a place reveals so much more.

March 31, 2014

Stealth Demolitions in Dar es Salaam Historic Center

The historic center of Dar es Salaam, which was included on the 2014 World Monuments Watch, is increasingly threatened by unscrupulous and uncontrolled development.The building known as “Light Corner” formed part of a coherent block of five historic structures from the period around 1900. Although the buildings formed a coherent block of historic structures, which is now rare in the city, they were not on the list of Dar es Salaam's legally protected buildings.

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