Restoration: Method and architecture on the example of the Theatre of Sagunto

Abstract

The recent polemics about the reconstruction of the ancient Roman theatre in Sagunto (Valencia), done by the Italian architect Giorgio Grassi in collaboration with the Spanish architect Manuel Portaceli, could have been an enriching debate on the criteria of intervention on the monuments, had it not been frustrated by the virulence and the schematic nature of the argumentations used for and against the work. On the other hand, in the opinion of the author of this article, the serious methodological deficiencies (especially with regard to previous historical research and its relation with the project), as well as the poorness of the new architecture designed by Grassi, invalidate the work of Sagunto as a paradigm of one particular restoration style (the harmonious diachrony). For this reason, the work will remain only as another example of the Spanish disorder in the eighties. The author believes, however, in the healthy cathartic role which the work and the polemics may have had since they made it clear before the public opinion that there is a need for the historians and architects to finally face their authentic commitments in monument restoration.