Technical journals as a documentary basis for recovering forgotten heritage: case study of spanish cinema theatres

Abstract

This paper assesses Spanish technical journals as sources of information to recover the nation’s cultural heritage. To this end, a case study was conducted of cinema theatres, buildings erected as distinctive structures essentially in the nineteen twenties through the nineteen sixties. The method used to evaluate these buildings consisted in a bibliographic and documentary review of periodicals, as well as other papers relating to the history of these buildings, to ultimately select three journals for study: Cortijos y Rascacielos, Arquitectura/Revista Nacional de Arquitectura and Informes de la Construcción, the three that devoted most space to that type of architecture in the five decades mentioned. A comparative study of these periodicals revealed the importance of their use in connection with the Cultural Heritage, observing the emphasis placed on the characteristics and peculiarities of the works involved from the standpoint of construction, even over other factors relating to the characteristics that define and differentiate these journals.