UTSA Professor Publishes a Book About The Historic Center Of Lima, Peru.

Professor Angela Lombardi, who recently joined the faculty of College of Architecture, University of Texas at San Antonio has published a book titled: “Lima. The Historic Center. Analysis and Restoration. Centro Histórico. Conocimiento y restauración. Centro storico. Conoscenza e restauro, Roma: Gangemi editore” . The book focuses on the endangered architectural heritage of the City of Lima and how to preserve it.

Lima, until the beginning of 19th century, was the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, the largest and richest city in the Spanish colonies of Latin America. The center of Lima, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988, is today a heritage of great historical and artistic value, currently in an advanced state of decay, threatened by speculative pressures and not protected by appropriate laws and regulations.

The book presents the approach developed in the joint research carried out in the year 2009‐2012 by a team of Italian and Peruvian scholars including Mattos Cardenas, Pimentel Gurmendi. Its publication was made possible by the support of World Monuments Fund. The research focused on identifying and evaluating the endangered heritage preliminary to the rehabilitation process and intends, with the greatest possible efficiency, to bring to the attention of the institutions responsible for the conservation the cultural and monumental values of the architectural heritage of the city of Lima.

Part one introduces the historic city since its foundation by the Spaniards, also identifying tracks and remains dating before the Spanish period, well worthy of protection for future generations, through the use of hitherto unpublished maps.

The second part presents the conservation issues facing the historic center of Lima and, more generally, the theoretical and methodological tenets for the restoration/rehabilitation of historic urban areas; followed by an overview of endangered heritage, the examination of some case studies, and significant rehabilitation works carried out in the city in the last ninety years.

Part three analyzes the typical local construction techniques based on earthen materials and some of the related methods of preservation, with the aim of pointing the way of recovery and conservation, including as an example the restoration works funded by World Monuments Fund at the Casa de las Columnas: with the statement that every architectural restoration is a special case, and cannot be considered as replicable, the study, the design, and the implementation of a project should be engaged with this in mind, and remembering also that if a work of architecture is studied in its individuality, the better the restoration will be able to keep its authenticity.

The book, published in three language (English, Spanish and Italian), wants to be representative of the productivity and vigor of the international partnership and collaboration between three cultural institutions, it also includes a DVD to involve the interest of a wider public and contains an interactive map of the historic center by Angela Lombardi and Patrizia Montuori and four videos, two of them produced by the Faculty of Architecture of Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, made by Angela Lombardi and the videomaker Carlo Tomassi.

PALMERIO Giancarlo, LOMBARDI Angela, MONTUORI Patrizia (eds), 2012, Lima. The Historic Center. Analysis and Restoration. Centro Histórico. Conocimiento y restauración. Centro storico. Conoscenza e restauro, Roma: Gangemi editore, pp. 126

Language: English, Spanish, Italian

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