BUFALE ARCHEOLOGICHE in Il Giornale dell’Arte January 2015 “I’m leaving UNESCO”

 I’m leaving UNESCO

I have seen many ugly and incorrect restorations and integrations around the world. Many under the auspices of UNESCO, with their big brass plaque, such as the reconstruction of the walls of Samarkand using «fake» materials and incorrect drawings or as in the two examples of «integrative» restoration carried out in Turkey that I illustrate this month. The first is in Xanthos (see photo to the left), a UNESCO site and capital of ancient Lycia, where we find a series of reconstructed columns in the Forum that have been integrated with horrendous, new, extremely white stone segments that seem to be mechanical cogwheels. Why?
The second is the Greek theatre of Myra that is object of enormous architectural reconstructions (see photo below) that leave one speechless. The intervention seems to have been done with polystyrene blocks or huge meringues, which have also been cut incorrectly compared to the original style. What a horror!
A few months ago, UNESCO declared that if Pompeii did not reach the maintenance standards stated in the UNESCO protocol, it will be excluded, along with the other Vesuvian cities, (established only in 1997) from the list of World Cultural Heritage sites.
If the controls are such that UNESCO allows these «monstrous» restorations, I could almost leave UNESCO!

For info or to report something: bufalearcheologiche@gmail.com

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