tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728728589367879262.post2611464418489519800..comments2023-05-22T10:27:52.982+01:00Comments on Blogging Pompeii: Collapse statementUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6728728589367879262.post-66899961826958748142010-11-09T16:00:59.548+00:002010-11-09T16:00:59.548+00:00The statement is now available in English at http:...The statement is now available in English at http://www.pompeiviva.it/pv/en/comunicatistampa/1199904878179.htm<br /><br />In the early hours of this morning, in Via dell’Abbondanza in Pompeii, the reinforced concrete roofing over the Schola Armaturarum collapsed together with most of the perimeter walls.<br />This building has always been closed to the public and visible only from the outside.<br />The area was immediately cordoned off by site officials and Pompeii Superintendency employees and underpinning is being carried out that also involves part of the neighbouring building.<br />The Schola is a single room building measuring about 8x10 metres and 6 metres in height. Investigations are underway, but the collapse is thought to have affected the reconstructed vertical walls, while the lower part up to a height of 1.5 metres would seem to be still standing, in other words the frescoed part of the building and recovery is therefore thought to be possible.<br />The Schola was bombed during the Second World War.<br />At the end of the Forties, the upper part of the walls and roof were completely restored.<br />According to an inspection that has just been carried out, this collapse would appear to have been caused by slipping of the embankment that backs onto the building, which after the heavy rain in the last few days was completely soaked through with water.<br />Due to the roof falling in, part of the walls have also been destroyed, as have the façade and the corner of a house in the adjacent insula.<br />A short stretch of Via dell’Abbondanza has been closed off to the public around the collapsed building, because the rubble partly blocks the street and several other unsafe buildings have also been underpinned.<br />This umpteenth case of unstable terrain once again brings to the fore the issue of protection of cultural heritage and therefore of the need to put suitable resources in place and carry out the ordinary maintenance that has been lacking for almost half a century.<br />We cannot entrust care of an asset the size of Pompeii and of Italy’s national heritage to periodic one-off interventions. The solution is day-to-day care, like the measures started up for the central archaeological area in Rome and for Pompeii itself.Jo Berryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06696550825182079324noreply@blogger.com