Rome-Born Architect Dreams of Completing Colosseum

[Ossric]

Rome-Born Architect Dreams of Completing Colosseum
Mon Mar 8,11:30 AM ET

ROME (Reuters) - The Colosseum will come full circle if one septuagenarian Roman gets his way.


Architect Carlo Aymonino wants to rebuild the outer wall of the world's most famous amphitheater, once rocked by earthquakes and quarried to build other glories in the Eternal City.


"It wouldn't be an Italian Disneyland. In fact it would be the exact opposite -- a careful scientifically correct reconstruction," the 78-year-old told Reuters in an interview.


His planned revamp could well become the next chapter in a long and often bitter debate about whether archaeological and artistic wonders should be left to succumb to the effects of time or be restored to their original beauty.


The recent staging of pop concerts and art exhibitions in the Colosseum, where once the baying Roman mob feasted on gory gladiatorial battles, is proof that time for Italy's treasures has not stood still.


Sitting in his studio, surrounded by sketches and models, the softly spoken Aymonino had more ammunition to use against those arguing for a hands-off approach to antiquity.


"The Colosseum now has an electronically operated lift which the Romans certainly didn't," he said with a wink.

Slaves sweated and toiled for about eight years to build the original Colosseum, which was inaugurated in 80 AD with a 100-day festival of ferocious warfare.

But Aymonino is unfazed by the thought of rebuilding the outer wall of Italy's most visited archaeological site, which attracts almost three million tourists a year.

"It wouldn't take much, you could use brick," he said.


UNDOING MUSSOLINI


Aymonino also wants to pull up the road built by 20th-century Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, which carves a path straight through the Roman Forum.

"It's ridiculous, that street. They covered up lots of ruins and split the Forum in two," he sighed, adding that he doesn't buy the argument that removing the thoroughfare would gridlock an already-congested city.

"Traffic, like water, always finds a way," he said.

With the sites reunited, the bespectacled white-haired architect wants to rebuild ruins like the Temple of Mars, which hosted solemn religious ceremonies before being turned into a museum of art.

"The three surviving upright columns are beautiful but there are bases of many more. So why not put them back up, making them smooth not ridged to distinguish the old from the new?"

And then, he says, it's time to inject some vitality.



"We don't need streets of shops but why not have the odd bookshop and cafe dotted around ... something that gives an idea of how lively it might have been?"

Aymonino gives no figure for the cost of realizing his dream, but his fundraising ideas may stoke controversy.

"It would be a good thing for someone like Coca-Cola to fund in terms of publicity. They could ... tell the whole world that they'd completed the Colosseum."

He will hand his plans to Rome's mayor on April 21, the anniversary of the city's foundation. Then it's wait and see.

But modern-day visitors seem as averse to the idea of reconstructing the Colosseum as 19th-century novelist Charles Dickens, who declared "God be thanked: a ruin!"

"If there was a risk that the Colosseum would fall down or disintegrate then that would be a different matter. I think the original structure should be conserved," said Alex Wenham, a 26-year-old English stonemason.

And Lisa Goldscheider, a London lawyer, agreed.

"It's amazing it's still standing. Maybe it's best not to play with history."

 

[Xen]

restore the monuments of rome to past glory!

this man has my full support

-however- I support redoing these monuments in thier origional meterail, Roman concrete and marble for the Colloseum, not mere brick

 

[stormbind]

Yes. As Bruce Lee said "I see nothing great. We have ruins in Hong Kong too"

(or something to that effect)

 

[Pangur Bán]

The whole of the western world should pay for it....and supervise it.

 

[Ossric]

Hey Xen, do you have some magical senses? Every time something is posted about Rome, you're one of the first to post!

I wouldn't mind restoring it to past glory, but they better make sure that it looks like the original! But some things look better as ruins than as restored buildings. Who would like a tower of Pisa that is standing up straith?

I have an idea, why don't we ask the Isrealites to restore the pyramids! just kidding..

 

[stormbind]

Huh? I must have read over that... no way! In which case, flatten it and make a car park!

Seriously, it would lose a lot of appeal if it weren't rebuilt by local tradesmen and traditional tools. EU or UN or US money and technology and engineers would utterly destroy the romance.

 

[Xen]

Originally posted by Ossric
Hey Xen, do you have some magical senses? Every time something is posted about Rome, you're one of the first to post!

The will of the Gods!

Originally posted by Ossric

I wouldn't mind restoring it to past glory, but they better make sure that it looks like the original! But some things look better as ruins than as restored buildings. Who would like a tower of Pisa that is standing up straith?

I have an idea, why don't we ask the Isrealites to restore the pyramids! just kidding..

I think the colloseum (and the forum) would look better restored- perhaps in particuler, the forum, becuase most people dont know what it really looks like, and I would think that it, being one of the most influential places in all antiquity, would be a rather high priority for any restorer...

as fo rthe Pyramids- let the egyptian restore the pyramids, slave labour is bad

 

[Kinniken]

*If* it was proven to be possible to rebuilt it exactly like it was, with the same materials and everything, then perhaps. But the risk to spoil everything with a half-baked modern idea of what it was is so big I voted no. His idea of tearing up Mussolini's road however sounds much better.

 

[hawai_74]

Great ancient buildings have to be restaured. Those who are completely or partly lost, (and there is a lot of it!) it's not necessary to do it. In a town like Rome the urbanists have to think about the livings and their quality of life, and secondly to the buildings erected centuries ago.

 

[amadeus]

As long as we're doing this, why don't we go and finish the unfinished works of famous composers?

United Nations General Resolution 5567 reads as follows:

"The parties (parties as referred to as one or more group of people whom subject to laws and bylaws of the United Nations and all affiliated organizations) have therefore agreed upon the first note in full completion of Mozart's unfinished works. The note agreed upon is a 'B.' This, however, is a temporary solution, as the nations of Laos and Sierra Leone have objected to what they have referred to as 'alphabet discrimination' by not permitting a diverse body of cultures to assign symbols of their nations to the attached document. The 'B' note shall be reviewed by the United Nations Intercultural Music Progress Oversee and Timely Application of Notes Table (UNIMPORTANT) within the timespan of one year."

 

[thestonesfan]

I think it would be cool, and big boost to Rome.

I wouldn't be opposed to them holding athletic events in it again. That would be a pretty big deal.

 

[Stapel]

Originally posted by Kinniken
*If* it was proven to be possible to rebuilt it exactly like it was, with the same materials and everything, then perhaps. But the risk to spoil everything with a half-baked modern idea of what it was is so big I voted no. His idea of tearing up Mussolini's road however sounds much better.

I agree with the rebuild issue. Using your own imagination is better than watching the result of another's imgination, I think. OTOH, the idea sounds thrilling.

I do not agree with the road from the Colosseum to the Piaza Venezia. This road is a part of art! The fact it is fascist art, doesn't matter. From the balcony of the oldest of the two symetrical buildings on the Piaza Venezia, Mussolini could see his troops marching from the Colosseum, towards him. The symbolism is great, I think.

 

[phoenix_night]

Don't mess with it. I think it's a stupid idea. Anybody could build a Colosseum type building anywhere...but it wouldn't be of any real significance. By completing this Colosseum, it, in my opinion, loses much of its value as a historical site. It'd be nothing more than a Colosseum folly.

The thing that is great about sites, is their origin and historic nature...anybody could build something that looks historical, but who's interested in that? It's not the glory of the building that's its attraction...

 

[Pontiuth Pilate]

The thing that is great about sites, is their origin and historic nature...anybody could build something that looks historical, but who's interested in that? It's not the glory of the building that's its attraction...

London recently rebuilt the Globe, Shakespeare's old theat[re][er], and it's doing fine.

Italy doesn't have the budget for this kind of project. Stop Venice from sinking beneath the waves of the Adriatic, and THEN we'll see.

 

[thestonesfan]

Originally posted by phoenix_night
The thing that is great about sites, is their origin and historic nature...anybody could build something that looks historical, but who's interested in that? It's not the glory of the building that's its attraction...

Very few historical landmarks exist in their natural state, and the ones that do look pretty sorry.

I think there is something to be said for ancient structures being used for something besides a landmark.

 

[Duke Togo]

My first reaction would be to say no, but then when you think about the fact that these ruins are deteorating, and will someday be lost to mankind...

 

[Pirate]

Rebuild it! And don't worry about making it exact. If you want to preserve the history don't preserve the rocks, preserve the way of life. If you were to visit rome today you would really enjoy the vitality of the piazzas surrounded by bars, shops and restaurants. Then you walk into the forum and it is a ghost town - vast expanses of NOTHING except rocks you aren't allowed to touch. No life, no history.

Some of the best examples of history in Rome are the structures that were built on over and over again. For example, the Castel Sant'Angelo (forgive my spelling) was an old roman stadium, on top of which was build a medieval fortress, which became a renaissance palace, then a baroque fort again, then finally a modern museum. Every layer is preserved because it has been continually occupied. On the other extreme are the markets of Tragean. They had been occupied with shops for centuries, then the tenants were kicked out for "historic preservation." Now the walls are crumbling, the roofs leak, and the whole lot are in shambles.

Restore the vitality of the center city and reclaim acres of currently unused and unenjoyed land!

 

[h4ppy]

Rebuild it but with none if this brick nonsense, like Xen said make it with the Roman's materials. Also it won't be completeing it either since it was already completed.

 

[Emperor Xerxes]

I am not sure. Only if it would use materials that were used at the time. I remember when Saddam rebuilt Babylon over the original with crappy bricks.

 

[Amenhotep7]

I say go with it! Just make sure it's like the original and uses the original materials (or materials extremely similar).

I'd like to see the forum back to it's original state as well.

But hopefully Italy won't allow corporate sponsors...If it does, imagine this:

Peps-Cola presents: the Colosseum.