Author(s)

M. Galiana, A. Mas, C. Lerma, J. Roldán

Abstract

The destruction and plundering of cultural heritage which characterized the 19th century and the first half of the 20th led to the disappearance of true cultural treasures of different styles. Over the last six decades, people have once more become aware of the fact that we inherited from the past, and the past is everywhere, even in that which no longer exists. This has been the motivation behind the establishment of schemes for the conservation and reconstruction of architectural heritage, leading to archaeological work which has uncovered a wide range of fragments of these lost buildings.

This study aims to lay the methodological basis for the evaluation and reconstruction of archaeological remains of architectural heritage. This method combines fieldwork, instrumental laboratory techniques and deductive reasoning, based on a historical and documentary analysis of the building and its extant remains. It enables the architectural remains to be appropriately catalogued, by classifying them and determining their original position within the building they formed part of. The data collected, together with in-depth knowledge of the internal morphology of the material, the deterioration present and its possible causes, enable an appropriate intervention plan to be drawn up with the aim of proceeding to the reconstruction of the building in question.

The good results achieved during the study of the architectural remains of the recently reconstructed courtyard of the Ambassador Vich’s Palace in Valencia suggests that the methodology used can be extended to other cases of similar characteristics, making a contribution to the complete reconstruction of lost architectural heritage.

Keywords

methodology, cataloguing of architectural remains, lost buildings, heritage conservation