Historical-Critical Knowledge and Restoration Projects in Architecture: the Case of St John the Baptist in Castelvecchio Calvisio (L’Aquila, Italy)

Abstract

Every action carried out on a historical building should be based on appropriately informed assumptions, as much with respect to the specific architectural and construction features of the building as to its state of preservation. The case of the church of St John the Baptist illustrates how critical examination of the architecture can suggest (even in the absence of urgent problems) methods of intervention that promote the use of cultural heritage, and at the same time improve conditions for conservation of the building’s masonry and any artworks therein. Historical-critical study conducted on the basis of direct investigation of the church’s structures and its archives restores a historical image which, in many respects but not in all, is to be considered completed from a formal point of view. Having survived invasive (and destructive) interventions during the mid-twentieth century, and subsequent restoration in the late 1990s, the church has some unresolved formal, functional, and conservation issues, the reconciliation of which suggest a preliminary proposal to be drawn on the basis of targeted inspections.