Caesarea Damaged
by Winter Storms
Shalom News: BEV SPRITZER
Published: December
14th 2010
On
Sunday, Israel, along with
other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean, got a taste of the region’s
winter weather, as parts of the ancient archeological port of Caesarea
were damaged in the storm.
A
more modern sea wall that had been built around Caesarea
fell in the storm, leaving the rest of the site exposed to the harsh waves.
Archeologists
had actually predicted the area would eventually suffer damage at the hands of
the sea, unless substantial restoration work could be done to protect one of
the most popular archeological sites in Israel.
Caesarea is one of several coastal archeological sites to
be the subject of a planned restoration project, to be carried out under the
supervision Architect Zeev Margalit, who personally warned that the corrosion
of the ancient port is “happening in front of our eyes.”
Margalit
added: “The situation in Caesarea
(following this storm) is very worrying. There is no disagreement among experts
that the current situation, if it is not improved, will lead to the destruction
of one of the flagship archeological sites of Israel.”
The
damage is particularly worrying as it comes on the heels of massive fires in
the country’s Carmel
region, which have already destroyed huge plots of natural reserve, in addition
to residential areas.
Many
feel that Israel’s
Nature Parks Authority should perhaps combine forces with the country’s
Tourism Ministry in order to deal with what has occurred in Caesarea,
which, regardless of cultural background, is considered to be a national
historic treasure.
Pompeii
collapses spark worry and outrage
Reuters Mon Dec 13
POMPEII, Italy (Reuters) – Pompeii
mayor Claudio D'Alessio does not want to go down in history linked with Pliny
the Younger, the Roman who chronicled the destruction of the ancient city
nearly 2,000 ago in an eruption of Mount
Vesuvius.
"The city is suffering and losing its pieces,"
said D'Alessio as he stood near the Via dell' Abbondanza, the main street
leading from the columns of the Forum in the ancient city that is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
D'Alessio is worried not only because he loves culture. He
knows that the economy of his modern city of 25,000 people relies heavily on
tourists who come from all over the world to see the famed archaeological site.
Last month the "House of the Gladiator" and a
long retaining wall in the garden of the "House of the Moralist"
collapsed.
The collapses sparked charges of official neglect by Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right government and calls for the
resignation of Culture Minister Sandro Bondi, who has imposed
cuts to arts spending as part of austerity measures.
"We don't have the luxury of waiting. We can't wait
for other collapses. We need an immediate intervention to heal years of delays
and neglect," D'Alessio said.
Like many other cultural heritage sites in Italy, ancient Pompeii is an engine of
local economic growth that supports hotels, restaurants, guides, transportation
and travel agencies.
MINISTER UNDER FIRE
Pompeii advocates have
accused Bondi of being ultimately responsible for the decline of the sprawling
site, which remained buried and undiscovered for almost 1700 years under ash
until excavations began in 1748.
"In the last two years, the decisions regarding Pompeii have been made by
politicians and not by experts," said Tsao Cevoli, president of the
national association of archaeologists.
Cevoli and other critics say that under Bondi's
administration, the culture ministry has concentrated on spectacular events
rather than regular maintenance.
For example, money was invested in a hologram tour where
the image of Julius Polybius, a nobleman of ancient Pompeii, guides visitors around a 3-D virtual
version of his sumptuous villa.
"We must invest in regular maintenance. This does not
attract attention but is very necessary," said Cevoli, adding that
removing weeds from roofs and walls is not as enticing as light shows and
holograms but it does stop water infiltration.
Cevoli says there have been seven collapses in a year but
not all of them have received the publicity they deserved.
"The fact that there have been so many collapses in
such a short period means that something serious is happening. These are very
dangerous signs," he said at the site.
He said some 80 million euros were spent in the last two
years for what he called "spectacular but not indispensible
restorations" of single structures such as the second-century-BC Great
Theater.
"The minister is responsible for having chosen a
management style at Pompeii
that favored appearance over substance. No expert would have done this.
Technicians, restorers and archaeologists were denied any say in the
matter," Cevoli said.
Pompeii, then home to about
13,000 people, was buried under ash, pumice pebbles and dust by the force of an
eruption equivalent to some 40 of today's atomic bombs. Two-thirds of the
66-hectare (165-acre) town has been uncovered.
FROZEN IN TIME
What makes Pompeii
rare, if not unique, is that it was frozen in time, offering a total picture of
the ancient world.
Pliny the Younger witnessed the cataclysm 1,931 years ago
from Misenum (today's Miseno) on the northern shore of the Bay of Naples.
He wrote: "A dense black cloud was coming up behind us, spreading over the
earth like a flood."
Some have said the only solution to saving Pompeii is to privatize
it.
"Precisely because it belongs to all humanity, its
management should be taken away from a state that has shown itself incapable of
protecting it," Italy's
leading business newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore,
said in a scathing editorial.
But privatization of culture is still a politically loaded
subject in Italy,
so most observers see a mix of state ownership and some private sponsorship as
the best solution.
Judith Harris, author of the 2007 book "Pompeii
Awakened," said it would be important that sponsors let archaeologists do
what they feel is necessary.
"There is no glamour in pigeon control and weed
removal but they are necessary," she said.
(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101213/sc_nm/us_italy_pompeii
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