{"id":147002,"date":"2016-03-28T16:19:20","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T20:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=147002"},"modified":"2018-10-04T12:36:39","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T16:36:39","slug":"the-challenges-of-preserving-historic-structures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/the-challenges-of-preserving-historic-structures\/","title":{"rendered":"The challenges of preserving historic structures"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This trade castle at Elmina, Ghana, was built by the Portuguese in 1482.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Elmina, Ghana, Renato Perucchio has stood in the trade castle that the Portuguese built in 1482. It was the first European settlement in West Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I enter that place and touch the walls, I feel the blood of all the slaves who were there,\u201d says Perucchio, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Rochester and Director of its Archaeology, Technology, and Historical Structures Program. \u201cI have goose bumps. It gives me an electrifying sense of being at the place where two civilizations came in contact — for good and for bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This centuries old fort along the African coast, photographed by Renato Perucchio, shows fractures in the walls resulting from the erosion of the foundation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But he can feel something else when he touches those walls \u2013 the crumbling of the mortar that has held this fort together for more than five centuries, but is now being seriously eroded by the elements.<\/p>\n

The challenge of preserving historical sites and monuments, in other words, extends even beyond such outright depredations as the recent destruction of the Temple of Bel at Palmyra, Syria by ISIS.<\/p>\n

Five other scholars from the U.S., Singapore, Ghana and Italy<\/strong> will join Perucchio on campus this Wednesday, March 30, to discuss the “Analysis and Conservation of Cultural Heritage Monuments: Challenges and Approaches Across Disciplines,” at a symposium from 3 to 6:30 p.m., in the Wells-Brown Room<\/strong> of Rush-Rhees Library. The symposium <\/a>is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

The speakers and their topics are:<\/p>\n