The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

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figured as real extensions of human intelligence, seem to come into existence in an intensification of those that

are the characteristics and values of architectural patrimony in order to establish existing systems for reading

and implementing information, capable of showing activities directly related to the patrimony which conse-

quently assumes a real and digital double identity.

The research project that the University of Pavia has initiated in Santo Domingo

specifically deals with the determination, by means of the complex of existing fortified structures, of the

constructive features of the Dominican defensive system in order to understand the contribution of Antonel-

li’s work from a technological standpoint. It is a form of applied research that also takes into account practical

aspects, related to methodologies and operating procedures applied directly at the site, in order to produce

new representations of the cultural patrimony.

In this regard, the DAda Lab of the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Pavia has carried

out initial research with the objective of studying the fortified systems, their design and state of the art and to

obtain a digital database of the patrimony through the use of scientifically verified methods and tools.

The interests in Antonelli’s works, present for many years in the investigation activities inherent to the

documentation of patrimony carried out in Central America by the group of academics from the University

of Pavia has encouraged the establishment of specific surveying procedures to appreciate in the best way

possible each bulwark and the features of the urban walls, which are different with regard to the morphol-

ogy of each one.

This research, which is inherent to the development of technologies for architectural and landscape sur-

veying and representation, to analysis activity for the determination of development strategies related to

knowledge, and to conservation and enhancement of patrimony, have involved some parts of the fortified

system of the Colonial City, chosen based on their historical significance and distribution in order to obtain

the effective measurement of the remaining walled girdle and to be able to compare it with Antonelli’s project.

The DAda Lab research laboratory has made available systems for digital surveying (Laser Scanner and

SFM Structure from Motion) for the creation of 3D databases and the development of functional informa-

tion systems for knowledge of the dimensional and construction characteristics of historical architecture. The

precise surveying, the documentation, and the successive processing phases carried out in the area of the

Ozama Fortress, with particular attention to the main building and the lower battery, enable the reading of

the geometries of the defensive architecture of the production of systems for representation and promotion

of the monumental complex. Different operations have been carried out for the analysis of the bulwarks and

portions of the wall at the northwest area of the girdle (ruins of La Caridad Fort, Church San Miguel, and the

Hermitage of San Antón), with the objective of producing integrated systems for the protection of artistic and

cultural heritage, capable of connecting the urban space with digital representation.

Unlike what occurs with the

Ozama Fortress, the sites of the ru-

ins of La Caridad Fort and the Her-

mitage of San Antón are not consid-

ered monuments by the population,

which due to being unaware of their

historical and architectural value

make inappropriate use of them that

is detrimental to their preservation.

San Antón, along with the stretch

of walls that reaches the Santa Bár-

bara Cathedral, may represent an ex-

treme instance of this situation: the

bulwark is covered with weeds on its

Image of the point

clouds of the La

Caridad fort ruins.

Along the northern

outline of the Colonial

City, they are the first

defensive structures

visible after the

Fuerte

de la Concepción

fort. The curtain of

walls between the

two bulwarks is

incorporated into the

building.