ABSTRACT
This book reviews four decades of debate about restoring an industrial heritage site of inestimable value – the Venice Arsenal. Focusing on the challenges of economic, financial and institutional feasibility, it reveals how failing to address these aspects has undermined potential solutions from both technicians and heritage professionals.
With a deep connection to the city over centuries, the Arsenal was the very basis of La Serenissima’s sea power, enabling its economic expansion. Later, it maintained a vital military function through shipbuilding until World War II. But the slow process of abandonment of the traditional site’s uses and spaces continues to pose questions regarding its preservation and re-use. Drawing on original research from urban planners, architects and historians, the book provides a critical investigation into the organizational and managerial challenges of this unique site, and crucially, why so little has been achieved compared with potential opportunities.
Featuring numerous color photographs and exploring the particular challenges of restoration and re-use facing the Venice Arsenal, this insightful evaluation of the history of this site provides a uniquely informative case for the discipline of industrial heritage.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|19 pages
A reminder
part |19 pages
On the importance of the Arsenal in the history of administration
part II|36 pages
The state of the art
part |36 pages
Protection, preservation and re-use
part III|36 pages
A controversial issue
part |36 pages
Museum and open access
chapter 7|4 pages
Toward a Museum of the Arsenal
part IV|27 pages
A research agenda
part |27 pages
International perspectives on the Arsenal as tangible and intangible heritage