DIPLOMA IN THE CATEGORY OF HERITAGE STUDIES AT THE THIRD EDITION OF THE CULTURAL HERITAGE AWARDS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 2004, for the Master Plan for the Renaissance Walls of Ibiza

Master Plan For The Renaissance Walls of Ibiza (Spain)

For a multidisciplinary approach towards documentation and diagnosis, as well as practical proposals for rehabilitation that enhance the value of cultural heritage for the local community.

The intact 16th century fortifications of Ibiza bear witness to the unique military architecture, engineering and aesthetics of Renaissance, and provide a fortification prototype that subsequently spread throughout the world. The Master Plan was commissioned by Ibiza City Council following the inscription of the site on the UNESCO World Heritage List and has been approved by the authorities. The multiple nature of the plan allowed the team that drew it up to propose a conditional relationship between diagnostic and analytical methodologies, based on its interdisciplinary nature and specific suitability to the building.

The Master Plan is the result of merging three documents. The first part includes planimetric survey specifically aimed at interpreting the key geometric points of the layout of the fortifications, a broad documentary study of the historical sources in four volumes with hundreds of unpublished documents, an archeological interpretation and a coordinated characterization of materials. In addition to the physical, historical, archaeological, urban and landscape related values, a further determining value has been introduced the technical characterization of the walls bastioned fortification with a layout in line with the principles of fortification. The second part consists of a plan for the preservation and restoration of the walls. The final part comprises proposal for the protection of the walls and their surroundings, which are based on the interpretative keys provided by the study.

official document of the Cultural Heritage Awards of the European Union