This paper presents the study of various Roman materials used in the construction of the Maritime Theatre, one of the main buildings in the Hadrian's Villa complex, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Tivoli (Rome, Italy), dating to the first half of the II century A.D. The plaster layers (arriccio and intonachino) and overlying original Roman paintings that form the concave wall of the portico as well as some bedding mortars of the pyramidal stone elements (i.e. cubilia) of the circular masonry have been studied in particular. In addition, the acid volcanic rocks of the cubilia have been investigated, aiming to understand their state of alteration and geological origin. By mineralogical-petrographic microscopy (OM), diffractometry (XRPD), Raman spectroscopy, Point Load Tests (PLT), helium pycnometry, and particle size analysis, the composition and granulometric distribution of the aggregate, type and characteristics of the binder, and various physical-mechanical properties (density, porosity, water absorption, imbibition and saturation indices, mechanical resistance) of mortars and stones were defined. In addition, through digital image analysis of thin sections, the binder/aggregate ratio and some geometric characteristics of the aggregates (e.g. circularity) were determined. The research aims to improve the knowledge of the constructive technologies of the Maritime Theatre through the analysis of its materials.
ABSTRACT:The Maritime Theatre is one of the iconic buildings of Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli. The state of conservation of the theatre is not only the result of weathering over time, but also due to restoration work carried out during the Fifties of the past century. Although this anastylosis process had the virtue of partially restoring a few of the fragments of the compound's original image, it now reveals diverse inconsistencies and genuine errors in the reassembling of the fragments. This study aims at carrying out a digital reinterpretation of the restoration of the architectural fragments in relation to the architectural order, with particular reference to the miscellaneous decoration of the frieze of the Teatro Marittimo (vestibule and atrium). Over the course of the last few years the Teatro Marittimo has been the target of numerous surveying campaigns using digital methodology (laser scanner and photogrammetry SfM/MVS). Starting with the study of the remains of the opus caementicium on the ground, it is possible to identify surfaces which are then used in the model for subsequent cross sections, so as to achieve the best fitting circumferences to use as reference points to put the fragments back into place.
The peculiar figurative friezes of the buildings with mixtilinear entablature have always fascinated collectors of antiquities since the Renaissance, determining their scattering in private collections and museums throughout Europe. Thanks to the application of digital surveying and reverse modelling techniques, increasingly adopted during the last years for the documentation and enhancement of Cultural Heritage, it has been possible to outline a specific methodology for the restoration works that concern the virtual anastylosis of the architectural order and the correct repositioning of the friezes, also not physically present on site. The Master Model, that shows the conditions of the Teatro Marittimo before the last restoration works (2017), is the result of several survey campaigns, carried out over the course of the last years, in collaboration with the Direction of the Villa. This model has become the basis for the hypothetical order reconstruction and the repositioning of the friezes, by considering their geometrical, morphological, stylistic, constructive and figurative features. The ongoing research is in constant update and it aims at providing methodological directions for virtual anastylosis and scientific tools, also preparatory to a real restoration work, starting from such a unique and delicate site as Villa Adriana.
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