New Domes for old Churches (Palermo 1943)

Towards the end of the Second World War, Palermo, was heavily bombed and a large part of its artistic heritage was reduced to rubble. In particular a large number of churches were semi-destroyed. Furthermore, the baroque domes of three of these churches, namely Gesù a Casa Professa, Sant'Ignazio and SS. Salvatore, were badly damaged.

From the synchronous analysis of the either total or partial renovation of these buildings, you can see that they almost always underwent significant transformations as regards volumetric structure; furthermore they have taken on a new form, totally different from that of the original structure, as a result of the use of new materials and new techniques.

This paper intends to concentrate on the materials and building techniques used to effect the restoration itself, while taking into due consideration the problems connected with the ideological character of the theories of restoration that had to be faced at that time.