Monument Safety in Seismic Areas

Abstract

The safety philosophy underlying current technical codes mainly addresses new buildings, with little or no attention paid to existing structures and in particular to monuments. The objective of the underlying philosophy is the safeguarding of human lives, and material goods, whereas cultural values are not directly considered. Therefore, if monuments and the cultural values which they represent are to be protected, new basic standards resulting from interdisciplinary research and debate have to be established. This critical process will eventually lead to a set of guidelines which will constitute what could be called a Code for the Seismic Protection of Monuments.