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“The worst is not, so long as we can say ‘This is the worst’”

Alterations to the Punta della Dogana continue

Following the previous press releases from Italia Nostra drawing attention to the serious alterations being perpetrated at the Punta della Dogana in one of Venice’s most famous and historic sites, many commented pessimistically that this sad affair was not yet over and that the worst was yet to come. Considering the invasive and thoroughly insensitive changes that had already come to light, it was then Italia Nostra’s opinion that matters could not possibly get any worse. Unfortunately we have been proved wrong.

The latest reports speak, amongst other things, of two 10-metre-tall concrete obelisks that are to be erected just a few steps from the entrance to the building. Prompted by the vaguely cemeterial associations aroused by obelisks, some have seen them as a funereal symbol alluding to the desecration of an exceptionally significant building whose ancient features had endured for centuries.

Italia Nostra relishes irony but perhaps not to the extent of appreciating jokes about such deeply damaging actions. Indeed, the Association remains firm in its condemnation of the whole operation that has reduced the Punta della Dogana to what it is now becoming. It all began when the State decided that public offices which had been housed in the Dogana for centuries should be moved to the mainland. Once again, it was the past that suffered the consequences of the failure to plan for the future. And jobs were taken away from a Venice that was already plunging dangerously towards a short-sighted monoculture of touristic exploitation.

Another failure was that of the central and local administrative authorities and of the supervisory bodies with responsibility for protecting Venice (especially the Regional Safeguarding Commission and the Superintendencies), who proved unable to prevent the grave mutilation of the monumental buildings. A failure of imagination too, in that the only use that could be found for premises of such enormous cultural importance was to make them into yet another museum in a city that is already overflowing with such institutions in relation to its size and which in the meantime is continuing to drive its inhabitants away because of its failure to solve the crucial problem of housing.

And little more imagination went into the effort to “dignify” the Punta della Dogana operation by bringing in a famous architect (obviously no lessons have been learned from the Calatrava bridge affair)! And the choice of an architect (Tadao Ando) who has nothing really to do with the great tradition of Venetian building and who is well known everywhere for his use of concrete!

So it should come as no surprise that two ten-metre tall concrete obelisks threaten to become yet another disfiguring scar on the face of Venice. If the obelisks must stand as a monument, it will not be in honour of an architect who has decided to be involved with a project that defiles Venetian culture; not in honour of a rich man who can afford to buy palaces and other properties and use them as he wishes; and not in honour of the public authorities who have given their approval to these decisions. They will stand as a monument to the memory of another insult to the civil values and cultural heritage of a unique but increasingly defenceless city.

Italia Nostra - Venice

Venice, 20^th June 2008