Rome's statues estimated to be 'silenced' by 2010

Browsing through travel news today I came across an article over at MSNBC that discusses the "talking" statures of Rome and the plan to silence them by the year 2010 at an estimated cost of 70,000-euro ($93,600).

I can understand wanting to clean up the statues, if I went to Rome, I would want to see the statues, not a bunch of postings plastered all over the ancient sculpture. When I think of the statues of ancient Rome I think of smooth marble sculptures that have withstood the ravages of time and wars to gaze out across the Rome of today - I do not think of paper machae creations made up of decades, even centuries, of plaster and paper.

The restoration project is an effort to "make people respect Rome’s huge artistic patrimony,” according to Viviana Di Capua, president of a resident's association for Rome's historic center. Di Capua's group is sponsoring the restoration project, which will envelope the statues in need of restoration in specially built enclosures that will allow the workers to restore the statues in place rather than moving them.

One of the most damaged statues is Pasquino (seen at right), standing in a small square just south of Piazza Navona. Part of the restoration of the Pasquino statue will be to address the damage done to the pedestal, which was nearly destroyed by a car at one point. The statue was unearthed in 1501 during the paving the Parione district.

Pasquino is only one of many statues that will be cleaned up during the restoration project.

Something that I, as a writer, would love to see done would be for as much of the original postings, which date back hundreds of years in some cases, to be preserved as much as possible. Perhaps through careful removal or via dedicated recreation of the postings using recreation techniques. Then signs erected near the statues from which the old postings were removed, displaying the postings that had been covering the statues and offering a place where messages would still be able to be posted.

I would find it unendingly fascinating to read over the oldest of the postings if they could be preserved in some manner that would avoid the defacement of the statues that have, until now, served as their 'voice'.

(Picture courtesy Wikipedia, Peter Heeling - August 2006. Public Domain image)