Management and Restauration of Two National Historical Monuments of Earthen in Salta, Argentina

Abstract

Two houses, one constructed in the middle of the XVIII century, the other one in the principle of the XIX century, both in earthen and declared National Historical Monuments, had implicated a great endeavor of management and professional technics for their restauration and valorization. The Leguizamon House of earthen and two floors represented a new challenge for the Earthen Heritage Management. Indeed, the pathology a deterioration detected in 2009 were very significant, and the fact that in Argentina this kind of work with this particular complexity and scale was never done represented a great difficulty. Beside, in this country, it does not exist special rules on architectural earthen restauration and construction. The Güemes House also represented an important challenge for the management because this dwelling of one floor was a private property with a deep meaning for the Argentinian Independence History. The professional advices of the Engineer Daniel Torrealva Davila from Peru led the restauration process of both historical monuments. In both case, they have been followed the guide lines of intervention for historical buildings in Peru, and the consolidation was addressed respecting the International Convention criteria and rules specialized in this specific issue. They were used structural reinforcement technics and materials absolutely news in Argentina which became national referents for their methodology and results obtained. It is important to note that during all the restauration process the original constructive frameworks, technologies and materials were respect, using structural reinforcement under the reversibility and low intervention criteria.