Time Matter(s)

'Time Matters is a unique and timely scholarly study of Tiberio Alfarano's mysterious drawing of St Peter's Basilica from the late 16th century, examining the work in the context of the temporality of building conveyed through the symbolic inter-relationships between the old and new basilicas. The drawing is unique in simultaneously depicting the building as both a 'receptacle' of memory (in regard to the historical developments and adaptations of the original Constantinian basilica) and as an anticipatory expression of the completed new basilica, which at the time was still under construction. Understood more as a sacred artefact than a mere drawn depiction, the representation reveals much about the relationship between conserving the past and creating a new architectural order, which the author examines with great acumen and scholarly insight. At the same time, the author argues that the artefact provides a rich and fertile source of ideas about broader issues of building conservation today, providing a critical point of reference for re-evaluating the nature and meaning of historical and cultural continuity as a problem of architectural representation. The book would be of interest to both practitioners and academics, challenging conventional assumptions of an unmediated relationship between history and creativity that has become endemic in architectural conservation today.' Nicholas Temple, University of Huddersfield, UK'The book is a ground-breaking event in the field and deals with materials that for some strange and unclear reasons have been completely overlooked in both the history of St. Peter's and within theories of historic conservation. The backbone of book, the analysis of the Tiberio Alfarano's artifact is very exhaustive and far-reaching in singling out the cultural interaction between representations and buildings. The evaluation of Alfarano's unique facture is done with very sophisticated sensorial procedures and it will be an innovative contribution to scholarship of visual literacy and its role in the analyses and assessment of historical conservation. The book is also novel in the way it is structured and presents a research that falls within a tradition of micro-history as a way to tackle the central questions regarding the temporality of the built environment. It also gives historical support to methods of study and action that can help to break the present bad habits of mummification that are employed unfortunately when dealing with the conservation of culturally loaded buildings.'Marco Frascari, Carleton University, Canada