The rupestrian church of San Pietro da Morrone (Matera, Italy)

Abstract

Architectonic manifestations are vehicles for the creativity and the spirit of a culture. These assets represent documental evidence of human technical capacities, beliefs, identities and the vision that people have about themselves and the world. The city, then, represents a process of permanent construction of heritage as one of the cores for collective cohesion [1]. It is important to recognise the symbiosis between the intangible and tangible values that coexist in a cultural asset. In other words, to identify and characterise the physical consequences of the cultural assets (such as colours, geometries, spatial organisations, elements of design, etc.) is a necessary step for contextualising the object and its intangible values. Protecting the cultural heritage is an essential activity for ensuring the continuity of a culture and its values; the presence of cultural assets is not sufficient by itself. It is necessary to adequately transmit and share their meanings and values. In other words, the social function of heritage depends on the socialisation and adequate interpretation of the material objects. The international recommendations on Historic Urban Landscapes (HULs) [2] remark the value of documenting the historical city as a step for promoting the knowledge of cultural assets. This process is important for sharing, but also for the development of scientifically supported interventions, also in the context of natural risks [3].