Tourism wants to animate colonial ruins

As part of the process of transformation underway in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo, the Ministry of Tourism plans refurbish the monuments currently in ruins in order to add them to the historical center’s tourism prospectus. During the celebration of the International Seminar of Contemporary Architecture in Historical Centers, held at the Ibero-American University (UNIBE) yesterday, Wednesday 10 December 2014, a group of internationally prominent architects spoke of the need to make the most of the historical potential of the colonial rulings. As reported in El Caribe, Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, former 15-year long dean of architecture of the University of Harvard, said it is wrong to think that the historical monuments should be conserved as ruins without any type of use. He said that this is why cities have not been able to maximize the potential that the monuments could offer. He said, “to bring life to the historical assets will result in cultural, tourist and economic activity in the surrounding areas.”