Recovery of the roman walls, Lugo

Lugo, Lugo, Galicia.
Special mention / Diploma in the category Conservation / Conservation and adaptive reuse in the year 1980.

Dating of the building: 3rd century.

Applicant: Lugo City Council.

Reason for the award :

For the reconditioning of its wall, the only one of its characteristics preserved in the world.

  • © Víctor Gibello Bravo
  • © Víctor Gibello Bravo
  • © Víctor Gibello Bravo
  • © Víctor Gibello Bravo
  • © Víctor Gibello Bravo

This 1980 diploma attracted attention to the grandeur of Lugo’s wall, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO twenty years later.

Lugo’s Roman wall is the only one in the entire territory of the Roman Empire that preserves its entire 2,117-metre perimeter. Despite the reforms undergone after seventeen centuries of history, its original appearance and layout, based on the Vitruvian guidelines, have remained unaltered. They therefore offer the best living example of fortification in the Lower Roman Empire, with its rectangular plan with rounded corners and its more than seventy cubes or turrets, built-in slabs of slate, granite, and other local materials. The height of the wall ranges between eight and ten metres, with an average thickness of approximately four metres. It has ten access gates, five from Roman times, and as many from later works, as well as four exterior staircases and two ramps accessing the walkway.

Declared a World Heritage Site in 2000, the Lucus Augusti wall was close to demolition in 1895 and was finally saved in 1921 after being declared a National Monument. Before receiving the Europa Nostra diploma, the high voltage towers located in the turrets were removed, more than one hundred and thirty houses built on their cubes, also restored, were demolished.  Parasitic vegetation was eradicated and indirect monumental lighting was installed.

Others awards in Galicia: