Two historical disasters: the Great Fire of London and the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake - repercussions in the Artistic Heritage and attitudes of rehabilitation

Abstract

The disasters with the most destructive impact, namely on edified heritage that occurred in Europe during the Modern Era took place in London and Lisbon, with the Great Fire of 1666 and the Great Earthquake of 1755. The different political and cultural circumstances of those capitals and corresponding kingdoms where translated in distinct forms of reconstructing the two cities. Notwithstanding the dissimilar options taken on the urban level, the concerns and precepts of prevention evidenced on the rebuilding of both, as well as the practices of demolishing, reuse or repair the patrimony that survived the catastrophes where common. In this article, we look at the decisions taken in the panorama of the two rehabilitations, and the various shades of sensibility or awareness toward heritage demonstrated then.

Keywords

• Architectural Heritage
• Demolish
• Reuse
• Repair
• Rebuild