The chief objective
of the Villa Ocampo Project is a first-rate restoration
of Victoria’s house, gardens, and belongings.
To this end, the conservation and restoration
have been considered as a whole, in order to achieve
a harmony between the opposing pulls of the modernization
of the infrastructure and the preservation of
the original spirit of the home. The restoration
will be completed in stages, with the consideration
of the dual purposes intended for the house: as
both a historical site and a modern space for
cultural undertakings.
The restoration will aim to conserve the marks
of time, as well as to use the history of the
house to illustrate various historical moments.
The refurbishment of the balustrades, marble,
plaster, ornamentation, and floors merit special
caution. When a piece of furniture or part of
the house is in an unusable condition, its replica
is built and positioned in such a fashion that
it is indistinguishable from the original.
As an example, many of the balustrades on the
ground floor were fractured beyond repair and
required replicas. A plastic mold, reinforced
by glass fiber, was used to recreate
upwards of 80 balustrades, each of which preserved
the most miniscule time-wrought nicks of the original.
The restoration of Victoria´s historical
garden is well advanced, under the supervision
of Sonia Berjman and Ana Ricciardi, with help
from other people incluidng Fabio Grementieri,
Carlos Gasperi, Eduardo Staforini and Esmeralda
Almonacid.
The restoration of the furniture will be done
according to museum standards, in order to preserve
the atmosphere of the space and with the aim of
recording the marks of time rather than repairing
the items to a like-new state.
All of the stages of the restoration process have
been recorded by a professional photographer.
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