Kacy Cunningham: Blog 9 & 10

The one idea that really stuck out to me this semester was Sixtus V proposal of putting a church and a live action station of the cross inside the Coliseum. My first gut reaction was one of shock and disbelief. I imagined going to see the Coliseum today with a church inside of it and it felt so wrong, like defiling a monument. This feeling lead me to think about ancient sites in general and what is considered re purposing and what is considered defiling. It would be unrealistic to leave every single ancient building untouched and unused, but I also find it devastating to think about re purposing every ancient site. So where do you draw the line? If Sixtus V had actually put a church inside the Coliseum would we even consider it defiling or would that just be normal to us? Buildings like the Pantheon and the Hagia Sophia were re purposed and we don’t see them as anything less than ancient masterpieces. Perhaps we’re actually too careful and too protective of our historical sites today.