“Reaparición gráfica” del teatro romano de Mérida por Vicente Paredes Guillén (1887-1911)

Abstract

The centenary of the death of Vicente Paredes Guillén was celebrated in 2016. This multifaceted character dedicated part of his great activity to the study of the historical and archaeological heritage, fundamentally in Extremadura, between the end of the 19th century and beginnings of the 20th. Within its studies, the “graphic reappearance” of the Roman theatre of Mérida is conceived as an interesting exercise in which the architect imagines the form and hypothetical reconstruction of this building. In this work we want to pay tribute to the figure of this researcher while analyzing the different sketches of the building he makes and the correspondence exchanged with the archaeologists in their eagerness to reconstruct “at least on paper” the image of the Roman theater. Besides the interest of the drawings themselves, the work of Vicente Paredes, in his conception, represents the hinge that is established between the erudite studies of the previous centuries and the gradual consolidation of archaeology as a scientific discipline at the beginning of the 20th century.