Lecture: The Collapse of Holyrood Abbey Church in 1768
Lecture: The Collapse of Holyrood Abbey Church in 1768
‘The wages of “extreme avarice or stupidity of an architect”: the collapse
of Holyrood Abbey church in 1768.’
To celebrate the Year of Young People, the Forth & Borders Group would like to invite all individuals aged 16-24 years old to attend lectures for free!
Venue: St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church, 13 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PA
Time: 18:30
Cost: £5 (£2.50 students)
Non-members welcome!
Members may attend 6 lectures for £25.
The talk sheds light into the collapse of Holyrood Abbey Church in 1768 following the puzzling substitution of the decaying roof trusses with masonry walls in 1760 by John Douglas and James McPherson. Does their experience and professional context of the job justify Arnot’s view of “avarice”?
Dimitris Theodossopoulos teaches conservation and architectural technology at the Edinburgh College of Art in the University of Edinburgh and he is a civil engineer. He has researched and published extensively on a wide range of Scottish subject, from prehistoric brochs, to Gothic vaulting and Georgian construction and its preservation. He is the author of the book “Structural design in building conservation”, which illustrates his thoughts on the potential of building fabric and structure in the critical updating of historical buildings. He is interested in the technical aspects of monuments and their preservation, but also the stories of the people who built them and how they learnt to overcome their limitations (or not).
Download the full talk programme here.
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