San Fernando Batteries in Portobelo - Panama: building materials characterization and the environmental impact evaluation

During the XVII-XVIII centuries the transoceanic commerce between the "New" and "Old World" increased considerably, making the isthmus of Panama one of the most important harbour of the Spanish trades. In particular the Bay of Portobelo, on the North Coast, represented the ideal port for the Spanish commercial routes in the Caribbean Sea. In order to protect this strategic outpost from the pirate attacks, the Spanish Empire built several military fortifications, located in Portobelo and San Lorenzo areas [1, 2]. This impressive group of forts has been included in the World Heritage List of UNESCO since 1980, but for the last three years it has been inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger [3]. Through a collaboration among the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, ISAC-CNR (Bologna), the "Patronato de Portobelo y San Lorenzo" and the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences of the University of Ferrara, it has started a research campaign aiming at characterizing and evaluating the state of conservation of the building materials, considering the environmental impact on them, in terms of climate and pollution, with the final purpose of producing guidelines for current and future maintenance of these extraordinary sites. In particular, this work focuses on the materials utilized for the construction of the San Fernando Batteries, a defence group erected on the North side of the Bay of Portobelo. A mineralogical and petrographic characterization is currently under execution by Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM-EDX) and X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) investigations; in addition, porosimetry analyses (MIP) are in progress. This study will allow to define a detailed overview of the materials utilized in the different parts of the bastions, to investigate the interaction building-environment, enhancing the knowledge of this structures in order to safeguard them with a long term prospective. References: [1] Tejera Davis, E., (2007), Panamá: Guía de Arquitectura y Paisaje - An Architectural and Landscape Guide, Ed. bilingüe [1a ed.], Junta de Andalucia, Instituto Panameño de Turismo, Gobierno de España [2] World Monuments Fund (2003), Portobelo - San Lorenzo: An approach to integrated conservation for sites containing endangered cultural and natural resources [3] http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/135