Designing a Roman Fort for Historical Recreation and Reenactment Purposes

Abstract

This article describes the study developed as a topic for master’s dissertation for a civil engineering course, the project being to construct a Roman fortification for historical recreation purposes. It is a nonprofit project for sociocultural purposes and the aim is to promulgate and appreciate the history and legacy related to the classical Roman era. Inherent to this study are the strong links among history, archaeology, the history of architecture, and civil engineering (design and construction). The work focuses on the challenge of creating buildings that meet the functional requirements of today while retaining the image and uses typical of Roman military buildings, without it becoming a pastiche. The constructive solutions developed to achieve a balance between these two factors are analyzed and described. Thus, in this study, the authors used historical inferences to support the draft of a building to be erected over a short time span and that reproduces the classical era within the constraints of modern buildings. A Roman fort is to be built for the purpose of historical reenactment and experimental archaeology, and we attempted to answer the following questions: What would the various buildings comprising a Roman fort look like? What materials would have been used? How would each have functioned? and What would they be like to live in? The buildings studied include the headquarters, barracks, stables, hospital, workshop, latrines, granary, and baths. Archaeological and historical information was collected for each building on which to base its architecture, which was made compatible with the structural calculation and comfort, modern legislation, the wishes of the project owner, and factors that would allow visitors and reenactors to enjoy the space. Very recently a commission was received to build a small fort, with only one barracks, in the north of Portugal as part of a multiera theme park, and almost a hundred international bookings have been received before construction has even started. Only after the Roman fort is built in Vendas Novas in the north of Portugal will it be possible to assess the success of the project, through visitor numbers.