Abstract

Fundamentally, a ruin is a utilitarian structure which through the ravages of time or through some other circumstance has lost its utility and its function. When a useful object becomes useless, it continues to be present without a true existence, exactly as if it were dead. A torn glove, a bicycle without wheels, do not deserve to be called by their original names. It is difficult, of course, for us to resign ourselves to the fact that objects we have always thought of as useful are no longer useful; we hold on to the illusion of profiting from them as long as possible. We still make use of an abandoned automobile by stripping it of its accessories; we make use of a dilapidated house by salvaging some of its building material. However, the time comes when we must accept the evidence and admit that the object has become a burden.