Italian church Basilica di Siponto reconstructed in wire mesh by Edoardo Tresoldi

The Basilica di Siponto was constructed in the 12th century and now sits at the heart of the of an archaeological park in the Puglia region of southeast Italy. The structure was largely destroyed by earthquakes and has now been reconstructed in wire mesh by artist Edoardo Tresoldi. The permanent sculpture was constructed in five months and cost £70,000 as part of £2.8m investment in the park. The 14m tall construction recreates the volumes of the original church using 4,500 square meters of wire mesh weighing seven tons.

“The work of Edoardo Tresoldi appears as a majestic architecture sculpture able to tell the volumes of existing early Christian church and at the same time able to vivify, updating it, the relationship between the ancient and the contemporary,” says curator Simone Pallotta. “A work that, breaking up the secular controversy of the arts primacy, summarises two complementary languages ​​into a single, breathtaking scenery.”