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A map to unravel memory, which tells the story of a city that of what were once the streets of Ghibellina. Each fissure is two to
has disappeared from maps. The Grande Cretto (also known as three meters wide and each concrete block is approximately one
Cretto di Burri) stretches like a concrete shroud over the ruins of meter and sixty meters high. The work stretches over an area of
the city of Ghibellina, destroyed by the Belice earthquake of 1968. 80,000 square meters and is one of the largest works of contem-
It traces the narrow streets of its centre, transforming them into porary art in the world.
deep wounds dug into the ground. However, the construction took longer than planned and was
The genesis of the land art intervention goes back to the de- only completed after the artist’s death. A first phase was complet-
struction of the town of Ghibellina, caused by the earthquake of ed between 1985 and 1989, then the work remained incomplete
14 January 1968. The 6.4 magnitude earthquake caused all the due to lack of funds. It was only completed in 2015, thus marking
houses in the town to collapse, sparing only the Church of Santa one hundred years since Burri’s birth. Four years later, in 2019,
Caterina, now the Museum of the Grande Cretto di Ghibellina. the Museum of the Grande Cretto di Gibellina opened in the old
It claimed 1150 victims and left 98,000 people homeless. How- church of Santa Caterina. It narrates the origins of the work, its
ever, the city’s desire for revival did not wane, and it was rebuilt design and construction.
11 kilometers from the rubble. And, thanks to the then mayor, Lu- As a map of a place that is not only physical, Burri’s work also
dovico Corrao’s idea, numerous artists and architects were invit- lives outside its space. It is a symbol, a labyrinth, a memory of
ed to contribute to the reconstruction efforts. matter – destroyed, shattered by the earthquake – and it is matter
Among them was Alberto Burri, who, upon arriving in the to memory. Immortalized in the short film by Dutch director Petra
new town, immediately realized that he would have nothing to Noordkamp commissioned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Mu-
do there. Instead, he asked to visit the site where the old village seum, the Cretto is also the backdrop for other works. Such is the
stood. “I was really touched. I almost felt like crying, and imme- subject of the performance I–Tigi Canto per Ustica by Marco Pao-
diately the idea came to me: here, I feel that I could do something lini, who sees in the Cretto a sort of concrete and material laby-
here. This is what I would do: we compact the rubble, which is a rinth, a perfect symbol of the labyrinth of lies that studded the en-
problem for everyone, we weaponize it well, and with the cement quiry into the Italicus massacre. What’s more, the Cretto has been
we make an immense white cretto, as an everlasting memory of featured in the videos of several musical artists, from Francesca
this event.” Michielin’s Io non abito al mare to Mastodon’s Pushing the tides, to
Burri designed a gigantic monument that simultaneously Meteorites by Mr. Rain.
covers the rubble, hiding the wound of the earthquake, and gives Created to be a memory of a specific event and a specific
eternity to a space that no longer exists, crystallizing the streets place, the work has become a symbol, a map of suffering and at
and alleys of the old city. The Cretto consists of 22 white concrete the same time a treasure chest of memory frozen under a concrete
cubes that evoke the structures of the houses below and the web structure, which appears light as a veil, covering to show.

Protagonist Architecture 93