A city also needs places of memory

Churches, chapels, plaques, and festive celebrations were born in the places where these communities believed they had received a grace or suffered a wound. The urban space thus turned into an open book of their shared memory. Today we fill cities with commercial advertisements and easily remove that whose meaning is no longer explained by anyone. Not every ancient building must be preserved in the same way, but losing places of memory makes it much harder to know who we were. Caring for them does not consist solely in restoring stone. It is necessary to tell the story with truth, acknowledge lights and shadows, and allow the place to keep posing questions to those who pass by.