Journal

This cemetery is where those who died in the Vajont disaster are buried. Designed as part of the long reconstruction project following that tragic night of the 3rd October 1963, the cemetery is situated at Muda Maè, a small hamlet not far from Longarone, lying wedged in between the rocky ravines of the Zoldana Valley.
Avon, Tentori and Zanuso’s design, rather than a series of architectural volumes built above ground, consists of a mixture of spaces, some dug out, others only just emerging from the ground, arranged in a trench-like fashion, as if the architects wished to show that Man’s efforts have not taken anything away from Nature itself. The walls of those spaces dug out of the mountainside have been lined with the same stone that was excavated from the slopes: they are thick walls of roughly-squared ashlars.
Stone embankments of an irregular layout – with masonry courses interrupted, divided into two or levelled using wedges, rough-faced septa that in winding their way into the woods, resemble border walls criss-crossing the mountainsides more than the boundaries of a cemetery. The discontinuity of the joints – where the stones at times touch, while at others they are set apart – constitutes a masonry design that cannot be codified in traditional architectural terms. The silvery-grey local stone is also used in the paving, formed from large slabs alternated with brickwork and cobblestone.
The “reserved” nature of this project is expressed not only in the use of local materials, but also in the decision not to impose the design on the surrounding environment, and to avoid any form of architectural rhetoric. The layout of the cemetery, all of which lies below the level of the surrounding countryside, is characterised by a herringbone pattern within which there are polygonal chambers and circular walls, reminiscent of ancient toloi. These spaces, enclosed up to eye-level by the walls or by the bare-cement burial niches, do not impede the view of the stark surrounds dominated in the distance by the motionless, imposing presence of the dam.
Those visiting their loved ones’ graves may pray in a series of sober, intimate spaces, each different. In Guido Zucconi’s words:
The modestly mimetic nature of the Muda Maè site gives it a very un-cemetery-like appearance, if by cemetery we mean a geometrical, orthogonally-shaped design. Perhaps it reflects the experience of those who have been directly involved in the drama of a local community deprived of everything, even its own houses, as a result of the 1963 catastrophe. The decision to design a low-profile cemetery, so as to attenuate its presence within this specific context, and to build it according to rural tradition, rather than modern urban standards, appears a tacit form of recognition of a community that has already been subjected to an excess of rational design in the past. ¹

Davide Turrini

Guido Zucconi, “Longarone, 1964-1972. Nella città ricostruita”, p.92, in Ferruccio Luppi, Guido Zucconi and Gianni Avon, Architetture e progetti 1947-1997, Venice, Marsilio, 2000, pp. 155.