EL SISTEMA DE FORTIFICACIÓN COLONIAL DE MONTEVIDEO, UNA EXPERIENCIA DE GESTIÓN EN EL ÁREA DE CIUDAD VIEJA

The aim of this paper is to analyze the present situation of the Archaeological Heritage Managementin relation to the colonial fortification system of Montevideo´s Ciudad Vieja (Uruguay).This management is developed following the Archaelogical Department´s guidelines of the CulturalHeritage Commission´s Office (Ministry of Education and Culture). These guidelines were outlinedto enter upon a highly heritage significance area like Ciudad Vieja. We also display management’sexperiences related to this heritage.Montevideo´s fortification system was one of the most important military architecture that wasbuilt by the Spanish in this part of the continent. It was built in different episodes and developed duringabout one hundred years, since the beginning of the eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century.At present, we can watch a fragmentary part of the whole, which is constituted by isolated relicsin a highly dynamic urban landscape and by “invisible” preexistences which are integrated to somewalls, foundations, under the existing streets or public areas.Nowadays, we cope with difficult situations which require complex resolutions in relation to thepreservation of these archaeological entities.Many strategies are being implemented to reverse this situation envolved from: interinstitutionalcoordination, documentation and inventory, change of the existing municipal regulations, mixedcooperation, to deep appropriation and redefinition´s processes, among others.