Tourism Ministry takes over San Francisco ruins restoration project

Tourism Ministry takes over San Francisco ruins restoration project Santo Domingo.- Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García has taken personal charge of the project to restore and adapt the Ruins of the San Francisco Convent in Santo Domingo’s Colonial Zone. In its early stages, this proposal was met with widespread rejection. Maribel Villalona, director of Tourism Promotion for the Colonial City, a program that consists of a series of projects in the first city in the New World, said that the Ministry was managing the “Project for Restoration and Conservation of the Ruins of San Francisco”. Since the project was first announced, architect Villalona has faced criticism from civil society, including bodies like the International Council for Monuments and Sites, the Dominican Republic Academy of Sciences and the National District Council. Villalona said that the ministry had decided to take on the project «due to the variables involved that exceed the technical considerations.» When asked about the process of dialogue between the ministry of Tourism and the sectors involved in the colonial-era structure, and the Colonial Zone in general, which has been declared a world heritage site, she said that the results of the forum were being processed. “It appears that everyone is awaiting the next step. The Tourism Ministry, up until recently, was waiting for opinions,” she stated. According to Villalona, during the debate on the feasibility of restoring the Ruins of San Francisco, each university has presented a different proposal, which has made it even more interesting. She added that the process would take time. The architectural design presented by Rafael Moneo has not been welcomed by some sectors, which claim that if implemented, it would distort the ruins. DominicanToday.com – Tourism News

В Доминикане найдена древняя саламандра с откушенной лапой, застывшая в янтаре

В Доминиканской Республике впервые в мире найден образец янтаря с останками древней саламандры, обитавшей когда-то на острове. Об этом сообщили ученые из Орегонского университета. «Я был шокирован, когда впервые увидел ее в янтаре», — сказал Джордж Пойнар, эксперт в области изучения животных, найденных в янтаре. Находка помогла ученым понять, что данный вымерший вид саламандр обитал на острове более 20 млн лет назад. По словам ученых, изучение останков показало, что саламандре удалось выжить в схватке с неизвестным хищником, который откусил ей одну из лап, после чего амфибия упала в древесную смолу и застыла на миллионы лет. Находка поставила перед учеными вопросы об эволюции пресноводных, когда-то обитавших на острове, и о том, как пресноводные появились на нем. http://www.gazeta.ru/science/news/2015/08/18/n_7481447.shtml

First-ever discovery of a salamander in amber sheds light on evolution of Caribbean islands

CORVALLIS, Ore. – More than 20 million years ago, a short struggle took place in what is now the Dominican Republic , resulting in one animal getting its leg bitten off by a predator just before it escaped. But in the confusion, it fell into a gooey resin deposit, to be fossilized and entombed forever in amber. The fossil record of that event has revealed something not known before – that salamanders once lived on an island in the Caribbean Sea. Today, they are nowhere to be found in the entire Caribbean area. The never-before-seen and now extinct species of salamander, named Palaeoplethodon hispaniolae by the authors of the paper, adds more clues to the ecological and geological history of the islands of the Caribbean. Findings about its brief life and traumatic end – it was just a baby – have been published in the journal Palaeodiversity, by researchers from Oregon State University and the University of California at Berkeley. “I was shocked when I first saw it in amber,” said George Poinar, Jr., a professor emeritus in the OSU College of Science, and a world expert in the study of insects, plants and other life forms preserved in amber, all of which allow researchers to reconstruct the ecology of ancient ecosystems. “There are very few salamander fossils of any type, and no one has ever found a salamander preserved in amber,” Poinar said. “And finding it in Dominican amber was especially unexpected, because today no salamanders, even living ones, have ever been found in that region.” This fossil salamander belonged to the family Plethodontidae, a widespread family that today is still very common in North America, particularly the Appalachian Mountains. But it had back and front legs lacking distinct toes, just almost complete webbing with little bumps on them. As

Tourism Ministry takes over San Francisco ruins restoration issue

Tourism Ministry takes over San Francisco ruins restoration issue Santo Domingo.- Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García has taken personal charge of the project to restore and adapt the Ruins of the San Francisco Convent in Santo Domingo’s Colonial Zone. In its early stages, this proposal was met with widespread rejection. Maribel Villalona, director of Tourism Promotion for the Colonial City, a program that consists of a series of projects in the first city in the New World, said that the Ministry was managing the “Project for Restoration and Conservation of the Ruins of San Francisco”. Since the project was first announced, architect Villalona has faced criticism from civil society, including bodies like the International Council for Monuments and Sites, the Dominican Republic Academy of Sciences and the National District Council. Villalona said that the ministry had decided to take on the project «due to the variables involved that exceed the technical considerations.» When asked about the process of dialogue between the ministry of Tourism and the sectors involved in the colonial-era structure, and the Colonial Zone in general, which has been declared a world heritage site, she said that the results of the forum were being processed. “It appears that everyone is awaiting the next step. The Tourism Ministry, up until recently, was waiting for opinions,” she stated. According to Villalona, during the debate on the feasibility of restoring the Ruins of San Francisco, each university has presented a different proposal, which has made it even more interesting. She added that the process would take time. The architectural design presented by Rafael Moneo has not been welcomed by some sectors, which claim that if implemented, it would distort the ruins. DominicanToday.com – Tourism News

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