Non-destructive methods as a tool in the assessment of monumental buildings condition

Results of a diagnostic campaign carried out on ancient Santa Maria Church in Oristano (Italy), with the purpose of evaluating the structural condition before starting a restoration program, are reported. The beautiful building showed signs of damage such as cracks, gathered especially on the facade's masonry and on the accessing arches of the lateral chapels contiguous to the facade. With the aim at non-invasively getting the higher number of reliable data about the real static condition of the church's facade and its out-buildings, several non-destructive investigations have been carried out. As a first step a global visual inspection has been run. Then, sonic tests, endoscopy and flat jacks have been carried out on the facade's masonry, and a dynamic test has been run on the tie rods that link the facade to the lateral chapel's masonries. Finally, the development of the cracks in the arches has been monitored for a period of fourteen months.