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Architecture & Urban Portal
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Below this index are entries in a series of miscellaneous articles about architecture and urban planning. They are |
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abandoned railways Alifana railway anti-seismic architecture (early) aqueduct (Apulian) aqueduct (Carolino) Arata, Giulio Ulisse architecture (1) (2) Aselmeyer (Castle) architecture of Fascism aristocratic convents Bagnoli (consolidated page) Baroque (Lecce) Bianchi, Pietro Bourbon tunnel Brutalism busses and trams (early) cabin-lift (Posillipo) cable-car Montesanto (1)& (2) Cardarelli hospital Carità, Piazza (rebuilding) Carminiello ai Mannesi casa baraccata Caserta Palace Cathedral (Duomo) cave-ins & sink-holes Cemetery of the 366 Trenches Centro Direzionale (Civic Center) Chiaromonte, Ferdinando Cirella (Palazzo) cities & virgins Coppola (Villaggio) Dante (Piazza) Echia (Mt.) Elena e Maria, villa EUR Fanzago, Cosimo Fermariello (villa) Fontana, Domenico freight village Nola/Naples Fuga, Ferdinando Galleria Umberto Galleria ‘Principe di Napoli’ Gambrinus Caffè Genovese, Gaetano Granili (granary), Royal hospital (1st Polyclinic) hospital for the "Incurable" hospital (ex-military) hospital, US Army 17th General inverted high-rises "Liberty" architecture in Naples lighthouses in Naples Londres (Hotel) Maddalena [Magdalene] Bridge maintenance and upkeep Marina (via), new construction Martyrs' Square Mercato (Piazza) (1) (2) Mergellina Mergellina train station |
metropolitana metropolitana (airport station) Metropolitan Cities Mithra (Cavern of) Molosiglio (port) monasteries (1) (2) (3) (4) Montecalvario metro station Monte Sant'Angelo (university) monuments Mortella, la (gardens on Ischia) Mostra d'Oltremare (1) (2) period postcard series Piazza grande Piazza Municipio Piazza Plebiscito (1) (2) Piazza Plebiscito & S. Francesco di Paola 2013 Poggioreale, Villa Posillipo (1) (2) Posillipo (Old communities of) Portici post-office construction (1936) Regi Lagni, the (cleaning up) Risanamento (1) & in urbanology Risan. article from NY Times. 1890 Rossi, Carlo (directly below this index) Royal Palace Royal Poorhouse Sanfelice, Ferdinando San Gennaro (Porta) Sanità (area of Naples) Sant'Angelo in Formis Scampia Scudillo sea front (via Caracciolo) sedili (medieval town halls) sewerage system sister city (of Naples) Spanish Quarter Stabia (Castellammare), marina statues (confusing) tangenziale highway Tasso (via) Tecchio (Piazzale) train station (old) tunnels Underground 'cities' and settlements Universal Forum of Cultures--2013 urbanology Vaccaro, Andrea Vaccaro, D. A. Vanvitelli, Luigi Velia/Elea Vergini (area of Naples) Vesuvian Villas villa communale (1) (2) villa d'Elboeuf villas of Naples Vomero (urban expansion of) Vulcano buono & Renzo Piano Young, Lamont (1) |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Miscellaneous Article about Architecture #1 Carlo Rossi — or Italian architecture and the Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad A word on what you are looking at when you see the restored architectural beauty of St. Petersburg or Dresden or Warsaw or any one of the many cities in the world that were destroyed in the savagery of WWII. Artists, architects, art historians, and masons have the power to re-give us beauty as it was, but without dwelling on the misery and suffering behind why restoration was necessary in the first place. Forget atomic weapons —conventional warfare has its own unspeakable ferocity and if ever a city teetered on the brink of death, but pulled through, it was St. Petersburg (called Leningrad at the time of WWII). Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The German army lay siege to Leningrad. The siege lasted 872 days, or almost two and a half years, from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944. More than one million civilians died, mostly from starvation. The Siege of Leningrad has been described in many sources as the longest, most destructive, most vicious and lethal siege of a major city ever! (That's right —ever, in all of human history.) Rebuilding after the war included the task of disposing of the bodies of the victims. Almost uncountable, half a million of them were buried in 186 mass graves at the Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery, that during the war was an enormous empty pit into which the bodies had been dumped. In the excruciating words of the Leningrad poet, Sergei Davydov: "Here lies half the city." But it survived, and the survivors were heroes. (I met one! Viktor, a pen-pal and fellow trombonist who played with the Leningrad Symphony in the 1980s when they came to Naples on tour. He was a little boy during the siege and his mother kept him alive.) Now called Saint Petersburg again, this wonder of strength and resilience, has 221 museums, 2000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries and exhibition halls, 62 cinemas and 80 other cultural establishments. The city is on the UNESCO World Heritage list as an area with 36 historical architectural complexes and around 4000 outstanding individual monuments of history, culture, and architecture (all of it, I repeat, restored). So if you go, you will indeed be able to see the Amber Room. The original, done in 1756 by the above-mentioned Rastrelli, took 24 years to restore! It's 30 km/20 miles outside of St. Petersburg in the Catherine Palace, a Rococo palace in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (now the city of Pushkin). It was the summer residence of the Russian czars. Delicately crafted amber panels, created during the time of Peter the Great, were stolen during the Siege. The panels you see today were painstakingly recreated from photos and descriptions of the originals. So, yes, thanks go to the restorers of these works of art (including Caro Rossi's buildings), but should we not take an extra moment or two to... I don't know what... let some of that sink in? --and resist the urge to even think that maybe WWII wasn't so bad. I mean, look at all these pretty buildings. -footnote: I am indebted to Marius Kociejowski, author of the forthcoming book, The Sepent Coiled in Naples, for this bit of infuriating irony: I have been to that cemetery outside St Petersburg and a moving experience it was, too, with the sound of Bach from tiny speakers in the trees. The most disturbing aspect was that we were taken there by a Russian skinhead. We were settled in and already on the way when I spotted all kinds of Nazi regalia -- the swastika hanging from the ignition key, etc. |
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Excerpt
from a book chapter on Italian
Architects in Imperial Russia, @ by Luciano Mangiafico
Reliable news about Carlo Rossi’s father and Carlo’s birth are scarce. Some sources claim that his real father was an architect from the Swiss Canton Ticino, while other sources place his place of birth in St. Petersburg rather than Naples, and some even claim that Carlo was the illegitimate son of Czar Paul I. Most sources, however, concur that he was born in Naples. In any case, Carlo had a privileged childhood and lacked for nothing since the parents were well paid and socialized with the best of the Russian intelligentsia. As a teenager Carlo was apprenticed to the older Vincenzo Brenna, who taught him the essential principles of architecture and building. As he progressed in his career, Rossi further combined the severity of Greek classicism with motifs of the more florid opulence of the Napoleonic Empire style. He put his stamp on individual buildings and entire complexes, including palaces with gardens, servants’ facilities, conservatories, artificial lakes, and the like. Rossi's capacity for unceasing activity also led him to redecorate the czar’s summer residence, the Pavlovsk Palace, and in 1826 to add a gallery, and decorate it, to the Winter Palace to celebrate the 1812 victory against the Napoleonic French. The portrait of 332 Russian generals who participated in the war hung in the gallery. Rossi's last major project in St. Petersburg was the design and construction of Senate Square and the two buildings that face it, the Senate and Synod Buildings (1826-34). The two buildings exteriors, adorned with rows of Corinthian columns, consist of two 300 feet long wings, joined together by a triumphal arch, similar to the one he had placed on the General Staff Building on Palace Square. Some of the grandiose projects Rossi planned in his younger days were never built. One of these was building a new monumental 2,000 feet long granite abutment along the Neva River from the Winter Palace to the port. The promenade was to be adorned with ten triumphal granite arches and by three enormous Rostral Columns, celebrating Russia’s naval victories. In presenting his project to the czar, Rossi wrote: “The proportions of this project I am presenting surpass anything the [ancient] Romans deemed adequate for their projects. Should we fear competing with them in magnificence? The aim is not the abundance of ornaments, but the grandeur of form, the elegance of proportions, durability! This monument must be eternal… the construction of this promenade should be for the ages, showing that we have equaled the ancients and, with its grandeur, left behind all that has been created by Europeans in our time.” Indeed, another one never built was an almost Piranesi-like* Roman architectural fantasy, a Monument to Great Men. *[editorial note: The reference is to the Italian artist and engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) famous for his etchings of ancient Rome but also of fictitious and fanciful creations of his own imagination. JM] Carlo Rossi is entombed at the
Tichvin cemetery of
the Alexander Nevsky monastery in St. Petersburg Throughout his long career Rossi had been an honest and generous man, living a moderate life and often donating to charities generously. He thus lived his retirement years in very modest circumstances. He died during a cholera epidemic on April 18, 1849. Such were the family’s financial circumstances that to pay for the funeral, they had to appeal to the emperor for funds. Rossi was buried in the Volkov Lutheran Cemetery, but in 1930 his remains were moved to a cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. An appropriate grey polished granite stele was placed on the tomb. Although Rossi did not lack for critics, the judgment of those who have considered the totality of his work is overwhelmingly positive. Ettore Lo Gatto (1890-1983), an Italian Slavic specialist, wrote of the Theater Street, which Rossi planned: “… more than any other street in St. Petersburg, for magnificence and solemnity, it recalls the great monumental avenues that [ancient] Roman architecture created in the Hellenized Orient. This comparison finds confirmation in the passionate study of ancient Roman architecture that Rossi undertook and which inspired him.” (my translation, LM)*1 Russian painter and art historian Igor Grabar (1871-1960) agreed and wrote: “This magnificence is still little appreciated but the time will come when we will look at these perfect Rossi creations the same way in we look at the works of Renaissance masters in Italy… What height of architectural conceptions! This man intended with all his soul to build entire complexes of squares and streets. The Romans were his teachers! He wanted to compete with them in his architecture. The grandeur and magnificence of Roman projects at the time of Agrippa, Hadrian, and Caracalla engaged his imagination. He dreamed of making St. Petersburg a second Rome.”*2 The golden age of Italian architects shaping the urban landscape of Russia’s great cities and building of country palaces for its czars and aristocracy ended with Rossi. A few others followed in his footsteps but the inventive greatness that he and some of his predecessors had achieved was never equaled or even approached. notes: -1. Lo Gatto, Ettore. Gli Artisti Italiani in Russia. Vanni Scheiwiller, Milan. 1993.
to all portals to top of this page (The Architecture Portal) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Miscellaneous Article #3 on Architecture and Urban Portal-- 1. Metropolitan
Cities (directly
below)
2. Quarters
of Naples 1. The weather report in English for Naples now reads "Naples. Metropolitan City of Naples. Italy." The addition of "Metropolitan City" to the Cirque du Soleil-like balance of the Italian administrative hierarchy confuses some people, including me, so I asked Selene, my therapist, who knows lots and lots.
(Going through her mind): He's mumbling. Delirious.
(Internal monologue still racing!)There are 14 Metropolitan Cities [MC] in Italy: 1.Bari, 2.Bologna, 3.Cagliari (Sardinia), 4.Catania (Sicily), 5.Florence, 6.Genoa, 7.Messina (Sicily), 8.Milano, 9.Napoli, 10.Palermo (Sicily), 11.Reggio Calabria, 12.Rome, 13.Torino, and 14.Venice. By further definition, "the MC shall have a council [consiglio], a board [giunta] and a mayor. Further, these new administrative regulations for the MC shall be put into effect within one year from approval of the law." That was in the 1990's, but in 1993 they put in "wiggle room" on the deadline, changing "shall be put into effect" to "may be put into effect."
Not to worry, Jeff. She will know and she will tell you!
She answered with her usual precision:
2. -------------------------The Quarters of Naples------------------------------------------
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Miscellaneous Article #4, supplemental to the
Architecture and Urban Portal--
Romanesque Architecture in the
South
The
European Council (EC) continues its breathless
declarations that we are all one Europe in its paper and
on-line publication of Itineraries to Discover the
Roots of Europe. You can hike trails that lead you
to examples of pre-historic cave art, or trail along
with Charlemagne as he goes from Aachen to Rome to found
the Holy Roman Empire, or follow the spread of the
Phoenicians, the Vikings, Carthage, or Rome. You can do
all of that while you try not to think about how violent
it has all been. If you think it is now better than it
used to be, that's your opinion. So we can talk about
something not so brutal — architecture.
(I know, it takes of lot slaves to build a pyramid and a
lot of serfs to build a medieval castle.)
The EC's map
(on the right) showing where there still remains
Romanesque architecture to be found is a bit deceptive.
The orange patches are, yes, the major areas, but there
some important areas —important
and famous ones — in southern
Italy.
The Romanesque
church of Santa Maria of
Siponto,
approx. the year 1100. Siponto
is now part of the city of
Manfredonia, on the lower side
of the
Gargano spur, the
semi-peninsula that juts out
into the Adriatic well over
halfway down the eastern coast
of Italy. photo,
Luigi Ghirri
So, what
is Romanesque
architecture? Here are
some of the terms used
to describe a few
architectural styles
that have existed in
Europe: Classical,
Byzantine, Romanesque,
Norman, Gothic,
Renaissance, and
Baroque. Those are in
order chronologically,
from the architecture of
Hellenic Greece and
Imperial Rome to Baroque
(the 1600s). We are not
concerned with what
people built before that
(ancient Babylonians had
mud-brick architecture
and in many places in
Europe and, indeed,
around the world, a lot
of people lived in caves
(no assembly required!);
nor are we concerned
with what came later
(repetition of earlier
styles plus styles made
possible by technical
advances of the
industrial revolution.
Just think —steel
bridges for the homeless
to live under!)
Romanesque
architecture emerged
in Western Europe in
the early 11 century
(remember, that is the
1000's —pronounced
"ten-hundreds"—,
an important point
because Romanesque
style didn't last
long, maybe 1050 to
1200). As the name
implies it was based
on the architecture of
ancient Rome with
later Byzantine
elements thrown in
(that is, the style of
Constantinople —the
Eastern Empire—
from the 4th century,
characterized by large
domes, round arches,
and elaborate
columns). Romanesque
is what slowly
developed after the
fall of the Western
Empire and the
devastation of the
wars that followed
from invasions of
peoples such as the
Huns, Vandals, and a
dozen kinds of Goths.
The style is
characterized by
massive walls, round
arches, sturdy pillars
and powerful barrel
vaults. It was the
"first pan-European"
architectural style
since the days of
ancient Rome and
lasted until the
advent of Gothic
architecture. The
Romanesque
style is also
termed "Norman
architecture"
in England to
refer to the
castles and
fortifications
built by the
Normans as
they spread
out in that
period over a
vast area,
including
Sicily; the
term also
applies to the
great abbey
churches in
England, many
of which are
still
standing.
In
southern
Italy,
including
Sicily, the
Normans began
constructing
castles, their
trademark, in
the middle of
the 1000's.
After the
death of
Robert
Guiscard in
1085, the
Mezzogiorno (southern
Italy) had a
series of
civil wars and
fell under the
control of
increasingly
weaker
princes.
Revolts marked
the region
until well
into the
1100's as
minor lords, from
within their
own castles,
resisted
distant ducal
or royal
power.
(Feudalism had
arrived!)
Molise is the
area bordering
modern
Campania, of
which Naples
is the
capital; it
extends to the
Adriatic: in
Molise the
Normans
started an
extensive
castle-building
program. They
introduced the
opus
gallicum
technique to
Italy, a
technique of
construction
whereby
precise holes
were created
in stone
masonry for
the insertion
of wooden
beams to
create a
wooden
infrastructure.
This
made
Romanesque
architectural
feats possible
that were
almost as
impressive as
those of the
ancient Roman
structures
they tried to
emulate.
Image directly
above: the Monforte
castle
in Campobasso,
Molise.
San Vicenzo al Volturno
The flowering of such architecture in
and near Campania has to do largely with the
Benedictine monastic movement, primarily their centers at
Montecassino and San Vicenzo al Volturno (image,
left). The problem with Montecassino is that it
has been destroyed numerous times (the last time in
WWII), so that the successive reconstructions changed
whatever was "Romanesque" about the original. Also,
the later Gothic builders tended just to rebuild
earlier structures, again greatly reducing the amount
of authentic Romanesque work for us to see today, at
least externally. In many cases, such as San Vicenzo al Volturno, the outside was
changed but frescoes on the inside were left
and have been restored and may be viewed.
San Liberatore a Maiella
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