A study is here made of the geographical roles of Salonika, Alexandria and Izmir over a long historical period: isthmian ports founded by Alexander the Great and by his successors in Macedonia, the Nile Delta and the Aegean Region of Asia Minor, all rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century, finally acquiring national status between the ‘twenties and ‘fifties of the 20th century. The text seeks to identify the role of architecture in times of such profound change, a period characterized in the later 19th century by a variety of architectural languages (used for the main public buildings revealing the function and cultural identity of the community concerned). At Salonika and Izmir the “modernist“ turn of the 1930s became a factor of urban reconstruction. Associated to a period of repopulation and profound cultural change, modern architecture came to assume an almost symbolic value with certain buildings or even entire urban areas embodying new features that may be seen as predicting a future of a collective nature. On this point the text compares reconstruction plans with others for a trade fair or university actually carried out and which, faced with a crisis situation of the port, helped towards economic and cultural revival

Geographic Theatres, Port Landscapes and Architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean: Salonica, Alexandria, Izmir

PALLINI, CRISTINA
2010-01-01

Abstract

A study is here made of the geographical roles of Salonika, Alexandria and Izmir over a long historical period: isthmian ports founded by Alexander the Great and by his successors in Macedonia, the Nile Delta and the Aegean Region of Asia Minor, all rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century, finally acquiring national status between the ‘twenties and ‘fifties of the 20th century. The text seeks to identify the role of architecture in times of such profound change, a period characterized in the later 19th century by a variety of architectural languages (used for the main public buildings revealing the function and cultural identity of the community concerned). At Salonika and Izmir the “modernist“ turn of the 1930s became a factor of urban reconstruction. Associated to a period of repopulation and profound cultural change, modern architecture came to assume an almost symbolic value with certain buildings or even entire urban areas embodying new features that may be seen as predicting a future of a collective nature. On this point the text compares reconstruction plans with others for a trade fair or university actually carried out and which, faced with a crisis situation of the port, helped towards economic and cultural revival
2010
Cities of the Mediterranean: From Ottoman times to the Present
9781848851276
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/582854
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