The Arch of Trajan in Ancona and civic identity in the Italian Quattrocento from Ciriaco d’Ancona to the death of Matthias Corvinus1

2018 ◽  
pp. 37-56
Author(s):  
Francesco Benelli
Keyword(s):  
Civic Identity ◽  
Andrea Palladio ◽  
Renaissance Architecture ◽  
Religious Architecture ◽  
Sebastiano Serlio ◽  
The City

This essay offers new insights into the civic value and the reception of the Arch of Trajan for Renaissance architecture in Ancona, a city almost completely overlooked by Renaissance historiography because of the destruction of most of its buildings. Built in 115 AD the Arch was meant to celebrate the Emperor’s victory in the Dacian wars, whose fleet departed from Ancona. Looking to sources to be found outside of the city it is possible to examine the legacy of the arch – a monument praised by Sebastiano Serlio and Andrea Palladio, among others -‐ in public and religious architecture, as well as its role in creating the identity of the city. Some motifs from the arch appear already in Giorgio da Sebenico’s late Gothic church portals of S. Agostino and S. Francesco alle Scale, as well as in the Loggia dei Mercanti (late 1450’s, early 1460’s), but its first important depiction is by Pinturicchio in the Piccolomini library in Siena. Here the arch is placed adjacent to Pius II’s, celebrating the (failed) departure of the fifth crusade from Ancona’s harbour in 1464 as a neo-Trajanic enterprise.

Building Houses by the Rootless People: Youth, Identities, and Education in Hong Kong

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-294
Author(s):  
CHUNG-HIN KEVIN HO ◽  
HEI-HANG HAYES TANG
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
History Education ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Reflective Dialogue ◽  
History Curriculum ◽  
Ethnic And Cultural Identity ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City ◽  
Education In Hong Kong

In this essay, Chung-Hin Kevin Ho, a history education university student in Hong Kong, narrates his search for civic identity. Composed through a process of critical and reflective dialogue with Hayes Tang, the essay describes the tension between Chung-Hin’s Chinese ethnic and cultural identity and the democratic values held by Hong Kongers. As a student, he and his peers had to navigate these competing conceptions of identity in their coursework and examinations. The youth of Hong Kong, including Chung-Hin, have protested against the Chinese government, and have fought to protect the values of Hong Kong. As a future educator, Chung-Hin has advice for the government administrations of both Hong Kong and China: work with Hong Kongers to help them “build their own house.” Chung-Hin argues that if Hong Kong is to become closer to China, it cannot be done through force or propaganda. Further, Chung-Hin contends that education initiatives that change the history curriculum of Hong Kong schools is not enough to bring the youth of the city to heel. Chung-Hin’s experiences, and his own understanding of history education in Hong Kong, have helped him see that the values of Hong Kongers need to be respected if there is any hope of gaining their trust and acceptance. In this timely essay, Chung-Hin highlights how government policies and historical legacies have shaped his personal experience and educational trajectory in Hong Kong, as well as the other students who are a part of the largest youth protest movement in recent memory.

The story of the merchant as a component of the tourism brand of the historic town (on the example of Yaroslavl)

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-66
Author(s):  
Нина Обнорская ◽  
Nina Obnorskaya
Keyword(s):  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Opinion Poll ◽  
Business Skills ◽  
Religious Architecture ◽  
Tourism Product ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Unesco World Heritage Site ◽  
Tourist Center ◽  
Urban Complex ◽  
The City

Yaroslavl is an important tourist center. It possess completely formed brand on the domestic tourism market. According opinion poll findings the majority of tourism product consumers in Yaroslavl associate it with the historical city. For the guests of Yaroslavl the brand of the historical city is disclosed through status of its center as the UNESCO World Heritage site, an outstanding complex of religious architecture of the XVII century, a preserved architectural and urban complex of the XIX-early XX centuries. However, the construction of new buildings or radical rebuilding of historic houses continues even in the UNESCO area. It destroys the uniqueness and complexity of the housing development in the city center, which are the main distinctive features of Yaroslavl as a historical city. The loss of historicity of environment is irretrievable. It leads to the loss of the competitive advantages of Yaroslavl. The city owes the merchants values making it attractive for tourists. The merchants determined the social economic and spiritual life of the city for several centuries. Business skills of Yaroslavl merchants, their everyday life, tastes and relationship with the Church had formed a unique historical image of the city. Yaroslavl needs a strategy of the brand development that will take into account the existing image of the city and include the development of the most advantageous positions both in the present and in the past. Merchants with their history should become an important component of the brand of Yaroslavl.

Defining the City ‘Trumpeter’: German Civic Identity and the Employment of Brass Instrumentalists, c.1500

2011 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Green
Keyword(s):  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
The Political ◽  
City Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
City Walls ◽  
Instrumental Ensembles ◽  
German Cities ◽  
The City

This article examines the employment of brass instrumentalists in German cities around 1500, as a reflection of the political circumstances of the epoch, where rivalry between the distinct components of the social hierarchy encouraged the assertion of power and status through musical patronage. Archival records and contemporary chronicles provide invaluable insights into the performances of civic brass instrumentalists, whether in the provision of signals (by the city watchmen or those who played alongside the cities’ troops) or for the entertainment of the citizens and their guests (within the civic instrumental ensembles – the Stadtpfeifer (‘town pipers’)). Although the use of ambiguous nomenclature in contemporary records can hinder a definitive understanding of the instruments used by these musicians, the musicians different duties within the city walls can often be inferred. Important insights can thereby be gained into the extent of the patronage of these civic brass instrumentalists, their roles within everyday city life, and their resultant contribution to the communication of civic strength to the populace and their guests.

SYRACUSAN IDENTITY BETWEEN TYRANNY AND DEMOCRACY

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK THATCHER
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Civil Strife ◽  
The City ◽  
Democratic Constitution

Abstract The city of Syracuse saw enormous social changes in the first half of the fifth century BCE, as the Deinomenid tyranny gave way to a more democratic constitution. In particular, the tyrants' extension of citizenship to some 10,000 former mercenaries was accompanied by shifting conceptions of Syracusan civic identity. The ideological program of Hieron, found in Pindar and on coinage, promoted a version of civic identity that focused on the city's Dorian ethnicity and unique topographical features (the island Ortygia and the spring Arethusa) as factors shared by all citizens. After the fall of the tyranny, however, this more inclusive conception of Syracusan identity was rejected by the ‘original’ citizens, who excluded the former mercenaries from office-holding. The resulting civil strife reveals a struggle, in the aftermath of tyranny, over the nature of Syracusan civic identity: what did it mean to be Syracusan and how would that status be defined?

scholarly journals The Wheel and the Cloister in the Rule of Seclusion: Architectural Elements or Elements of a Communication System?

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Alice Palmieri
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Sacred Architecture ◽  
Public Events ◽  
Architectural Elements ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Religious Architecture ◽  
The City ◽  
Santa Maria

When Walter Benjamin describes Naples, he defines its architecture ’porous like this stone’ assimilating the structural characteristic of the tuff to an architectural model, characterized by voids and openings that create an interpenetration between interior and exterior. These continuous breakthroughs also characterize the life of Neapolitans who are used to living the street as part of social life. Right in the historical centre, where these dynamics are deeply present, there are some cloistered convents that by definition are closed to the city. This paper investigates sacred architecture not as a celebrative space, but as a place of living for religious communities. The focus is on the monasteries: peculiar structures deeply marked in the architecture by the need for confidentiality and therefore to create filters, physical and visual, with the rest of the urban area. The convents of Naples, through the wheels (intended for the passage of offerings) and through the cloisters, establish a relationship with the city that over the centuries has changed with a progressive opening to the inhabitants who are now allowed to get closer to these realities. The research finally deepens the architecture of the convent of Santa Maria in Gerusalemme, commonly known as the monastery of ‘the Thirty-three’, adjacent to the historical hospital of the Incurabili with which it shares its origins since both were founded by the Venerable Maria Lorenza Longo. Despite the closure and the high fence wall, the presence of the monastery is very strong: it is a reference and a listening point, where the ancient wooden wheel still represents a way of communication between the residents of the district and the nuns. In the same way, the cloister and the refectory have transformed their function over the centuries, becoming spaces for public events, while remaining in line with the rules of the Order.The study of the structure and dynamics of communication from/to the convent proposes a reflection on the transformations of religious architecture in the urban context and on the changes in language and meaning of the architectural elements characterizing the monastery.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document