“History is Illuminating”: Public memory crises and collectives in Richmond, Virginia

Amid the Black Lives Matter protests and calls to remove Confederate statuary in Richmond, Virginia, during the summer of 2020, the History Is Illuminating project constructed public signs that replicated the traditional historical markers used throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. The signs were placed along Richmond’s historic Monument Avenue in conversation with the still-standing Confederate monuments. They challenged the monuments’ representation of public memory by re-introducing narratives about prominent Black Richmonders and informing readers of the Jim Crow legislation that enabled the monuments to be constructed and venerated. This edited and condensed interview with organizers from the project describes the multiple crises of collective memory that public historians confront in the American South, as well as the strategies the History Is Illuminating project used to counter dominant narratives about public memory. Finally, the interview highlights the importance of community action and a multiplicity of public memory projects in order to ensure a democratic approach to collective memory.

Burning Karen’s headquarters: Gender, race, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy

In the early morning hours of 31 May 2020 in Richmond, Virginia, along with graffiti to the monuments lining the city’s historic Monument Avenue, the nearby headquarters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy was covered in colorful graffiti and set aflame. This article explores the gendered and raced critiques of the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s memory work communicated by this protest action, using the “Karen meme” as its point of departure. Invocations of “Karen” on Twitter in response to the Richmond protest made pointed arguments about narrative, place, and aesthetics, critiquing not only the Daughters’ role in remembering the Confederacy but the “Southern lady” trope within American public memory. Rather than an oblique reference, the Karen meme, this article argues, underscored Twitter’s potential as a site of anti-racist resistance during times of crisis.

Armenian Church of the Holy Mother of God in Chisinau

The documents attest the presence of an Armenian community in Chisinau since the ‘30s of the 18th century. In the 18th century, the Chisinau Armenians had a place of worship, located on the site of the present Armenian Church, in the “heart” of the city, on the first street parallel to the north-east side of the market square. In 1774, among the Chisinau Armenians, the priest Musuz was mentioned, who served in the Armenian Church. The temple was badly damaged by the fire that engulfed Chisinau during the military operations of 1788. The earthquake destroyed this place of worship on October 14, 1802. In 1803-1804, it was rebuilt in the same place. The construction manager and, possibly, the architect of the holy place, was master Vardan from Iaşi. According to the statistical documents of 1809, three priests and four deacons served in the Armenian church. The cemetery of Armenian community was located near the old Orthodox cemetery of the Mazarache church. However, some more important burials were also done in the churchyard of the Armenian church. During the XIX-XX centuries, the church underwent many alterations and renovations, which changed its appearance. In 1993, by the decision of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, this valuable building of Chisinau was given the status of historic monument.

Identification and Comparison of Pathologies Encountered at the level of Bio Calcarinites used in the monuments of the city of Sala and Rabat in Morocco.

<p>Historical monuments represent an archive and a past full of information and emotions transmitted from our ancestors, to preserve this sacred and perilous heritage with universal value, it was necessary to study it and approach it meticulously as a living body that expressing by diseases or pathologies which must be well treated.</p><p>From one monument to another, the pathologies found change and differ following several criteria and conditions, in our work we will focus on the bio-calcarinite rock often used in the construction of historical monuments in the Rabat Sala Kenitra’s region because of its availability and its mechanical performances and also by focusing on the criterion of monument’s location opposite the agents of degradation (climate, urbanization, know-how, materials, direction, uses, marine aerosol, etc.) we will identify the various degradations of bio-calcarinites of the <strong>Borj Adoumoue</strong> monument (Tower of tears) located on the seafront of the city of Sala in Morocco and the Historic monument of Challah in the city of Rabat which was named shared heritage in 2012 and which knows currently a major urbanization project named Rabat capital of lights, the historic monument of <strong>Chellah</strong> overlooks the Bouregreg river.</p><p>And we will therefore compare the impact of the location of the monument on the latter and on the pathologies that manifest themselves on the biocalcarinite of this region.</p>

Rassushin’s precedent: to save a cultural artifact

Preservation of cultural heritage is a complex task regarded from legislative, professional and sociocultural aspects. It demands a very delicate approach. At the same time, the heritage preservation system in the Russian Federation has a number of problems related to imperfection of the institution of historical and cultural expertise, which allows removing obvious cultural resources from the field of state protection. The civil society can resist such incidents, as evidenced by the case of the Irkutsk architectural and historic monument, Doctor Rassushin’s House (early 20th century).

Realizacja postanowień Konwencji o ochronie dziedzictwa architektonicznego Europy w polskim systemie prawnej ochrony zabytków – wybrane aspekty

The article concerns the subject of implementation of the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe in the Polish legal historic preservation system. The ratification of this convention did not result in amendments in the Polish law; it has been assumed that the national law had already fulfilled all requirements specified in this act. Nevertheless, although most of provisions of the convention indeed has analogues in Polish regulations, there are areas in which some loopholes may be identified. Given the above, the article focuses on similarities and differences between regulations of the convention and provisions of Polish legal acts (especially: Act of 23rd July 2003 on the Protection of Monuments and the Guardianship of Monuments), with a particular emphasis on comparison between definition of historic monument and architectural heritage, analysis of regulations concerning preventing protected properties from disfigurement, dilapidation or demolition as well as prohibition of the removal, wholly or partially, of any protected monument.

Pío Pico and Antonio Cuyas

The 1870 Pico House luxury hotel on Los Angeles’s historic Plaza has always been associated with Pío Pico, the last governor of California in the Mexican Era. Based on historical evidence in the Archive of the city’s El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument and further research, archives manager Michael Henderson traces the proprietorship of the hotel from its first conception as a partnership between Pico and Antonio Cuyas, through successive management and legal cases to its eclipse and the deaths of its original proprietors in the 1890s.

V. N. Weber’s Diary on the Work of the Russian-Swedish Grade Measurement Expedition to the Svalbard Archipelago in 1901

The article concentrates on the study of historical experience of the Russian science in the development of the Arctic and the northern territories. The object of its analysis is the travel diary of the geologist, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences (1937), employee of the Geological Committee of Russia,Valerian Nikolaevich Weber (1871–1940), a participant of the Russian-Swedish expedition on grade measurement on the Svalbard archipelago in 1901, stored in fond no. 58 “The Geological Committee of the Mining Department” of the Russian State Historical Archive. The Russian-Swedish grade measurement expedition to the Svalbard archipelago was carried out in 1899-1901 and became one of the major international scientific projects for studying the Arctic space at the turn of the 20th century. The results of this expedition went down in the history of the Arctic studies, and its results laid the foundations for the modern study of polar territories. The travel diary of V.N. Weber covers the period from May 27, 1901 to August 18, 1901 and describes the activities of the Russian researchers on board of the icebreaker Yermak in 1901. This documentary source is a unique historic monument, not only revealing the history of the expedition research, but also showing all its events in assessment and interpretation of a participant. In Soviet historiography such sources were considered supplementary, but modern trends in of historical scholarship allow us to analyze such documents as independent subjects of study. Travel diaries are kept in order to preserve the memory and for practical purposes of the expedition. Such sources usually have rich information potential, representing various aspects of the expedition’s activities; regular travel notes reflect, as a rule, a consistent course of events, providing valuable retrospective information for research. The diary of V.N. Weber details the route of the research party, the living conditions and daily life of the expedition participants, their scientific activities and the research results. Analysis of the diary demonstrates what efforts won great results for the Russian scientific community in the development of the Arctic territory in the early 20th century. This document, being a valuable source for scientific study and comprehension of the Arctic, helps the modern generation to understand this unique historical experience.

Prawna ochrona nazw jako wartości niematerialnych na gruncie ustawy o ochronie zabytków i opiece nad zabytkami

Regulations of the Act from 23 July 2003 on the Protection of Monuments and the Guardianship of Monuments concerns especially material heritage. Nevertheless, the legislator in several articles of mentioned act has referred also to intangible values, such as geographical, traditional and historic names. As regards the question of their protection, it has been mentioned only in two laconic provisions – one of them concerns possibility of names’ protection in general (art. 6 par. 2), while the second one stipulates that the name of immovable historic monument entered in the register of monuments may be also listed in such register. Bearing this in mind, the reflection is needed under which circumstances name may be protected and what are the specific rules of such a protection. Given the above, in the article, as a first issue, status of the names has been analyzed. Furthermore, attention has been paid to the scope of protection.

Preserving textile objects in Romanian wooden churches. Case study of the heritage wooden church form Oradea, Romania

It is important to investigate the indoor air quality, the microbial concentration of indoor air and surfaces for preserving the cultural heritage. In what regards the microclimate inside the historic monument, the wooden church, the temperature and relative humidity were monitored using the thermo-hygrometer with data function logger “Klimalogg Pro” (eight sensors), October-December 2018, the thermos-camera “Thermal Imaging Camera FLIR I7” and “Digi-Sense Data Logging Luxmeter”. Image analysis were also performed using digital image processing techniques (ARCGIS), mapping the areas damaged by temperature, humidity and also by rainwater infiltrated on canvas paintings, biodegradation, anthropically degraded areas etc. Isolation of microorganisms from the two canvas paintings and indoor air were taken though specific method, analyses showing the presence of microorganisms on the paintings, possible human pathogens especially for people with low immunity. A high fidelity database with the state of patrimony objects preserved in the Romanian wooden church and perspectives for their proper conservation could be created at a certain moment.