Different faces of one ‘idea’ - HAL-SHS - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société
Book Sections Year : 2016

Different faces of one ‘idea’

Abstract

Section three, presents a selection of analogous examples (European public use and commercial buildings) so as to help the reader weigh to which extent the layout of Krakow’s marketplace, as well as its architectures, can be related to other sites. Market Square in Krakow is paradoxically at the same time a typical example of medieval marketplace and a unique site. But the frontline between what is common and what is unique can be seen as “somewhat fuzzy”. Among these examples readers should observe a number of unexpected similarities, as well as sharp contrasts in terms of form, usage and layout of buildings. At the end of the day, one may spot, behind layers of local political, cultural and climatic differences, one ‘idea’ (a common practical need) with different faces, faces that here and there end up playing a major symbolic role. Noticeably, commercial and trade related buildings were indeed at the heart of every-day life and were intensively used. That is why they were often destroyed and repaired or rebuilt, rearranged and adapted to new functions or tastes. Those that survived that were not dismantled or simply destroyed by fire, wars or simply time passing by, bear witness to manners of thinking and living that have now (partly) changed. The fact that a certain number of commercial and trade related buildings that will be mentioned in this section are 20th century reconstructions clearly shows that functionality and usefulness of these buildings is not the only thing that makes them important for people today. Whatever the region these buildings were built in, whatever the culture and ways of living they correspond to, whatever the initial function they may have had, they end up today as different faces of yet another idea: identity and remembrance.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
ATRK_section3.pdf (11.46 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origin Files produced by the author(s)
Loading...

Dates and versions

halshs-01951624 , version 1 (20-12-2018)

Identifiers

  • HAL Id : halshs-01951624 , version 1

Cite

Jean-Yves Blaise, Iwona Dudek. Different faces of one ‘idea’. Architectural transformations on the Market Square in Krakow. A systematic visual catalogue, AFM Publishing House / Oficyna Wydawnicza AFM, 2016, 978-83-65208-47-7. ⟨halshs-01951624⟩
91 View
207 Download

Share

More