Every city has its own way of living. Often this way of
living is defined by a city’s architecture. Think about Paris, I bet one of the
first things which going to come to your mind is romance, romantic and
whichever word root is ROMAN.
A lot of credits can take Eiffel Tower for this, almost
every girl is dreaming to be proposed to marry him in this place. But for me
city is romantic because of its complicated history of revolutions, wars,
different rules and of course stories about unanswered love of Quasimodo for
example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasimodo).
The city’s architecture has four different periods: Roman, Medieval,
Renaissance and Classical – it is another reason why it has so romantic look,
like diversity. But a lot of words are being said about Paris’s architecture. E.g.
here http://projects.ecfs.org/bome/cities/paris/hband/architecture_prehist.html
Today topic is about my mother city Riga. I was born and
raised there and I will cherish this city till I die. Riga’s Historical Centre
is a part of UNESCO World Heritage, as well as the view from the river side is
our and theirs heritage as well. About UNESCO said a lot of words about this (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/852)
Today I want to introduce to you architecture style which formed city
profoundly as cultural capital of Europe.
It is Art Nouveau or also known as Jugendstill. This style
is very rich example of National Romanticism. Art Nouveau has come to the city
in late XIX century from Finland and therefore Finish impact is clearly seen. But
impact can be noticed only if you are tourist guide of the city. For ordinary
people like me and you who studied history of culture only from high school and
rare visits of museums this impact is not really important for us. But what is important
that Art Nouveau is full of symbols examples from ancient times. Main charecteristic of the style is a lot of smooth
ornaments, details and a lot of myths symbols in the architecture.
Accroding to Wikipedia philosophy
of Art Nouveau is that art is way of life. This style of art is not mostly
about architecture but it is also everywhere; graphic art, interior design,
jewellery, furniture, textiles, household silver, lighting, cigarette cases and
above all it is philosophy (way of living). However, in Riga architecture is
main thing what is left from it and can be seen easily from the outside on the
streets.
One of interesting moments
in Jugendstill is that architecture has combined symbols from different times
and places. In the end of XIX century almost all word had already been fully
discovered and history of others cultures also were known quite well, so
architects used this knowledge accordingly. On the picture above we can see dragon
which common symbol in China. It is a symbol of good fortune and seeks to
represent might, power and glory. Warriors in Art Nouveau are usually stood as
guardians of the house.
In Art Nouveau peacock bird symbol represents beauty, and
its tail displays the shape of the sacred syllable – the Omkara Helmet is also
a representation of protection and guardianship.
All symbols of Jugendstill cannot be discussed in this post, because I also have
others re-take to write at university and moreover I need to find good
internship for myself by the end of this months. But this is not last post
about architecture. Later I will discuss how cities are built from designing
point of view.
I mean designing not a type style, but comfortability of
living there. A city’s Architect should consider a lot here; roads, bridges,
schools, hospitals, police stations, fire stations, train and bus stations,
airports and much more. And above all new city’s architecture should be in line
with old architecture, like in Riga you cannot build skyscrapers which are
going to be on the eye view of the old city.
Stay tuned and follow me!!
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