Contact us
 |
[email protected] |
 |
3275638434 |
 |
 |
| Paper Publishing WeChat |
Useful Links
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Beginnings of Modern Urbanity and Architectural Expression: The Balkan Tale of Northern Greece
Author(s)
Sofoklis Kotsopoulos
Full-Text PDF
XML 231 Views
DOI:10.17265/2328-2177/2017.09.003
Affiliation(s)
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
ABSTRACT
The urban consciousness
under foreign domination is a complex issue, especially when the reporting
period is the 19th century, the century of great social, ethnic, and economic
changes in Europe. The issue is further complicated in the case of the Balkans,
during the latter period of Ottoman rule. But how did certain cities manage to
emerge from rural or suburban enslaved routine and develop a European urbanity?
An urbanity expressed itself as lifestyle (habits, costumes, entertainment), as
art and as formation of the urban environment and architecture. The State
pushed for modernization by the Great Powers, ethnic communities with parent
countries seeking to differentiate themselves from their “backward” conquerors,
economic opportunities through trade and new visual observations by penetration
of European countries and companies: all this would create suitable conditions
for an unprecedented urbanization. This shift in the quality of life was
clearly expressed in the new architecture, which always continued, as ever, to
reflect the cultural activity. The transition from vernacular architecture to
historicism and eclectism would capture the most characteristic moment of the
beginning of urbanization in northern Greece.
KEYWORDS
urbanization, Europeanization, modernization, 19th century, Northern Greece, Balkans, eclectic architecture
Cite this paper
References