Category: OWHC 2022

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August 12-14

Riga

Freedom Monument in Riga – a national symbol for Latvia’s independance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1

Next on the list is Riga, which became member of the Hanseatic League in 1282 which is just 81 years after its considered foundation by German Bishop Albert. To discover this beatuiful city and learn more about the UNESCO heritage in Riga I met Aigars Kušķis, who is repsonsible for questions regarding urban planning with respect to UNESCO heritage in the historic centre of Riga.

left: Aigars and me in Albert Iela which is famous for Art Nouveau buildings; right: View on historic centre from St. Peter’s Church

It was a pleasure to walk around with him as he knew interesting details and facts for every centimeter of his area of responsibility. As the best local tour guide which you can probably get he took  me to places where I would never have expected world heritage: For instance, he showed me some rare remains of the original city wall in the cellar of a Hotel next to its Spa as well as one of the oldest coat of arms of the city in the courtyard behind the famous “three brothers”.

Remains of the original city wall integrated into a hotel spa
Three brothers are the oldest still existing houses in Riga

Aigars also drew my attention to where the course of the namesake Riege River can still be seen today and where houses were not rebuilt after bombings in World War 2. The tour ended in the newer part of the UNESCO core area: The art nouveau district which has one of the highest concentration of art noveau buildings worldwide. The facades offered a wide variety on various details to watch. Once again many thanks to Aigars for these fascinating insights!

Art Nouveau facade and stairwell in Alberta Iela

Day 2

To find out more about the connection between the city and trade I visited the House of the Black Heads which is situated on Riga’s main square. The Black Heads are an association of local unmarried male merchants, ship owners, and foreigners. Together with the large guild hall and the small guild hall, the House of the Black Heads impressively shows that the power in this city long emanated from merchants. Additionally, it also served also as gathering hall for the whole city of Riga and was rebuilt from 1996-1999 after it was demolished in WW 2. Today it is a museum and also served as work space for the Latvian President . Afterwards I visited the “Museum of Riga’s History and Navigation” which gave me interesting insights in the city’s changeful history that was always closely connected to trade and influenced by big foreign powers until Latvia became independant 1991.

House of the Black Heads
Cog ship in the Museum of Riga’s history and navigation

The Hanseatic league and their merchants did not only influence the cityscape with their guild houses and department stores but also influenced the present. By law it was not allowed to build higher buildings than the 3 church towers in the old town: This rule has been preserved in the historic centre until today. Riga is also still very closely connected to the Hanseatic League. There is a Lübeck hall in the rebuilt House of the Black Heads and even a real estate project has also appropriated the name “Hanza”.

Typical warehouse of the merchants in the historic centre of Riga
Lübeck hall in the House of black Heads
Hanza Perons as example that the name of the Hanseatic League lives on

Day 3

To transport goods, the Hanseatic ships had to sail along the Daugava to the baltic sea. Today between baltic sea and the river Lielupe is the local recreation area of the inhabitants of Riga called Jurmala. The place is famous for its wooden houses in art nouveau style and was a popular tourist destination for Communist Party officials in former Soviet Union.

 

Jurmala beach
Typical wooden house
Observation tower
House of the writer Aspazija
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Connecting Europe through architectural heritage

Taking Ohrid as a starting point for the architectural heritage connection throughout Europe, a small town located in southwest Macedonia with continuous settlement in the exact location ever since the Hellenic period. But for now, we’ll explore the architectural genetics from a more recent perspective so the connection with the rest of Europe is even more vivid.

“The Orient has always nurtured residential culture on a broad scale. Throughout the XVIII and XIX centuries, other nationalities within the Ottoman Empire achieved relatively high economic prosperity. From the high residential culture, the oriental house has the qualities of human standards and the ideal humanization of space. That is why European architects are inspired by the Orient in the exploration and creation of the modern European house (ex. Le Corbusier, D. Grabrijan …). We cannot claim that the influences from the Orient are over. However, climate differences are a major obstacle.

  The half-open oriental house with spaces directly exposed to a burst of drafts in open čardaks (verandas) and gardens cannot be directly transplanted to continental Europe. We have to look for the transition somewhere and this is where we get to the heart of our problem. And in the conditions of the Ottoman domination, the Macedonians never left the European way of living in the house of the continental climate. That way of revitalization, adapted to the oriental position, forms the Macedonian architecture. Regardless of the high level of hygiene and technique from the industrially developed European civilization, the Macedonian house still has a lot to say about the issues of contemporary architectonics of the living space.”

-prof. arch. engr. Boris Čipan “Old town architecture in Ohrid” 1955

-Stefan Župan (Archrid-Collective)

 

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August 10-11

Vienna

Hofburg in Vienna
Hofburg- former palace of the Habsburg dynasty and now official residence and workplace of the president of Austria.

Even if Vienna was never part of the Hanseatic League every cog (trade ship of Hanseatic League) needs a home (air)port to set sail to distant lands. In my case this was Vienna the capital of Austria.

I arrived at 10 th August in Vienna and the first destination was Donaukanal. This is a former arm of Vienna’s main river Danube , now regulated as a water channel and serving as recreation area. There I had a very warm welcome by Regina Wiala-Zimm who is the responsible person for UNESCO and OWHC in Vienna. We had a nice talk about the heritage in Vienna (Viennas Inner district, Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn and Frontiers of the Roman Empire) and her work for OWHC/Unesco in Vienna.

Meeting with Regina Wiala-Zimm at Donaukanal

Afterwards I visited the 1st district (historic centre) of Vienna which is part of world heritage as a whole. Here you can find many houses from various periods as well as the monumental buildings like Rathaus, Hofburg, Parlament at the Ringstraße.

left: Donaunixenbrunnen in Palais Ferstl; right: Stephansdom – highest church tower in Austria

On the next day I went to Hunderwasserhaus which proves that art and culture are so important in Vienna that even social housing can be designed by an artist (Friedensreich Hundertwasser, finished in 1985). The Vienna experience ended with a walk through the Gardens of Castle Schönbrunn which is also an UNESCO heritage site. The site does not only impress with the castle and the garden itself but has also one of the oldest zoos in Europe, a palm house, an orangerie, a gloriette and a maze.

left: Hunderwasser Haus; right: Palmenhaus

Finally, there is not much more to say except this picture below and that 2 days are far too little for Vienna. See you in Riga.

ENG: Vienna love
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On track of the Hanseatic League – Intro

Welcome

to this blog, my name is Philipp and this is my first post before the trip of OWHC scholarship 2022 begins. I hope you will enjoy following me and you can also have a look at my Instagram Account.

Topic 

I mainly want to visit cities that belonged to Hanseatic League which was one of the first economic and also political union across national borders. I am interested how these cities in different countries with a common heritage look today, have developed and if the influence of the Hanseatic League is still visible.

Route

My route will include 8 cities in 5 different countries starting in Vienna. I will travel from 10th of August to 28th of August.

 

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INTRO: Liberty ID

Hello guys and thanks for reading this blog! I’m Verena, born in Regensburg and I’m luckily among the 9 travellers of the OWHC Young Travelling Scholarship. First a short introduction to my trip with the most important facts:

>> ABOUT THE TITEL <<

Especially the younger European/Western generation, to which I belong, has grown up with the self-image of peace and freedom. Interrail, Erasmus, a year abroad. I luckily already had the chance and pleasure to make use of these valuable privileges. The title of my journey is based on the privilege of my freedom to travel. My “Liberty ID” accompanies me from my Bavarian home, across the Atlantic to the United States of America. Therefore, I have designed a stamp for each of the 4 UNESCO cities I am visiting.

>> ABOUT THE ROUTE <<

In total, I am travelling to 6 cities (including 4 UNESCO World Heritage cities). I start in Germany in mid-August and write about the Bavarian cities of Bamberg and Regensburg. Afterwards, I will fly to the east coast of the USA: from Washington via Philadelphia and New York City to Boston. The focus will be on NYC and Philly as UNESCO cities.

 

>> ABOUT THE TOPICS & STRUCTURE <<

Overall, I would like to make a comparison between the two small German towns and the large American metropolises. Why do these cities belong to UNESCO? What are the historical key facts and how is UNESCO lived there today? What does World Heritage mean for young people? And in the end, can we identify more similarities or differences between the two countries?

Since I have always been enthusiastic about art, this theme will also accompany my journey – it will be colourful and certainly exciting. Stay tuned!

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INTRO: Cities at War – Heritage Lessons from the 20th Century

Hello, Carolina, here! Now that I am about to depart and embark in the adventure to visit 7 cities (6 of which are World Heritage ones), from Berlin to Warsaw, to learn more the impact war has on cities, it is time for an introductory article with more details about the project!

* WHY THIS TOPIC? *

During my Erasmus in Italy, in 2016-2017, I was profoundly touched by the refugees’ crisis in the Mediterranean. Back to Lisbon, to finish my master’s in Architecture, I decided to investigate on different reconstruction strategies that were used in different scenarios through time and geographies in urban settlements impacted by armed conflict, choosing as my main study case Aleppo, in Syria. Since then, I am fascinated by the topic and always eager to learn more about the importance of safeguarding our physical cities during challenging times as population heavily depends on the basic services they host and the memories they embody. Now, sadly, with war back in Europe, the topic choice was even more clear, as these are crucial matters on the table again!

* WHERE WILL I TRAVEL TO? *

Under the theme “Cities at War: Heritage Lessons from the 20th Century”, I will start in Berlin and end in Warsaw, covering the impact World War II had in Central Europe. In total, my trip will include 4 countries, 7 cities and too many experiences, discoveries and stories to count!

* WHY DID I CHOOSE THESE PARTICULAR CITIES? *

Variety! Each city faced slightly different challenges during and after war, when it comes to heritage safeguarding and preservation. During WWII, some were heavily bombed, like Dresden, others almost spared miraculously, like Kraków. Some were battlefields, others occupied, like Prague and Vienna. Some cut almost all ties with the past, some were rebuilt to look like they did in the most hopeful times before the war, like Warsaw.

* WHEN WILL I BE TRAVELLING? *

I will be travelling from August 22nd until September 8th. I plan to stay a couple of days in each city. The expected calendar is the following:

Berlin ( 22-24 Aug) > Potsdam (25 Aug) > Dresden (26 Aug) > Prague (27-30 Aug) > Vienna (31-2 Sep) > Kraków (3-5 Sep) > Warsaw (5-8 Sep)

* WHAT AM I PLANNING TO DO IN EACH CITY? *

Almost eight decades after the war, I plan visit each city main sites and speak with heritage professionals in loco. I am sure will have many interesting conversations and learn more on what worked, what didn’t and what we might learn from these interventions nowadays! Each city will later inspire a blog article, but following this trip’s Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/cities_at_war/) can also be a complementary way to learn more about this project as I explore. Stay tuned!