Please keep off
the grass: A study on how we view the ruination of architecture
In this essay I will begin by looking at three
different ruined architectural sites from around the world and briefly discuss
their individual histories. At the end I will talk about two similar places and
then discuss their differences and how they could be viewed through tourism.
At 01:23hrs on 26th April 1986, reactor 4 of the
Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded. From its location in the former
Soviet Union state of Ukraine, dangerous
radioactive material leaked into the atmosphere and spread over a vast area of
Russia and Europe, reaching even as far as Ireland. The immediate area was
evacuated within two days and an exclusion zone of thirty kilometres was set up
around the perimeter of the station. Within this area was the city of Prypiat,
with a population of fifty thousand, whose location had been set up for the
workers of the power station. After the accident whole forests around the site
were turned brown, as well as the vast majority of the wildlife perishing. Even
today the area inside the exclusion zone has the most toxic air on the planet.
The area is almost entirely void of all human life and for this reason, despite
the toxicity of the air; it has become a haven for wildlife. Animals such as
boar, elk and wolves have thrived, as well as animals that have not been seen
for many years, such as eagle owls and lynx. Bear paw marks have also been
sighted. The surrounding woodland has flourished, although there are stories of
strange mutations of plant life, such as weird twisted branches growing
abnormally large. The city of Prypiat has remained (apart from some looting in
the beginning of the 21st century) untouched from human hand since its evacuation
twenty seven years ago. Because of the rush to move the city’s inhabits, many
belongings were left behind or had to be left for fear of contamination. This
now ghost town has become like a bubble frozen in time, documenting the late
Soviet era through its remnants of propaganda posters and signs. Yet time has
not been good for Prypiat, for without upkeep the city has degraded at an
astonishing rate. Without the use of herbicide and pesticide, plant and animal
life has thrived. With buildings left unprotected from the elements the
structures are disintegrating at an accelerated rate and without maintenance,
nature is reclaiming back the city.
The second ruin site that I am looking at is the
Colosseum in Rome. It is one of the most imposing relics that remain from the
near ancient world. Built in the 1st century A.D., its original use as a
theatre to watch games ended sometime during the 6th century. Since then the
derelict site has been used in many different ways. Among other uses it has
been a fortress, farmland, housing, a hospital and shrine as well as being
leased out as a quarry site to plunder for its stone. For grand tourists
travelling from the West in the 17th and 18th centuries, Rome and the Colosseum
were a must to visit. Many artists, writers and poets have been inspired by its
structure over the years. Charles Dickens who wrote from Rome to home in 1846.
“To see the ghost of old Rome, wicked
wonderful old city, haunting the very ground on which its people trod. It is
the most impressive, the most stately, the most solemn, grand, majestic,
mournful sight conceivable. Never, in its bloodiest prime, can the sight of the
gigantic Coliseum, full and running over with the lustiest life, have moved one
heart, as it must move all who look upon it now, a ruin. God be thanked: a
ruin!” (Woodward, 2001:13)
Thirty years after Dickens’ visit, the city came under
power of a different government, one whom permitted archaeologists to excavate
the site of the Colosseum. In doing so they removed all the plants and trees,
(previously the area had boasted 420 different species according to Richard
Deakin’s book “flora of the Colosseum” in 1855 (Woodward, 2001: 23) as well as
removing the sand from the arena and exposing the sewers and cellars. In doing
this the arena flooded and became a lake for five years, making it uninhabitable.
My third ruin site can be found 90 kilometres south of
Baghdad in Iraq. Here lie the remnants of Babylon city. It was once considered
a myth, until European archaeologists discovered its foundations in the 19th
century. The first recorded settlement there was almost 4500 years ago, coming
to its height of power under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II in about 600 BC. The
city was at this point the capital of a world empire with the largest
population recorded to that date, and was famed for its hanging gardens which
were considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The site is
mentioned many times in the Bible for its greatness and as well as for its wickedness.
Because of Nebuchadnezzar’s treatment towards the State of Israel, it was
written in Isaiah 13:20-22;
“And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, will be as when
God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited or lived in from
generation to generation. Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there. Nor will
shepherds make their flocks lie down there. But desert creatures will lie down
there and shaggy goats will frolic there. Hyenas will howl in their fortified
towers and jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her fateful time also will soon
come and her days will not be prolonged.” (Holy Bible)
On viewing the site today, you may consider that the
once great city had indeed succumbed to divine retribution, as the only visible
signs left of the once great city are just a few mounds of mud. Saddam Hussein’s
rise to power came with his elected Presidency in 1979 under the Ba’ath
political party. His ultimate goal was to unite the Arab countries together
under one rule (his own) to create a modern day Babylonian super power. He felt
that this was a prophecy, and that he was the son and heir to Nebuchadnezzar
and his empire. Straight away he set out with the intention of rebuilding
Babylon and his plans included palaces, a processional way, hanging gardens, as
well as a tower of Babel. International experts and archaeologists on hearing
this news were appalled, as he was planning to build on top of the original
remains. Nobody knows what the original Babylon city looked like, so the
project was more about recreating then restoring, much to the disgust of
experts from around the world. The first building to go up was the palace of
Nebuchadnezzar. On top of the original bricks (which still showed the
inscription of Nebuchadnezzar), 60 million new ones were placed, inscribed in
Arabic script with the name Saddam Hussein. Some read like this;
“In the reign of the victorious Saddam Hussein, the President of the republic,
may God keep him the guardian of the great Iraq and the renovator of its
renaissance and the builder of its great Civilization, the rebuilding of the
great city of Babylon was done in 1987”.
(New York Times website)
After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 the Babylon site
was turned into an American army Camp. This included the use of heavily armoured
land vehicles as well as an area being levelled and treated for a helicopter pad.
To historians this was horrifying, with stories of destruction of artefacts caused
by shooting practice, “souvenirs” taken home and sand bags being filled with
fragments from around the area.
These
three sites I have discussed are very different from one another, yet each one
of them is today now marketed in their individual ways as tourist destinations.
On visiting each of them, they would offer very different experiences to one
another. The most obvious and widely visited tourist destination out of these
three sites is the Colosseum in Rome. It is very easily accessible and tourist
friendly. The area is kept clean and free from rubbish, weeds and vermin which is
maintained through conservation. There is also a police presence and the site
boasts 24 hour security. At any one time there are hundreds of tourists from
around the world, making it a very crowded and noisy place, all of whom try to
get the best view and photo opportunity. The experience of visiting the
Colosseum today would be very different to that at the time of Charles Dickens
and his predecessors. In the mid 19th century the site was half
submerged in plant life, the entrance to the interior was not barred and access
could be gained day or night. There were no signs explaining the buildings use
or age, entrances and exits were unclear and specific paths to take were
unmarked. The site was inhabited by locals who were often suspicious of
strangers, making a visit to the site potentially dangerous. For some time before
the major excavation work on the Colosseum in 1874, numerous famous poets and
artists visited the site, many of whom felt inspired from spending time there. Like
the American romantic Edgar Allan Poe who wrote in 1833 on visiting the
Colosseum;
“Lone
amphitheatre, grey Coliseum of antique Rome. Rich reliquary of lofty
contemplation left to time by buried centuries of pomp and power! A ruin-yet what
a ruin!” (About.com Archaeology website)
As well the poet Lord Bryon of the same time wrote;
“But when the rising moon, begins to climb,
Its topmost arch, and gently
pauses there;
When the stars twinkle through the loops of time,
And the low night-breeze waves along the air.
The garland forest, which the grey walls wear,
Like laurels on the bald first Caesar's head;
When the light shines serene but doth not glare;
Then in this magic circle raise the dead:
Heroes have trod this spot--'tis on their dust ye tread.” (About.com Archaeology website)
After
the excavations of the late 19th century, it is hard to find anybody who was
inspired by the “bald, dead and bare
circle of stones” (Woodward 2001:31). However, Adolf Hitler and his
architect Albert Speer who came on a state visit to Rome in 1938 as a guest of
Mussolini were highly impressed by this site. On viewing, Hitler saw the
Colosseum as a “representation of
Imperial authority and often referred
to it in his speeches as a durable community building” (Scobie, 1990: 74).
Hitler longed for the Third Reich to have state architecture to match that of
the ancient world. He considered the architecture of the former Weimar Republic
to be a decline in Germanic culture. On return to Berlin he made Speer’s “theory of ruin value” (Third Reich in Ruins website) a policy,
which suggested using “natural” materials, such as stone, as opposed to reinforced
concrete, and avoiding steel girders in all state buildings. In doing so he
believed they would eventually become more aesthetically pleasing ruins. As
Speer wrote in his memoirs;
“Ultimately, all that remained to remind men of the
great epochs of history was their monumental architecture, he recalled. What
then remained of the emperors of the Roman Empire? What would still give
evidence of them today, if not their buildings...So, today the buildings of
ancient Rome could enable Mussolini to refer to the heroic spirit of Rome when
he wanted to inspire his people with the idea of a modern imperium. Our
buildings must speak to the conscience of future generations of Germans. With
this argument Hitler also understood the value of a durable kind of
construction.” (New York
Times website)
Hitler
planned for the Reich to stand for a 1000 years as the world super power and its
architecture to be a symbolic message of the state’s greatness through its
grandiose monuments. Hussein’s building plans echo that of Hitler’s in so much
as wanting to leave behind a legacy. It seems that “the artist and poet sees a ruin but the dictator sees a monument” (Woodward,
2001:30). Hussein’s reconstruction of Nebuchnezzar palace was used as an emblem
of his power rather than a functional building. Accused by some as “Saddam Hussein kitsch and Disney for a
Despot” (New York Times website), the palace is not to everybody’s taste,
with painted panoramic murals of ancient Babylon and gold plumbing fixtures. Despite
scorning from world historians, this design was an improvement from its previous
state for the locals, who were unimpressed with the mounds of earth especially
since everything of any worth had been pillaged at the beginning of the 20th
century by the French, English and Germans. As for the tourism industry in
Babylon there a plans to soon turn this former palace into a five star hotel,
and for $225 a night you can stay in the honeymoon suite, the former dictator’s
bedroom. Back in the Ukraine you can also take a guided tour round the Chernobyl
site and Prypiat city, and view the ghost town first hand.
I will now discuss two different approaches of
viewing ruined sites. Firstly there is the heritage industry and consumer
tourism which promote protection to historic environments and education through
research. These sites are organised and controlled and employ many staff.
Specific routes that take in points of interest, as well as entrances and
exits, are often clearly marked. There often tends to be easy access for
coaches and cars.
In
opposition to these sites are unauthorised areas, which may include abandoned
industrial warehouses, derelict private property and generally unused urban
areas. These sites are closed off to the general public mainly for safety
reasons. These areas once would have had a function, and may well be revitalised
in the future. For now though they are deemed useless and any objects left
behind as worthless. This is in contrast to Heritage sites where objects on
view may be deemed as being priceless. A visit to an unapproved ruin site
compared to one such as an English Heritage would be a completely different experience.
Access into the site may be awkward and once in, there may be no clear path to
take. The place is likely to be dirty and chaotic, as well potentially
dangerous. For someone who is interested in ruins and enjoys visiting such places,
these unauthorised sites are often seen as an “anti tourism” (Edensor, 2005:95), where one could escape the “Disneyfication” (Giddens, 2006) of the heritage sites. Disneyfication is the
concept that many tourist attractions have merely become theme parks through
the stripping of their original character and repackaging to create a tourist
friendly, global encounter. In this way, the location of the site may be
irrelevant, as the experience is often the same all over the world. In an
unauthorised space the senses are heightened as people are free to interact
with their surroundings. There are no signs and so the individual’s imagination
is free to interpret its surroundings. People
may go through a range of different emotions, such as fear of safety,
excitement and the possibility of the unexpected.
To
conclude this essay, I wish to say that I am not opposed to the conservation of
historical buildings, nor do I wish to promote people to trespass onto private
property in order to view historical sites. I do however feel that in this
modern, global era, tourism has resulted in an ever increasing and demanding
need for a greater explanation of one’s surroundings. We have increasingly come
to expect comfort and amenities within popular tourist destinations. This in
turn has resulted in the categorisation of certain animals as vermin and
certain plants as weeds. We have also begun to accept constant and often
intrusive surveillance (for example, the use of CCTV and bag searches have
become the norm) in order to make us feel safer. With the reassurance of
official and authenticated information that has become readily available, along
with the rise of consumerism which can be seen at historical tourist sites, we tend
to have little need for an imagination and in turn less of a chance of experiencing
something magical.
Bibliography:
About.com
Archaeology website at archaeology.about.com/od/poetry/a/coliseum_byron.htm (cited on 20/04/09)
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(2005) Industrial Ruins: Space, Aesthetics
and Materiality, Berg: Oxford
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(1997) Aesthetics, UCL Press: London
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