Lost Europe [antikvár]

Introduction T ^he twentieth century has brought incalculable changes to the world that existed in 1900, some of them beneficial, like the advances in medicine and natural science, others traumatic and destructive, including warfare on a global scale with weapons lethal to both humankind and the environment. The process that social scientist Alvin Toffler named "future shock" has affected whole generations, as familiar folkways, values, communities, occupations and landmarks are challenged or eradicated by new technology, beliefs and cultural icons. Europe, where Western civilisation took form over three millennia, has played a major role in effecting the changes of modern times and has been, in turn, deeply affected by them. National boundaries have been drawn and redrawn by war and revolution. Ethnic and cultural demarcations have been blurred. Entire ethnic and religious groups have been targeted for genocide, as in Nazi Germany and former Yugoslavia. The attrition of religious belief has emptied many churches in some countries, while in others, like Poland and Hungary, sustained persecution by occupying powers and totalitarian régimes failed to destroy the spiritual heritage of the people despite the destruction or secularisation of their churches and synagogues. The sweeping changes of the century have affected the manmade landscape of Europe— its architecture — in many ways. Apart from the loss of beautiful and historic buildings to war and civil unrest, comparable losses have been deliberately incurred by narrow views that define progress as "out with the old, in with the new." Rapid commercial development has been allowed to override considerations of historic preservation in many parts of the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and other western European nations—although most of these countries have developed increased awareness of their architectural heritage as the century progressed. Likewise, national and local government attempts to improve infrastructure and modernise industry to maintain economic competitiveness have resulted in the loss of landmark bridges, waterfronts, canals and residential sections dating back to the Middle Ages, as well as blighting the natural landscape. Until it was finally stopped in 1989, the unprecedented destruction imposed by the Romanian government in the name of social engineering razed entire sections of Bucharest, numerous towns and villages and such irreplaceable monuments as the Vacaresti Monastery and Suceava's medieval city centre. Stalin's regime visited widespread destruction on magnificent religious architecture and other "bourgeois" landmarks to further his ideological cause in the years 1928-53. Natural disasters, including floods, fires and earthquakes, have also taken their toll of Europe's architectural heritage. In 1908 an earthquake that claimed 83,000 lives destroyed the ancient Sicilian city of Messina, established as a Greek colony about 500 bc and ceded to Rome after the First Punic War. It was later rebuilt as a modern city. Skopje, Macedonia (former Yugoslavia), capital of the Serbian kingdom during the 1200s, was levelled by an earthquake in 1963, leaving half its residents homeless and almost 2,000 dead. Flooding in Florence, Italy, in 1966 damaged many works of art, books and museum collections: an international effort to restore these works was undertaken to good effect. Saragossa, Spain, a former Roman colony that served as capital for the kingdom of Aragon suffered a destructive fire in 1979 and central Romania was flooded in 1970. The earthquiike