Progetto e storia: il caso di Rodi

International audienceL'organismo urbano di Rodi custodisce un'eredità storico-architettonica piuttosto ricca, dovuta al succedersi di diverse dominazioni portatrici ciascuna di una propria politica urbana. L'articolo propone uno studio dell'organismo urbano di Rodi attraverso la lettura tipo-morfologica delle fasi evolutive della città, dei suoi elementi tipici-atipici, delle sue polarità e dei suoi percorsi a partire dal periodo bizantino fino alla dominazione ottomana. Una lettura a partire dalle stratificazioni urbane più recenti si rivela importante non solo per la comprensione della città antica ma anche in vista dell'attuazione di interventi progettuali più consapevoli, siano essi azioni sull'esistente o progetti del nuovo. Entrambi, infatti, devono saldarsi alla realtà urbana preesistente ed inserirsi come ultimo passaggio di un processo di appropriazione della storia del sito attraverso la lettura delle sue fasi urbane, e proporsi come momenti operativi di conoscenza

Tower-mansions of Crete. A multidisciplinary approach to learn built heritage

As part of a research on Venetian and Ottoman architecture in Crete, this paper introduces a first inventory of fortified mansions and tower-houses. They formed a network controlling coasts, plains, and cultivated lands. It is hard to retrace the origin of these houses without deploying stratigraphic and chemical analysis. However, a first morphological study has identified recurring elements: a small plan with several floors and an access on the first level; embrasures, bretèches and putlog holes, as well as a fireplace; and a decorative sobriety. In a surveyed tower-house we find that military devices refer to a first constructive phase, while residential elements refer to a second phase. These hybrid features are common to fortified houses in the Mediterranean and beyond, which were strong elements of military and spatial organization. This vernacular and colonial heritage has got a significant value in terms of architectural models and possible reuse

Compte rendu du livre M. Tuchscherer, M.P. Pedani, Alexandrie ottomane 1. Etudes Alexandrines 19, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Le Caire 2011

Compte rendu d'un ouvrage scientifique pour le site Histara-SorbonneL'ouvrage fait partie d'un programme de recherche autour de la ville ottomane (XVIe-XVIIIe s.), afin d'apporter un éclairage nouveau sur la période médiévale et la ville actuelle. L'ouvrage porte sur la présentation de deux sources : le firman de Soliman le Magnifique pour la Nation française d'Alexandrie (1528) et les Relazioni des consuls vénitiens dans la ville, pour la plupart inédites (1554-1664). Les préalables historiques dans l'ouvrage fournissent un appui synthétique et complet, toutefois il n'y a pas une conclusion faisant le point sur les contenus et sur les pistes de recherche possibles, ainsi que sur l'utilité spécifique de ces sources pour la reconstruction de la ville turque et de ses relations politiques, économiques et culturelles. À mon avis, enfin, le projet de l'ouvrage est intéressant par rapport à la reprise récente des études sur les réseaux marchands et diplomatiques en Méditerranée, ainsi qu'à l'appauvrissement général des ports méditerranéens face à l'ouverture de la " voie atlantique " pendant la période moderne

The changing role of historic town of Rhodes in the scenario of Ottoman and Italian rules in the light of the iconographic sources

International audienceRhodes was the Hospitaller stronghold until the early modern age. It went through an urban and architectural evolution under the Ottoman and Italian rules. Iconography until the twentieth century shows the search for medieval souvenirs in the Islamic town, the creation of a travel destination and the shifting of the symbolic-geographic idea of city, linked to a new attitude towards built heritage. We will trace the changing role of the historic town in Turkish and Italian ideology and practice

House and Habitat of Venetian Crete in the Early-modern Period

The historical construction of the Mediterranean habitat is a highly debated subject and a very diversified historiography has been dealing with it. This article will focus on rural houses and habitat on the island of Crete during the late Venetian period (16th-17th century). It proposes a first reflection on the material and documentary traces of villages and houses, which indicate the ways of building the rural landscape according to precise objectives and needs. The architectural and building features of the houses, as well as the story of their owners and tenants in the context of the society and the economy of the villages, must be explored in order to better understand the permanencies and transformations of settlement strategies in the main Venetian maritime colony

Rhodes byzantine du IVe au XIIIe siècle : formation d’une ville chrétienne

Il saggio mette in luce la complessità delle contaminazioni nella storia della città di Rodi in epoca bizantina attraverso l’archeologia e l’analisi tipologica, un soggetto poco esplorato dalla storigorafia

Knowledge and preservation of ancient Rhodes. From a typological analysis of urban fabric to a practical project for urban heritage

International audienceThe Romans inherited by the Greeks a large planned city, but Rhodes went through a phase of decline and urban contraction because of new political conditions. After an earthquake it was rebuilt with a smaller perimeter and developed through successive expansions. The typomorphological analysis of the urban 'organism', depicting the formative urban phases of Rhodes, shows that Roman interventions had important effects on the urban growing until Middle Age. The Romans didn't simply reuse streets and buildings. They created a first urban hierarchy, overlapping a new 'grid' structured on cardo and decumanus (Greek ancient roads). The first, that was one of the main streets in the Greek city, was re-designed as a colonnaded street and became an urban axis, also by the placement of a tetrapylon, a gate leading from the arsenal to the town center. The surviving Roman ruins of tetrapylon, the street and public buildings survive today in conditions of low visibility or abandonment. The policy management of these sites should be revised in order to make accessible this heritage and to make clear the role of these elements within the Roman settlement: the purpose is to fill a 'void' in historical knowledge of ancient Rhodes

Bellezza classica e felicità moderna: il palazzo reale di Caserta fra artificio e natura

L'articolo analizza il famoso monumento del 18 secolo come esmepio di architettura utilizzata per il piacere individuale, così come per mettere in scena il potere e rafforzarne i simboli. Nel testo, si affronta innanzitutto un'analisi tipologica del giardino a partire dal medioevo (la geometria dei luoghi e l'iconografia storica), per poi occuparsi della Reggia. Quest'ultima fu pensata in quanto cerniera tra il parco e la piazza, combinando un ritorno al classicismo con le forme del tardo barocco. Il progetto si allontanò definitivamente da quello di Versailles: l'architettura del palazzo di Caserta rinviava ad un nuovo ideale razionale di bellezza, consacrato al ruolo pubblico e all'espressione del potere: la separazione chiara fra spazi privati e pubblici concretizzò allo stesso tempo i diritti alla felicità individuale e la necessità della felicità del consenso

Maisons et villages ruraux de nobles feudati en Crète vénitienne (XVIe-XVIIe siècles)

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Nuovi documenti per la conoscenza delle fortezze delle isole di Candia e Cipro (XVI sec.)

The islands of Candia and Cyprus were key territories of the Venetian Stato da Mar for centuries. Starting from the middle of the sixteenth century, to counter the ever-closer Ottoman threat, in both islands Venice implemented a deep renewal of the defensive system thanks to the contribution of military engineers sent from Venice. After the loss of Cyprus in 1571, Candia became an advanced bulwark against the Ottomans, therefore works on the fortifications intensified and lasted until the seventeenth century. Behind the actual building activity there was an intense work of census, drawing, and survey that comes to light in a fragmentary way from official reports, correspondence, and iconographic sources. This paper intends to focus on the state of the islands’ urban and rural defences during the crucial period of the second half of the sixteenth century by considering two unpublished documents from the Archivio proprio di Giacomo Contarini kept at the Archivio di Stato of Venice: it is about a list of the fortresses of Candia by Soffiano Eudemonogiani, and the so-called “Avertimenti circa il fortificare” dealing with the fortresses of Cyprus and Candia. Both documents testify to the interest and concern of the Venetian government for its eastern Mediterranean fortresses in view of an Ottoman assault