Main entry:

Allais, Lucia, author.

Title & Author:

Designs of destruction : the making of monuments in the twentieth century / Lucia Allais.

Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
©2018

Description:

347 pages : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction: monument survival -- "Wardens of civilization": conservation and diplomacy at the 1931 Athens Conference -- "Battles designed to preserve": the allies' lists of monuments in World War II -- Unwitting city planning: maps of monuments and the American bombing of Europe, 1943-1945 -- Bridge: let's visit UNESCO house -- "Stones also die": UNESCO and the decolonization of museums, 1960-1975 -- Integrities: the salvage of Abu Simbel, 1960-1980 -- Coda: viscosities.

Summary:

"The twentieth century was the most destructive in human history, but from its vast landscapes of ruins was born a new architectural type: the cultural monument. In the wake of World War I, an international movement arose which aimed to protect architectural monuments in large numbers, and regardless of style, hoping not only to keep them safe from future conflicts, but also to make them worthy of protection from more quotidian forms of destruction. This movement was motivated by hopeful idealism as much as by a pragmatic belief in bureaucracy. An evolving group--including architects, intellectuals, art historians, archaeologists, curators, and lawyers--grew out of the new diplomacy of the League of Nations. During and after World War II, it became affiliated with the Allied Military Government, and was eventually absorbed by the UN as UNESCO. By the 1970s, this organization had begun granting World Heritage status to a global register of significant sites--from buildings to bridges, shrines to city centers, ruins to colossi. Examining key episodes in the history of this preservation effort--including projects for the Parthenon, for the Cathedral of St-Lô, the temples of Abu Simbel, and the Bamyian Buddahs --Lucia Allais demonstrates how the group deployed the notion of culture to shape architectural sites, and how architecture in turn shaped the very idea of global culture. More than the story of an emergent canon, Designs of Destruction emphasizes how the technical project of ensuring various buildings' longevity jolted preservation into establishing a transnational set of codes, values, practices. Yet as entire nations' monumental geographies became part of survival plans, Allais also shows, this paradoxically helped integrate technologies of destruction--from bombs to bulldozers--into cultural governance"--Provided by publisher.

ISBN:

9780226286556 (hardcover)
022628655X (hardcover)
(electronic book)
9780226522616

Subject:

World Heritage Committee.
Architecture Conservation and restoration International cooperation History 20th century.
Monuments Conservation and restoration International cooperation History 20th century.
Cultural property Protection International cooperation History 20th century.
Architecture Conservation et restauration Coopération internationale Histoire 20e siècle.
Monuments Conservation et restauration Coopération internationale Histoire 20e siècle.
ARCHITECTURE / General.
Cultural property Protection International cooperation
Architecture Conservation and restoration International cooperation
Denkmalpflege

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 303784
Call No.: BIB 249372
Status: Available