The Built Expression of Washington D.C.

In class we have learned about how urban settings and architecture are a built expression of a conceptual idea. In all the cases that we have looked that, this concept was one of power and control, but do all built environments convey this concept? The United States of America is one that prides itself in its democratic society. In the national anthem, they even refer to themselves as “the land of the free”. The capital of a nation is one that is meant to represent the values and culture of a nation. Therefore by examining Washington D.C. on Google maps, I will determine whether there is such a thing as a free urban setting.

                The national mall is not a shopping center but in-fact a big open park. Insofar, it does not seem very different from any other colonial city we have seen before. The city is built in a grid formation; the only difference is that the city center is not built around a rectangular plaza. Instead, Washington D.C. is built around a cross shaped park, where the architectures surrounding it, is dedicated to administration buildings and cultural museums. The park is also often used as a place of spectacle and gathering during special celebrations. It is clear that this section of the city is a propagandist display of power and culture that is meant to represent America. At each extreme of the cross are monuments that emphasis this point. There are four monuments in total; two monuments dedicated to two great presidents of the American history, the White House, and the US Capital Visitor Center. As the name implies, the capital Visitor Center is dedicated to the use of tourist. It is a big and sumptuous architecture that is sure to make an impression. The architecture resembles that of the ancient Roman Pantheon with its rectangular colonnaded façade and round domed center. I have also noticed that this Roman style had been applied to all of the architecture surrounding the National Mall. This is clearly a conscious attempt by the American leaders to associate themselves with the one of the greatest empires of Western History and their democratic points of views. The Romans were known for being the first nation to establish a democratic government. Furthermore, they want to represent that they are also founded on the Catholic faith which is represented by the cross plan of the National Park.          

Law of The Indies

The the designs of colonial cities in Central and South America were based on pre-fabricated ideas from Europe mixed together with Pre-Colombian influences. The Spaniards made their way to the Americas with these prefabricated grid-plan designs developed which also contained Roman and philosophical influences. These plans were also linked to a set of laws explaining how to properly found and build a new city. These laws were originally signed in 1573 and have been rewritten and reformed over the 500 years of Spanish occupation in the West. They are most commonly known as the Laws of the Indies.  

Some of the guide lines mentioned in Graziano Gasparini´s essay, ¨The Spanish-American Grid Plan, An Urban Bureaucratic Form¨ are:  

1-      Select a good site with clean water and abundant natural resources

2-      Plan the city before any construction begins

3-      The town should be planned with ‘cord and ruler’, with a central square and a layout that can grow in a planned manner

4-      The plaza or central square should be rectangular, with a length one-and-a-half times its width

5-      The plaza’s four corners should point towards the cardinal directions

6-      The main streets should lead from the town square out and two minor streets diverging from each corner of the square.

7-      All town streets should be straight and at right angles to each other.

8-      Smaller open spaces would be allocated elsewhere in town to provide for churches and other public amenities.

9-      There will be a town common for livestock and agriculture.

10-  The town will be developed without the presence of natives, in order to impress them when they were allowed to enter.

The selections for these sites were therefore based on the best location that the Spaniard colonialists could find. Many of them were unfortunately pre-occupied by natives and were forced to leave or be re-located. The cities we see today in South and Central America are all constructed on these grid-plans. The main objectives behind these plans were to keep order and control over its inhabitants through regulated movement through the space, maintain social hierarchy by maintaining a separation between racial and social classes, and finally to make the city safer and more defensible.  

Santa Fe, Granada

Looking at the map of the cities of Granada and Santa Fe, both situated in the province of Granada, you will notice differences in their configuration. Santa Fe is organised in a grid-plan which is very characteristic of military outposts. It was built in the XV century by the Catholic army while they were laying siege to the city of Granada. Granada on the other hand, had been inhabited much longer than Santa Fe. It was an important medieval city controlled by Islamic rule. Granada seems to have been constructed in two stages. The center of the city is the oldest. It is configured around the Alhambra; a medieval styled palace-fortress situated at the top of a hill. The streets that surround the Alhambra are very organic and seem to be regulated by the topography of the landscape. Post Reconquista, the city has expanded beyond the center. It is easy to tell which streets belonged to the old city and which ones belong to the new one because of the change from organic winding roads to a grid system.

To understand the significance of the new form of urban design we can compare the cities to other sites previously seen in class. The South American site of Pikillacta in Peru closely resembles the city of Santa Fe.

Santa Fe and Pikillacta are comparable to each other because of the fact that they have roughly the same topography. They also both sustain a grid-plan and are roughly the same in size. Pikillacta was a military outpost built by the Wari people during the middle horizon period. Like Santa Fe the city is constructed as a walled compound built in a rectangular shape with limited entry/exit points. Santa Fe also has a main street called Calle Real de Santa Fe that runs from one end of the city to the other and connects to the high way A-329 that goes straight to Granada. It is clear to me that this is a way of organising the space in order to control the comings and goings of people. It most likely made things easier for importation and exportation of goods. At the center of the city there is a plaza with a big, Neo-Romanesque Basilica on the East end. Since the basilica is situated at the heart of the city and is also the tallest building, is it quite possible that it is recognised as the most important structure that conveys the values and goals of Santa Fe´s founders. From a military perspective, Santa Fe was surrounded by a large, brick wall. Parts of it still remain especially at the entrance and exit of the down town area on Calle Real de Santa Fe. The tall wall was capped by octagonal watch towers as well as an adjacent bell tower. The plain offers great, undisturbed sight lines which allow the inhabitants of the city to see from a distance and sound the alarm if the enemy was spotted at a distance.      

Tenochtitlan and the intents of the conquistadors

Hello again,

This week´s destination of choice is the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan; a place we know today as Mexico City. During the colonization of Mexico, the City of Tenochtitlan was destroyed in order to build a Spanish colonial empire. The following blog will examine the relationship between size and scale of Tenochtitlan and the modern day capital as well as the reasons for the destructions and reconstruction by the Spaniards.

Tenochtitlan was a city of great economic wealth, political power, as well as a great religious center.  Unfortunately, today the ruins of this once great city now lay under the Plaza de la Constitución at the heart of Mexico City.  Evidence has shown that the ceremonial precinct of Tenochtitlan is directly located underneath the modern day plaza. The Plaza itself is one of the largest in the world and since it is built directly on top of the old plaza it can only be a direct co-relation in size of the Aztec city center. In Pre-colonial days, the Aztec city would have to have been large enough to host an enormous crowd from all over Mesoamerica. The ceremonial precinct would have also held a large ball court, temples of the most important gods, a grand palace for the elite, and administration buildings. The modern plaza consists of more or less the same types of buildings but in different forms. It has a grand Cathedral, a National Palace, and various government buildings.

To the Aztec rulers, Tenochtitlan and its monuments were a symbol of their wealth, power and legitimacy. To the Aztec people it was a testament of their beliefs. To the Spanish, Tenochtitlan was a sight to behold as well as the power and resourcefulness of their adversaries. They knew that if they could not defeat the Aztec empire, that they would not be able to colonize Central America. Therefore by destroying Tenochtitlan and rebuilding a colonial version they were sending a message of who was in charge. Furthermore, for the purpose of colonizing and ¨civilizing¨ the natives, it was important for them to destroy the Aztec cult figures in order to prove that their gods were not as powerful as they thought.

Chichen Itza vs. Tula Controversy

It is easy to see why academics believed for many years that the site of Chichén Itzá has been occupied by Toltec groups. It was not till recently that they started to believe that this might not have been the case. The objective of this blog is to uncover the similarities and differences in order to consider the relevancy of a Toltec occupation in Chichén Itzá.

The relationship between the Toltecs of Tula and the Mayans of Chichén Itzá is a subject that has been greatly argued among academics and unfortunately remains unresolved. A key factor to this issue is the lack of information rendering it impossible to come to an accurate conclusion. Nevertheless, three main theories circulate among researchers: That the Toltecs did indeed invade Chichén Itzá, that the Maya-Chichén people made a type of alliance with the Toltec refugees resulting in a cultural diffusion, or the Maya had abandoned Chichén Itzá long before the Toltecs moved in.

1)      Toltec invasion

The reasons why academics strongly considered a Toltec invasion for so long were because of the sudden shifts in architectural program. The most compelling reason would be because if the strong resemblance between the Temple of the Warriors in Chichén Itzá and Pyramid B in Tula. The similarities include: a single staircase facing an open plaza, square pillars at the summit that would have supported a perishable roof, a large series of colonnades at the base, as well as carved pillars representing Toltec warriors. The Temple of the warriors at Chichén Itzá is also constructed in two parts, a smaller pyramid was discovered inside which indicates that someone decided to redecorate. Whether or not it was the Toltec, it is unclear. However, there are also some distinct differences. They both provide a contrast between scale and quality. In terms of quality, the stone work in Chichén Itzá was elaborated and finely crafted, at Tula on the other hand, the stone work seems sparse, poorly worked and dependent on the stucco covering.[i]  There is also a difference in scale. The pyramid B at Tula is considerably smaller than the Temple of the Warriors at Chichén Itzá. ¨It is almost as if Toltec ideals were first given architectural expression at Chichén, and were then returned to Tula around the year 1000 in a provincial form.¨[ii]

2)      A Toltec and Maya alliance at Chichén Itza

Carbon dating has placed the occupation of Tula between 650 till 1100 A.D. By the end of the 12^th century Tula was abandoned.  The last King of Tula, Huemac, was forced to flee before the Aztecs invaded. Legends state that the Toltecs ventured eastward in order to evade their attackers. In Chichén Itzá, they speak of a leader coming to them from the West and sharing with them great wisdom. Therefore it is quite possible that they banded together in order to protect themselves from a common enemy.      

3)      The Maya had been long gone by the arrival of the Toltecs.

Chichén Itzá had been occupied much longer than then Tula. People settled in old Chichén around the Preclassic and Early Classic periods (350 B.C till 250 A.D)[iii] the newer parts of Chichén Itzá date from between 600 to 1200 A.D. which indicates a large gap in development where the Maya could have abandoned site. However, this does not explain why Classic and Post Classic structures still express Mayan styles. The very far south structure was named La Casa de las Monjas by the conquistadores for it reminded them of a nunnery;  was used as a royal palace. The architecture is purely Maya. It is constructed in the Puuc, Chenes style prevalent in the Maya Yucatan region. The entire façade is built to resemble a Chaac mask. Chaac is the Maya rain deity. It also consists of a lattice motif roof comb and an undulating serpent motif along the cornice.  The second structure built around 600-859 A.D., the Caracol, is built up on a rectangular structure and has an unobstructed view of the surrounding landscape and sky. The round structure that sits on top is believed to have been used as an observatory to map celestial event, especially the movements of the planet Venus, which held a lot of significance among all Mesoamerican people. Although its significance is shared among many Mesoamerican groups, round structures were only dedicated to Quetzalcoatl among later Aztecs. Therefore it is believed that this building was constructed and designed by the Maya. The final major structure in the old section of Chichén Itzá, La Tomba del Gran Sacerdote (Tomb of the High Priest), was constructed in the Preclassic era. This pyramid is also known as the Ossuary or Osario. It consists of a four staircases, each facing the cardinal axes which all have balustrades shaped as serpents. It is in this structure that we begin to see a transition in style. The style is mostly Maya with its Puuc style stacks, decorated with Chaac figures, at the top of the pyramid. The four step, radial pyramid was also originally developed in Uxmal. Archaeologists have also discovered a cave located directly under the structure, which tie into the Mayan beliefs of passageways to the underworld as well as divinity and ruler ship. The structure was renovated in 800 to 900 A.D. The cave entrance was later filled with burials, hence the name, the nine levels representing the number of levels of the underworld, and the serpent balustrades, which were added later, are known to be Aztec practices.

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[i] Miller, Mary Ellen, The Art of Mesoamerica: from Olmec to Aztec, Thames & Hudson world of Art, London, 2012

[ii] Miller, (p. 224)

[iii] Mathews, Jennifer, Great Events from History: The Middle Ages, The Building of Chichén Itzá, Salem Press, (November 2004, Volume 2)

Ancient Rome: Foro Romanum

Hello everyone,

I had forgotten to mention earlier that this blog is part of a course that I am taking called Histories of Architecture and Urbanism: The Urban Form and Its Role in Colonization. This blog is part of my assignment, where I have to discuss a given topic based on the readings and destination of the week. This week we embark on a fascinating journey to the ancient capital of Italy; Rome. Rome was one of the largest city metropolises in the ancient world where pilgrims, intellectuals and tourists flocked to and still visit till this day.  

With the help of Google maps and the Lonely Planet travel guide, I will take you through a virtual tour through the heart of ancient Rome. The Romans are recognised as one of the greatest civilizations that ever lived. They were a very ingenious society and many of their innovations are still being used in modern society such as the establishment of the republican government for example.

The forum was once an Etruscan burial ground transformed into a marketplace and finally into an economic, political and religious center. Much like the downtown in any city, the forum was composed of a gathering ground or courtyard, market place, temples, and administrative buildings. It is believed by academics that the forum was the first monument erected and that the rest of the city was built around it.

Unlike other forums constructed later on, the Roman Forum is more organic in shape which is reflected throughout the rest of Rome. There does not seem to be a distinct entry way, and although the streets seem very narrow which give the architecture a strong powerful presence, there is no prescribed processional way. Following the map on the screen, however, we will enter from the street Via dei Fori Imperiali, on the North-East end where it says entrance. On the right hand side is the Basilica Aemilia, built in 179 BC as a long rectangular public hall with a two-storey porticoes facade. The front of the Basilica would have been lined with shops. Opposite of the Basilica, it the Temple of Cesar, a small square structure built by Augustus in 29BC. On the left hand side of the Basilica heading towards Via Sacra is the Temple of Faustina and Antonius Pios built in 141AD. The structure was once dedicated to the empress Faustina and emperor Antonius Pios but in the 8^th century the building was converted into a church. Today, this beautiful structure and its soaring columns are called the Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Miranda.  Heading towards the very far right of Via Sacra is another monument, The Triumphal Arch of Septimus Severus, erected in 203AD it stands 23meters high. This arch was dedicated to the Roman victory over the Parthians.

As we can plainly see on the map there are a lot of structures clustered into this forum. Although we will not be exploring each and every one of them, it is obvious that they were all constructed at different times by different rulers. Some of them were even redecorated to fit the taste of later emperors.

The architecture and its lay-out really say much about the people who reside within its walls. Their grandiose scale and use of polished material and fine marbles reflect the richness and power of the state. The facts that the streets are not perfectly squared and regulated to a prescribed plan reflect the Roman idea that their people are free and equal.

A little about me

Hello everyone,

My name is Lissa Grenier and I am currently an undergraduate at the University of Western Ontario. The plan is when I´m done, I will have an Honored Specialization in Arts and History as well as a minor in Spanish. I have not traveled to many places as of yet, but that is part of my bucket list. Before I die, I would like to go see all the places I read and learned about in my history classes. So far I have only been to two places; Spain where I studied for a month, it was really cool, and Cuba for a nice, relaxing vacation. While I was in Spain I visited many different places but nothing compared to the Alhambra in Granada. I would have to say that seeing this ancient city was the biggest highlight of my hole trip and that is why I chose this photo. This is a section of the ceiling inside one of the buildings at the Alhambra and I found absolutely breath taking. The Alhambra has a really fascinating history and this image really captures the Muslim influence in architecture and decor in Spain.