Call for Papers: History, Architecture, and Heritage: Building the Architectural Identity. Milan, Mantova, and online, 28-29 October 2021
History, architecture and heritage: building the architectural identity. Milan, Europe (1796-1848). International colloquium under the direction of Elisa Boeri (Polimi), Pierre Coffy (Paris 1/UniMi), Francesca Mattei (Roma Tre).
Promoted and financed by the ABC Department of the Politecnico di Milano and the Mantova Unesco Chair, this international symposium aims to explore the idea of heritage and its interpretation in relation to the history of architecture and the city in Europe. Starting from the case study of Milan, the subject of the multidisciplinary research programme FNS Synergy n.177286 “Milan and Ticino (1796-1848). Shaping the Spatiality of a European Capital”, (2018- 2022, Swiss National Science Foundation, SNSF) and its exchanges, affinities or divergences with other Italian and European realities, this meeting is intended as an opportunity to reflect on various little-known aspects of the heritage policy undertaken at the end of the 18th century, during the
Napoleonic years and the Restoration. In fact, often considered abstract and detached from the reality for which it was designed, the architecture of the first decades of the 19th century was in fact also accompanied by an important reflection on pre-existing heritage spaces (in the case of Milan, we can think of the Columns of San Lorenzo or the Piazza Duomo).
In particular, heritage will be considered as a pivotal element within the urban transformations and destructions that they entail during this chronological period. Participants will also be invited to present proposals limited to specific buildings or monuments, in order to question the process that contributed to their individualization as theoretical models and their survival over time. Interventions may concern the following areas of study (not exhaustive):
1. Heritage and cultural debate in Europe: designs, models, theories.
2. Urban dialogues between public and private space.
3. For a modern capital: cultural exchanges and architectural models
in Italy and Europe.
4. The city as a paradigm. Academies, engineers and architects facing
the architectural heritage.
5. Architectural heritage: memory, destruction and conservation policy
between architectural
projects and legislative instruments.
6. The invention of tradition, use and knowledge of the past in architecture.
7. Representation of power, heritage and architectural project.
8. Architectural identity and national identity in architecture
between the 18th and 19th centuries.
More information about the conference can be found in Italian, French, and English here.
Proposals (in Italian, French or English) should be sent to readingheritage2021@gmail.com in the form of abstracts (300-500 words) and be accompanied by a short biographical presentation (150-200 words) by 25 May 2021.
The selection will be communicated by 15 June 2021 at the latest. The results of the conference will be highlighted in one or more
collective publications, after scientific evaluation.
It is planned that the conference will be held in both face-to-face and remotely on the 28-29 october at the Politecnico di Milano in Milan and Mantova. Depending on the evolution of the international health situation, the organisers will endeavour to guarantee the best solution in compliance with national recommendations.