Chaired by Marco Folin (Università di Genova), the Session 2.15 Comparing European Civic Architecture Over the Long Term (12th–18th Centuries) is part of the 12th AISU CONGRESS – THE CROSSROAD CITY Relations and Exchanges, Intersections and Crossing Points in Urban Realities to be held in Palermo, 10-13 September 2025 and welcomes abstract proposals by 3 May 2025.
Since the late Middle Ages, nearly all European cities saw the construction of one or more monumental buildings that served a variety of political and social functions for collective use, symbolizing the civic identity of the urban community. In each country these buildings were called by different names—Palazzi comunali, Hôtels-de-ville, Town Halls, Rathäuser, Ayuntamientos, Stadthuizen—but everywhere they housed local authorities and were among the key landmarks of the city, often continuing to play a crucial role in public life and urban culture to this day. For a variety of reasons related to the historiographical tradition of each country, these buildings have never been the subject of comparative study. They have generally been investigated within a local history perspective, as expressions of particular historical periods, or manifestations of ‘national’ features. This session aims to challenge this particularistic view of civic architecture by bringing together case studies within a transnational and transhistorical framework, between the late Middle Ages and the end of the Ancien Régime.
Among the key aspects this session seeks to explore are:
• The urban location of these buildings and their relationship with surrounding spaces (typically a central square, with which they maintained a close spatial and functional connection)
• The social uses of these buildings, which often extended beyond political-administrative functions and varied widely across periods and contexts (commercial, cultural, aristocratic sociability-related…)
• The dynamic nature of these uses, which underwent continuous transformations over time in response to the changing needs of urban society and its elites
• The eloquence of architectural forms and decorative programs as effective tools for communicating the political and ideological orientations in vogue at a given period (however, for this very reason, they were frequently subject to processes of continuous ‘rewriting,’ resulting in their often palimpsestic nature) Case studies addressing any of the above issues will be welcome, without geographical or chronological restrictions. Priority will be given to original research, proposed in a perspective open to comparison and interdisciplinary dialogue.