Cultural Heritage

https://pixabay.com/de/tracht-dirndl-lederhose-tradition-1557416/

 

INTRODUCTION

Throughout 2018, Europeans celebrate their diverse cultural heritage. Each country highlights tangible, intangible, natural and digital heritage, what they are proud of and what is of substantial importance today as well. Culture is something that distinguishes a nationality and sometimes we tend to ignore customs of foreign countries.  All of these countries have put a lot effort into preserving these significant matters. The first part of this magazine includes different visions of cultural heritage from five countries and reflects on the aspects of cultural heritage they consider important to share. It's a great possibility to know the different cultures.

 

SAGRADA FAMÍLIA

The Sagrada Familia has, over the years, become one of the most important symbols of Barcelona for which it is recognized worldwide in the Catalan capital, as well as being the most visited monument in Spain. This interesting work is the greatest exponent of modernist Catalan architecture, designed by Antoni Gaudí.

 On March 19, 1882 the works of this monumental church began.

The Catalan architect was deeply involved in the Sagrada Família and his last 15 years were devoted exclusively to this and that is why there are no other important Gaudí works of these years. His dedication was such that he came to live in a workshop located in an apse of the Sagrada Família.

Gaudí was conscious that he would never get to see his great work finished. However, for him the important thing was that the spirit of the work was always preserved, since "its life must depend on the generations that transmit it and with which it lives and incarnates," he said.

Gaudí died in a tragic accident trampled by a tram on June 10, 1925. However, thanks to the plans and models that he designed, his work has been able to be resumed later by different architects who have always respected the original idea of Gaudí.

In July 1936, with the military uprising and the Spanish Civil War, the Sagrada Família suffered the attack of some revolutionaries who set fire to some of their spaces.

It should be noted that the Sagrada Familia is an expiatory temple, so its construction has always been possible thanks to the donations of the people. This is the main reason why the construction has been extended for so long and, in fact, it is unknown when the works will be finalized.

Characteristic features: symbology within a mystical poem with great formal constructive audacities, as in its way of conceiving the structure with the parabolic arch, also called a funicular of forces, combining the sculptural naturalist treatment with the abstraction of the towers.

Historical relevance: It is the most visited monument in Spain, in front of the Alhambra or the Prado Museum, with 3,7 million visitors by 2015. The work carried out by Gaudí, that is, the crypt, the apse and the facade of the Birth, were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2005.

The Sagrada Família was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI on November 7, 2010. Although it is not a cathedral, several sources have named it the Cathedral of Europe for the universal character that Gaudí wanted to give it.

 

Zoe Luque, Berta Pintor (Barcelona)

 

Oktoberfest

With a view from outside The Oktoberfest is the most popular German folk festival. But what’s really behind?

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The folk festival enjoys worldwide fame: everyone wants to visit the Oktoberfest once in a lifetime and enjoy the celebration of his life. Even if the festival is well known, very few people know its tradition, origin, history and other details about the festival.
The marriage of a royal bridal couple on 12th of October 1810,
was the foundation stone for the festival. Already one year later all people agreed that this party should take place for the future years.

Under the patronage and direction of the City of Munich, the Oktoberfest is organized every year- with tents, carousels and other attractions. Particularly popular are the beer tents, where plays a brass band and you get a “Maß” of beer (= 1 liter). Many women then wear dirndls (a special women dress) and many men come in Lederhosen.

Over the years this event becomes more and more popular until it developed into the largest folk festival in the world today. Many celebrities (actors, politicians, artists, athletes) visit the Oktoberfest.

In our opinion the Oktoberfest is a good reason to visit Germany. Especially after reaching the majority age you should not miss such an experience.

 

Luisa Jamal El-Din and Anna-Lena Lindike (Berlin)

 

The Cultural Heritage of Estonia

As we celebrate 2018 as the European Year of Cultural Heritage, Estonia has a lot of history and emotions to offer to its residents and to others with interest as well.

Our cultural heritage is divided directly into three main categories: intangible, material and digital cultural heritage. This makes understanding all the history and cultural impact much easier. Estonian cultural heritage can be seen and experienced almost everywhere a person goes in Estonia - it’s in our traditions, language, architecture, cityscapes, even in our behavior. This year Estonia celebrated its 100th year of independence, so Estonians have been talking about history and thus returning to our roots and celebrating everything and anything Estonian more than ever.

Intangible cultural heritage consists of knowledge, skills, traditions that have been passed on from earlier generations. It is also called living heritage. Estonians have a similar routine, for example we go to sauna, celebrate birthdays with all our families, arrange family meetings, even have the same food recipes from our grandparents and many of us spend holidays in the countryside. Intangible cultural heritage also depends on where we live. People who live in the countryside may often celebrate different events together. The most uniting event is St. John’s Day on the 23 June when there are bonfires all over Estonia and people who play different games and go looking for the fern blossoms. There are other smaller events, for example Christmas markets, charity concerts and so on. Intangible cultural heritage is changing with every generation and community, every new skill or fact enriches it.

Material cultural heritage are all objects and places created by people and that have remained for many generations. It is divided into two sub-categories: moveable heritage (paintings, coins, manuscripts, etc.) and immovable heritage (buildings, monuments, etc.). Moveable heritage can be learnt about at Estonian Art Museum where there are many art exhibitions that contain paintings from Estonia’s past. It can even be Estonian past currency- the Estonian kroon. Our kroons were decorated with Estonia’s famous people. There is even one book which every Estonian knows and must read in their lifetime. It’s called Truth and Justice by Anton Hansen Tammsaare, a very popular Estonian writer. It’s claimed to be an overview of the Estonian society.

The place most densely filled with immovable cultural heritage is certainly Tallinn medieval Old Town. Material cultural heritage is the history recorded in buildings and objects.

Estonia is known for being an e-country, that we invented Skype, have electronic voting systems and have Wifi everywhere, even in forests (which is not true, unfortunately). Even though digital heritage already consists of things that are meant to be digital only, there is a lot of material heritage that could be digitized to be made available to broader audiences. Digitizing these precious relics could be given eternal life and accessible for generations to come. Does that mean that conventional material heritage would lose its importance and value when available online as well? That cannot be predicted right now but as Estonia, Europe and the whole world develops digitally, everything is possible.

Estonian cultural heritage can be accessed in three possible ways. Intangible cultural heritage reflects from our everyday life, actions and behavior. Material cultural heritage is in the things we use, see, feel, places we go and where and how we live and have lived. Most of those materialistic things could be digitized for easier access and for a wider audience.

 

Maarika Siilsalu,Emily Mirelle Vutt (Tallinn)

 

 

The Cultural Heritage in Berlin - Die Hufeisensiedlung

In Berlin there are three locations which are belonging to the UNESCO World Heritage. The Museum Island and the park and palace of Sans Souci in Potsdam are well known worldwide. But only view people know the third one: The Housing Estates of the Berlin Modernism.

Since 2008 the Hufeisensiedlung (the „horseshoe settlement”) is one of the six UNESCO-approved housing estates of the modernist architecture in Berlin which were built between 1913 and 1934

By A.Savin.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berlin_Hufeisensiedlung_UAV_04-2017.jpg

.But what actually is the Hufeisensiedlung?

The Hufeisensiedlung is a settlement in Britz. Britz is a district in Berlin and was built between 1925 and 1930.

Modern and affordable homes

Modernist architects, in particular Bruno Taut, Hans Scharoun and Walter Gropius looked for solutions of the horrible housing shortage after the First World War. At that time, there were too many war returnee and refugees from the lost German territories in the East but not enough places to live.

With new buildings the modernist architects wanted to offer good and attractive living space to the ordinary people for few rent.

In opposite of the dark and wet backyard and side wings of the tenement blocks in the blue color worker areas  the settlements were with light, air and sun.

 Only large settlements promised a way out of the catastrophic housing shortage. So that the inhabitants of the tenements could afford a move at all, the rent costs had to be low - and consequently also the construction costs. 

Worker’s cooperatives

So, many building cooperatives emerged – starting from the labor movement, which tried to eliminate the housing shortage with new apartments.  Because of the management by their own the residents were safe from extreme rent increases and the possibility to kick out of the flat arbitrarily.

One of those new settlements was the Hufeisensiedlung.

The settlement is called this way because its shape looks like a horseshoe. The architects were Bruno Taut, Martin Wagner and Leberecht Migge.

The Hufeisensiedlung is also considered an icon of new construction with a public park. In comparison with the apartments in the working-class areas, these apartments had a high standard: own bathroom, a separate kitchen, the rooms were brighter and there was just more room to live.  Every apartment had either a balcony or a small garden in most cases for self-supporting.

 

Sarah, Berlin

 

Matera, The Stone's City

 It is easy to find a tourist speaking about Rome, Venice… But it is more unusual to find a tourist that knows Matera

Picture: Project

 Matera, known as the “Stone’s city”, is considered the third most ancient city in the world. But why are we speaking about this city? Maybe the majority of you is uninformed about the fact that Matera, after its candidacy in 2008, has been designated on the 17th October 2014 as the European Capital of Culture for 2019. It is the first city in southern Italy to receive this recognition.

The verdict was communicated by Steve Green, president of the international selection jury composed of thirteen members (six were Italian and seven were from foreign countries) and the minister of Cultural heritage and Activities and Tourism Dario Franceschini.

Now, let’s talk a little about Matera. It is a small city, not so famous. It is easy to find a tourist speaking about Rome, Venice… But it is more unusual to find a tourist that knows Matera. Indeed it is a small town that is increasing its tourism. If during the ‘50s it was considered a “national shame” cause it wasn’t as developed as the other cities, nowadays, in 2019, it will be what we are used to call the European Capital of Culture. But what is the special part of this unknown small town?

As we wrote before, Matera is also called the Stone’s city. It survived for a lot of eras and here, in this city, it is possible to observe two ancient neighbourhoods with cave buildings dating back to the Paleolitic era. These two neighbourhoods are called “Il sasso Caveoso” and “il Sasso Barisano”. These stones are a real cultural landscape.

Furthermore it has been created a video about this city and about the fact that it will be the European Capital of culture. This video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3-pENqHZjQ

 

Angelica Vecchiarelli, Ludovico Journo, Giorgio Ricciardi (Rome)

 

Intangible Cultural Heritage

Few of us realize how important part of our lives constitutes intangible heritage.It is passed down to future generations orally and in the form of tradition. These include performances, customs, titles, festive celebrations, knowledge and various practices.

Therefore, when you bake a cake with your grandmother every Christmas or when you go fishing with your grandfather every month, you create a traditional action that you can keep by passing it on to the next generation.

We are usually not aware of how valuable our heritage is and how easy it is to make sure it continues.

We rarely care about being taught new skills. It is a shame, especially when the older generations can still share their knowledge with us.  For example, if our grandfather or great-grandfather makes decorations from wire but does not teach the skill to the next generation, this ability will disappear in our family.

Many of us wish they could keep the tradition alive and preserve it for many generations.

Perhaps if we passed on the heritage at least one generation further, we would be more conscious and culturally developed people.

Heritage is the story we create and leave behind us. We can start it at this point and try to make sure it lasts for a long time. Everyone deserves the opportunity to leave a trace.

 

Julia Mczka (Cracow)

 

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