Abstract
In the present-limited temporal horizon of today’s societies, architecture still maintains the memory. It is the thesis of this research, that asserts the validity of the symbolical character of architecture, with a focus on the modern monuments. These modern monuments and memorialmuseums are predominantly centred on the violent episodes of the last century: World Wars and Civil Wars, the Holocaust, totalitarianism and terrorism. The main objective of this thesis is analysing the memorial architecture, its conceptual foundations and language, its interaction with the individuals and its social impact. The purpose of this research – through the examination of some case studies that were selected for their popularity, media impact and the debate that they arose within the architectural theory and criticism framework – is to develop a multifocal analysis. This analysis is essentially based on a bibliography that encompasses the fields of Sociology and Anthropology, particularly Memory Studies, History and Art History and issues related to perception and communication. Concisely, the work method is interpretive and, through architectural and spatial analysis, it links different factors that make the interpretation of memorial architecture a complex system. The thesis is divided into four chapters that approach the same case studies from different angles. The first chapter studies the symbolical and representative role of memorial architecture, focusing on the construction of social memory and the part that this particular type of architecture plays in institutionalizing the “sites of memory” as public spaces. The second chapter categorizes the forms in which the intersubjective memory is objectified in space, while also studying how memory, particularly the memory of past traumatic events, articulates with the socio-spatial construction of the city and the landscape. The third chapter studies the commemoration rituals and public mourning in these spaces and the ways in which they are offered a sense of sacredness. The fourth chapter focuses on the implications of the body and the emotions in the socio-spatial construction of the memory, beyond the social determinism. Ultimately, this thesis is about interpreting the cultural role of these new monuments in today’s heterogeneous and multicultural societies and how this cultural memory is integrated into the societal construction. The new perspective provided by this research is based on the synthesis of the different perspectives, which, as proven in both sociological and anthropological analysis, as well as in the psychological and philosophical ones, lack a spatial approach. In this study, the architectural analysis, in a contemporary context, adopts a complex approach that encompasses the relationship between today’s society and memorial architecture, its perception, interpretation, acceptance and appropriation.
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