Final Exam Questions

Study questions for final exam

1. In the beginning of the term, we discussed Victor Hugo's proclamation in Notre Dame de Paris (published 1831), that, with the invention of printing press, the printed book would kill architecture which had been "the book of humanity" where ideas of various societies have been expressed, where stories had been told. Having discussed this representational, expressive, textual quality of architecture, especially with respect to the concept of "monument"- how would you respond to Hugo in the 21st century? Support your argument with concrete examples drawn from pre-Hugo and post-Hugo periods. How accurate were Hugo's fears?

2. Is architecture an art of remembering or forgetting? With specific references to related arguments in the readings by Adrienne Forty, Alois Reigl and Susan Alcock, discuss this very controversial issue. Use several case studies that have been discussed in class during the semester.

3. Pierre Nora's discussion of "sites of memory" brings a striking contrast between the writing of official histories versus the making of collective memories. Yet, during our discussions throughout the semester we have come to understand that there are always crossovers, overlaps and hybridities between these two realms (history and memory). Discuss with concrete case studies drawn from the class discussions and readings in a comparative way.

4. Studying the practice of spolia (architectural fragment reused in a new context) in antiquity and today, we have identified it as "a memory practice, a particular way of relating to the past, a meaningful, craetive appropriation of the past" while we touched upon various issues such as nostalgia, ruins, and architectural meaning. How do late antique appropriation of ancient building fragments compare to the multiple uses of Berlin wall fragments in 20th century in those terms?

5. An interesting approach to studying architectural meaning can involve the "cultural biography of buildings" as a process through which the building is transformed from an object (of design) to a (living) thing. From conceptualization to destruction, buildings have diverse lives: multiple meanings are acquired along the way, they go through material transformations and they are subject to different temporalities than our own human sense of time. Discuss with examples.

6. In this class we have studied several spectacles of destruction such as the demolition of Bamiyan Buddhas, bombing of 6221 Osage Avenue in Philadelphia, Solidere's "reconstruction" of Beirut, and the mob demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya. Compare two or more of these examples with respect to issues of politics of place, state-sponsored violence, and the (potential/actual) role of archaeology.

7. Discuss various occasions (ancient and modern) where a ruin becomes a commemorative monument or a site of memory. How do archaeological sites, industrial ruins and "ground zero" sites compare in terms of the presentation of an "authentic past"? How do they relate to social trauma, social memory?

Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology