Sunday, February 1, 2009

February Theme day: paths and passages

Today the series of photos about the Risiera di San Sabba has come to an end.
If you haven't paid a visit to this blog recently and want to see the rest you can walk through the 11-metre high concrete walls arranged to form a disquieting entrance and go back in time to 27th of January, Remembrance Day.

The passage was designed by Romano Boico, the architect who, in 1966, won the competition to
convert the Risiera into a museum (opened in 1975).

The Risiera - explained Boico -
half destroyed by the fleeing Nazis, was squalid, like its surroundings. So he thought that the total squalor could rise as a symbol and itself become a monument. He decided to remove and restore rather than add. After removing the ruined buildings, he demarcated the context with high concrete walls, like those in the photo. The walled courtyard is intended as an open-air non-denominational basilica. The building where prisoners were kept was completely emptied and the load-bearing wooden structures pared down as much as seemed necessary. The seventeen cells and the death cell are unchanged.

part 1 2 3 4 5

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

11 comments:

abc said...

Rob, it was a shocking series of pictures you published here, but it is important to be reminded from time to time, no matter how bad it makes one feel. Today, Sunday, is a good day to round off this series and say a prayer for all those who suffered.

Jane Hards Photography said...

It was a very poignant series and a reminder to us all never forget.

Jilly said...

I've been following this series and you've photographed it beautiful. It's mindful to be reminded of such horrors from time to time.

Your photograph today is superb, drawing our eye way down the length of this passageway. Well done, planning the series to end as it did today - very dramatic!

Andrea said...

Stunning!!!!!!!!!!!!

Julie ScottsdaleDailyPhoto.com said...

thank you for your series. It is a good reminder as to what can happen when power and hate take over. Your photo to end the series with is a great choice for theme day. It makes you wonder how many walked this path.

Trillian said...

Una foto che descrive perfettamente uno stato d'animo e la sensazione di ciò che è stato...

angela said...

It makes a very powerful memorial and a reminder to us not to repeat the lessons of history.
Thank you for sharing this. I can't imagine that visiting the building was an easy experience.

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

Thank you for your moving series of photos. You have reminded us, as Julie noted, that power and hate sometimes leads people down the wrong path, and indifference of others allows it to happen.

I was in a taxicab in Washington, D.C. yesterday, and my cab driver was from Ethiopia. We talked about what is happening in Somalia today. As much as we look back on the Nazi era and need to be remided that we should never forget and never let it happen again, there are troubled areas of the world today that need tolerance, peace and prosperity.

amatamari© said...

Ho visitato in diverse occasioni la Risiera e sei riuscito davvero a darle una nuova luce e tutto questo in coincidenza con la giornata della memoria...
Grazie

Hilda said...

Just looking through that long, high-walled passage, my heart feels like its being squeezed.

Thank you for remembering, Rob. And reminding us to never forget too.

Anonymous said...

I have just had a wander back through your series. It is moving and your photographs are very appt.
I do like this one too, it's great for both your purposes!