Sunday, May 10, 2009

The importance of symbols (2)

The Victoria Lighthouse, built between 1923 and 1927 to the design of Triestine architect Arduino Berlan, (1880-1946), not only guides the boats during the night but is also a commemorative monument dedicated to the sailors who died in World War I.

The symbolic lighthouse was built on top of the Austrian fortification Kressich, using one of its bastions as its base. Once again symbols glorifying Trieste's Italianism have replaced Austrian ones.

The fortification. built in 1854, was an impregnable military structure, with cannon ports, a large moat and drawbridge, and invulnerable underground chambers, which, at fifty metres above sea level, could not be hit by naval artillery.

7 comments:

Hilda said...

Fabulous photo of a structure with a very interesting history.

But it's your discussion about symbols and how the Austrian architecture is being replaced by Italian ones (including yesterday's post) that's even more fascinating.

I can understand how there are certain things in our countries' past that we would rather change, but sometimes I feel that it can go a bit too far. The Philippines was a Spanish colony for 300 years and under American rule for 50. But it doesn't mean that everything about those years were bad. To hear some of our politicians talk, it sometimes seems that everything bad about the Philippines comes from the colonial years. To tell you the truth, sometimes I feel like the Philippines would have been better off staying as an American colony. Nothing is worse than a corrupt Filipino politician taking advantage of his/her own poor countrymen.

Ach, enough… Sorry about that.

Unknown said...

Fantastic photo and an interesting post. As Hilda writes we're often too quick to wipe out the past when things change. I think we need the symbols from the past, good and bad, to reminds us where we come from. In Denmark it's an ongoing discussion if we should demollish the German bunkers from WWII on our West coast. They are still standing, but not much is done to preserve them, so they might be gone sometime in the future.

claudia said...

ciao! il vecchio blog mi dava qualche problema, quindi mi sono trasferita qui http://discoverflorence.blogspot.com
per favore aggiorna i tuoi links e bookmarks!

ps. ancora complimenti per le foto!

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

Fascinating post. The replacement of prior structures occurs with religious architecture as well. In Andalusia, some of the cathedrals were originally mosques, with the giant cathedral in Seville and its Moorish Giralda bell tower and the El Mezquita Cathedral in Cordova being the two most notable examples.

In Cuzco Peru, the church built its cathedrals on top of the Inca temples. During severe earthquakes, the cathedrals have toppled, while the Inca foundations remain in tact, due to the superior interlocking stone construction methods used by the Incas.

amatamari© said...

Beautiful image!
Very interesting this series dedicated to the symbols of Trieste.

Thank!

Glennis said...

Wonderful, but it didn't look like a lighthouse to me until I read that it was. perhaps the angle of the picture. Great architecture.

Anonymous said...

World War I.