Huge Soviet-era monument taken down in Kyiv as Ukraine continues 'derussification' #TheArtNewspaper

“A Soviet-era monument believed to glorify Ukraine’s ties to Russia is being dismantled on orders of the Kyiv city government in the latest stage of derussification following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv’s Department of Territorial Control announced the start of the monument’s removal in a Facebook post on 30 April, stressing its massive size: “The sculptural composition is large, consists of about 20 elements weighing between 6,000kg and 7,000kg each. Due to the complexity of the design, dismantling may take a few days.””

#Monument #Ukraine #Russia #Kyiv #Derussification #CulturalHeritage #History #NegativeHeritage

@academiccommunity
@histodons
@histodon
@culturalheritage

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/05/03/huge-soviet-era-monument-taken-down-in-ukraine

Huge Soviet-era monument taken down in Kyiv as Ukraine continues 'derussification'

The Pereyaslav Rada sculpture celebrates a historical agreement between the two nations

The Art Newspaper - International art news and events

"The conservation and restoration of negative heritage", an article that Ruth Taberner and I have published, about the problem of preserving (or not) the most contested heritage (in Spanish). #OpenAccess #GeConservación #Article

It is often asked to what extent it makes sense to restore a legacy that is extremely negative and harmful to a significant part of society and that has no other significant values that would provide an incentive for its restoration. In some cases many pieces have been destroyed as Nazi and communist sculptures. In Spain a project was presented to melt down the equestrian sculpture of Franco that was originally in the Plaza de España in Ferrol (La Coruña).

#CulturalHeritage #ConservationRestoration #Preservation #NegativeHeritage #ContestedHeritage #Politics #Political #History #Memory

@academicchatter
@academicsunite
@culturalheritage
@histodons
@histodon

https://ge-iic.com/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/1232/1149

Vista de La conservación y restauración del patrimonio negativo

CONTESTED HISTORIES

"The Contested Histories Initiative seeks practical remedies to contestations over historical markers in public spaces as part of broader efforts to create more inclusive and equitable societies, particularly for and with communities that have been marginalised or disenfranchised due to race, ethnicity, gender, or other affiliations."

An example:
VICTORY MONUMENT (Bolzano, Italy): "The Victory Monument in Bolzano was erected on the orders of Benito Mussolini in 1928. Since then, it has been at the symbolic centre of ethnic clashes between the German- and Italian-speaking communities, as well as a symbol of the unresolved legacy of Italian Fascism".

#ContestedHeritage #Heritage #CulturalHeritage #Fascism #ContestedHistories #Italy #Mussolini #NegativeHeritage #History #Architecture

@academicchatter
@academiccommunity
@histodons
@histodon
@anthropology
@culturalheritage

https://contestedhistories.org/

https://contestedhistories.org/wp-content/uploads/Italy-Victory-Monument-in-Bolzano.pdf

- Contested Histories

The Contested Histories Initiative studies disputes over statues, street names, and other historical legacies in public spaces. CHI aims to identify principles, processes and best practices for decision-makers, civil society advocates, and educators confronting the complexities of divisive historical memory.

Contested Histories

➡️ HITLER’S BIRTH HOUSE IN AUSTRIA TO BE TURNED INTO POLICE STATION (The Guardian, August 2023).

"Critics say controversial plans will fulfil dictator’s wish for building to become district authority offices".

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/hitlers-birth-house-in-austria-to-be-turned-into-police-station

➡️ THIS OLD HOUSE: AUSTRIA TORN OVER WHAT TO DO WITH HITLER’S BIRTHPLACE (Politico, September 2020)

"Earlier this summer, the Austrian interior ministry released the winning architectural design for the site […]. The ultimate goal of these changes is to “neutralize” the history and symbolism of the house, officials said, preventing it from serving as a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis in the future."

https://www.politico.eu/article/this-old-house-austria-torn-over-what-to-do-with-hitlers-birthplace/

➡️ A LONG LEGAL BATTLE OVER HITLER'S BIRTH HOME IN AUSTRIA ENDS (NPR; August 2019)

"For generations, Gerlinde Pommer's family has owned the yellow, three-story structure in Braunau am Inn".

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/06/748588026/a-long-legal-battle-over-hitlers-birth-home-in-austria-ends

#NegativeHeritage #Hitler #Nazi #History #Heritage

@academicchatter
@Denying_History
@histodons

Hitler’s birth house in Austria to be turned into police station

Critics say controversial plans will fulfil dictator’s wish for building to become district authority offices

The Guardian

#Negativeheritage can refer to places that are linked to historically painful, atrocious and/or disturbing events. They are ambivalent, as they are material testimonies of these events, but they are also rejected by a majority of society and need to be re-signified or, in more extreme cases, their destruction may be demanded. An interesting example of re-signification is the case of the #Kongresshalle, an example of #Nazi #architecture in #Nuremberg. For the creation of a Documentation Centre to show the horrors of Nazism, the building was not reconstructed, but left unfinished with the red brick exposed. In addition, a new structure was built on top of the building, placed perpendicularly, so as to simulate a "glass and steel stake" that is running through the building (Sharon Macdonald, 2006).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13527250500384464

#CulturalHeritage #History
@academicchatter
@Denying_History
@histodons

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-documentation-center-nazi-party-rally-grounds/jgVxkVfHk444Jw

Image: Stefan Wagner (CC BY-SA 2.0 DE) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentation_Center_Nazi_Party_Rally_Grounds#/media/File:Reichsparteitagsgelaende_Kongresshalle_Doku_48.JPG)

This weekend I am moving to hcommons.social. 🚚📦📦📦 Hope to see you there.

My last toot here:
"A website to resignify the Valley of Cuelgamuros and combat the Francoist narrative".
https://www.eldiario.es/sociedad/pagina-web-resignificar-valle-cuelgamuros-combatir-relato-franquista_1_10197003.html

You can see the website
"The Valley of Cuelgamuros, history and context. A new memorial framework for Francoist’s main monument (available in english): https://elvalledecuelgamuros.gob.es/en

#Francoism #Cuelgamuros #Heritage #NegativeHeritage #History @academicchatter
@histodons
@Denying_History

Una página web para resignificar el Valle de Cuelgamuros y combatir el relato franquista

El Gobierno va dando pasos para resignificar el Valle de Cuelgamuros. El Ministerio de Presidencia acaba de lanzar este jueves una página web con la que pretende impulsar “una nueva mirada” a este monumento. En esta iniciativa se pueden consultar los hechos más relevantes relacionados con Cuelgamuros, narrados desde un punto de vista memorialista y rebatiendo los postulados franquistas. No hay rastro del antiguo nombre de este emplazamiento, Valle de los Caídos. La Ley de Memoria Democrática, aprobada el pasado mes de octubre, impuso el cambio de denominación y también promulgó una resignificación de este lugar para “dar a conocer, a través de planes y mecanismos de investigación y difusión, las circunstancias de su construcción, el periodo histórico en el que se inserta y su significado, con el fin de fortalecer los valores constitucionales y democráticos”. Esta web forma parte de este proyecto, aunque por ahora sea una publicación que se encuentra "en pruebas", tal y como apuntan desde el Ministerio de Félix Bolaños. El contexto que se aporta en este nuevo recurso online recuerda que en las criptas del Valle hay más de “33.000 cuerpos de personas fallecidas en la contienda”. Se reivindica la publicación de esta web como una apuesta por “una nueva mirada al monumento, basada en el análisis de su historia arquitectónica, religiosa, patrimonial, funeraria y política”.  Figuran los trabajos para exhumar a los represaliados El trabajo elaborado por Presidencia realiza un recorrido por las eventos históricos más relevantes de este monumento franquista: desde el inicio de su construcción en 1940 hasta la exhumación de Primo de Rivera en 2023 y los trabajos para identificar a cuerpos inhumados que se encuentran en sus criptas.  El relato redactado recoge, además, los obstáculos judiciales que se han encontrado los familiares de los represaliados que están allí enterrados para recuperar los restos de sus antecesores. Otros hechos destacados detallan que las exhumaciones de José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Francisco Franco “han formado parte durante muchos años de las reclamaciones del movimiento memorialista del siglo XXI en España relativas a retirada de lugares de privilegio de los restos de los ideólogos, inductores y perpetradores del golpe de Estado de 1936 contra la Segunda República”.  En relación al traslado de los restos del fundador de Falange, Presidencia llega a recoger en esa cronología “la protesta de un reducido grupo de seguidores del líder fascista” que se produjo ese día. Reseñan que este acontecimiento “no tuvo la repercusión pública ni mediática de la exhumación del dictador Francisco Franco”. Y concluyen que “con la salida de Primo de Rivera queda desmantelada la jerarquía funeraria franquista del Valle de Cuelgamuros”.  En esta página web hay espacio para detallar “el papel crucial” que ha tenido “el movimiento social para la recuperación de la memoria histórica”. Se realiza un recorrido por las primeras fosas comunes que se hallaron y por las organizaciones más relevantes que han impulsado este proceso. En ese relato, se menciona cómo “el descubrimiento de que se habían trasladado fosas con republicanos a las criptas del Valle sin el permiso o conocimiento de sus familiares puso al monumento en el foco del interés del movimiento memorialista”.  Con el objetivo de convertirse en una herramienta útil para los investigadores, también hay documentación oficial vinculada a la construcción que se puede consultar en ese enlace. Por ejemplo, se puede acceder al convenio entre la Fundación de la Santa Cruz y los benedictinos. Se puede consultar, asimismo, el acta de entrega del cuerpo de Franco a lo monjes encargados de la basílica del Valle. Con la publicación de estos materiales, la Secretaría de Estado de Memoria Democrática busca dar a conocer lo sucedido y lo que significa el Valle. “Esta explicación debería ir más allá del engañoso relato de reconciliación que improvisó la dictadura a finales de los años cincuenta, y descifrar las motivaciones de su construcción, el despliegue de mano de obra y recursos económicos en un contexto de posguerra”, recoge la web elaborado por Presidencia.

elDiario.es
What to do with #NegativeHeritage? Some ideas from #Canada.
▶︎Guidance for Practice on Colonial Statues and Memorials Sites (2021): "Interventions have been and will continue to be carried out on public colonial statues with paint, messages, objects, symbols, and tools. For many, these materials and actions are now part of the physical, conceptual, and historical integrity of these objects".
#ColonialStatues #Memory #FirstNations #Heritage
@academicchatter
@histodons
https://rwgcacaccr.wixsite.com/mysite/residential-schools-statues-memorials
Residential Schools, Statues, Memorials | Mysite

Mysite

#ARTNews "New Bill in Florida Would Allow Civilians to Sue When Confederate Monuments Are Damaged or Removed" by Karen K. Ho
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/proposed-legislation-florida-sb1096-civilians-lawsuits-damage-removal-confederate-monuments-1234665451/

On the fight against Confederate monuments and the GOP counteroffensives I recommend "Smashing Statues" by Erin L. Thompson (2022) and "No Common Ground" by Karen L. Cox (2021).

#ConfederateMonuments #Heritage #ContestedHeritage #NegativeHeritage #SmashingStatues
#NoCommonGround
@academicchatter
@histodons
@sociology

New Florida Bill Would Empower Defenders of Confederate Monuments

While the bill does not specify what kinds of statues, many have viewed it as focusing on Confederate monuments.

ARTnews.com
A rather curious book is Where is Franco? by Julia Schulz-Dornburg (2022). In this book she tells the story of her journey through Spain to locate the 9 equestrian statues of Franco. Several are stored in museum warehouses or in such curious spaces as an abandoned university in Zaragoza. One of them is in Melilla, in the courtyard of a private foundation, the Gaselec Foundation.
#NegativeHeritage #Francoism #History #ContestedHeritage
@academicchatter
@histodons
@Denying_History
A never-ending process of resignification of Franco's largest monument: the valley of Cuelgamuros (formerly the Valley of the Fallen). It puts the focus back on the problem of what can be done with #NegativeHeritage especially when it is very important in historical terms, but it is impossible to move it, store it in a warehouse or change its meaning just with an explanatory plaque.
#Fascism #Francoism #History
@academicchatter @histodons
@Denying_History
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/23/body-of-spains-fascist-party-founder-to-be-removed-from-basilica
Body of Spain’s fascist party founder to be removed from basilica

Family will rebury José Antonio Primo de Rivera in Madrid cemetery to pre-empt state exhumation

The Guardian