Europe's Deadly Century: Perspectives on 20th-century conflict heritage

By Robin Page, Neil Forbes, Guillermo Perez

In the course of Europe's twentieth century, freedoms were won at the cost of terrible sacrifice. The physical remains of war, conflict and ideological struggle lie everywhere around us. The question of what to do with this common past, in which we all share an interest, lies at the centre of this important book.

From a variety of professional backgrounds, the contributors consider a wide range of conflict-heritage sites in the context of international and national histories and regional and local historical narratives. Questions of who 'owns' the past, the ambiguities over how people identify with the local community or nation state, and whether or how to make moral judgements, are central. The book illustrates the challenges of documenting and describing what are often extensive, contested and sometimes enigmatic and ambiguous buildings and monuments. The priorities of conservation, and how we ensure that documents, artefacts, sites and buildings can be given adequate and appropriate protection and care, are also addressed.

This book will be of interest to a wide range of professional practitioners, academics and policy-makers, as well as the general reader, and will open the way to a deeper understanding of the significance of Europe's conflict heritage. 

Contents

  

Introduction

Methods of investigation: textual, visual, material

1. Understanding a literary site of remembrance: Témoins -  by Jean Norton Cru by Benjamin Gilles

2. ‘Cood bay Forst Zinna’:  Film, art and archaeology - Angus Boulton

3. Recording landscapes of war - Wayne D Cocroft

4. Seascapes of war: investigating with marine geophysics - Alessandra Savini & Monica Petrillo

5. Landscapes of occupation: a case study from the Channel Islands - Gillian Carr

6. Recovery of Spanish Civil War sites in the Valencia Region: From methodological research to the creation of tourist routes - José Ramón Valero Escandell

7. The archaeology of the Battle of the Atlantic - Dave Parham

8. Strange meetings: archaeology on the Western Front - Martin Brown

Defining values and significance: memory, commemoration and contested landscapes

9. Topography of terror or cultural heritage? The monuments of Franco’s Spain - Alfredo González-Ruibal

10. Contested pasts and community archaeologies: public engagement in the archaeology of modern conflict - Gabriel Moshenska

11. Memorialising war: the narratives of two European cities, Coventry and Dresden - Andrew Rigby

12. The enigma of place: reading the values of Bletchley Park - Jeremy Lake & Fleur Hutchings

Public archaeology: case studies in conservation and management

13. Interpretation as a means of preservation policy or: Whose heritage is the Berlin Wall? - Axel Klausmeier

14. The memorial landscape at Peenemünde - Christian Mühldorfer-Vogt

15. The making, breaking and rebuilding of 20th century Coventry - Chris Patrick

16. Public access to Second World War British heritage in Malta - Joseph Magro Conti

17. Orford Ness – A landscape in conflict?- Angus Wainwright

18. Conservation of First World War landscapes: A landscape architecture perspective - Harlind Libbrecht, Joris Verbeken, Sylvie Van Damme & Geert Baert

Afterword - Santiago Grisolía, President of Consell Valencià de Cultura

Additional Information

  • Series: Architectural History
  • Publication Status: Completed
  • Pages: 180
  • Illustrations: 95, Colour and b&w illustrations
  • Product Code: 51483
  • ISBN: 9781848020399

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