At the turn of the 20th century, Smyrna, a port city on the Aegean Sea, was an important oasis of economic and cultural development in the declining Ottoman Empire, and its cosmopolitan ethnic mix gave it a special charm.
In the mid-1930s, faced with the strengthening of totalitarian regimes on the old continent, a whole constellation of top European intellectuals moved to America and sought work at the universities there. Among them, a group of mathematicians and physicists with extremely unusual intellectual abilities caused a particularly great interest.
Italy was a very exciting place to live in the sixteenth century. The Renaissance released all the magnificent human intellectual potential and the ideal of the Renaissance man was formed for whom there are no intellectual limitations.
Of course, today’s visitors to Dubai are primarily amazed by the glamorous luxury that the city offers. There is nothing wrong with that. In such circumstances, it is easy to forget that until a few decades ago it was a city of humble fishermen and divers for pearls from the bottom of the Persian Gulf.
The Great Fire of Smyrna At the turn of the twentieth century, Smyrna, a bustling port city on the Aegean Sea, stood as a beacon
When the Balkan peoples began to break away from the Ottoman Empire and form their own nation-states, the preservation of the Ottoman architectural heritage was their last concern. In their desire to appear as modern as possible, the newly formed states adopted Central European cultural models, so public buildings from the Ottoman period were either demolished or neglected and left to decay.
At the turn of the twentieth century, various philosophical and political ideas were popular in the circles of a new generation of young European intellectuals. There were those who advocated a merciless class struggle, others had in mind the unification of their own nation, and still others were particularly attracted to the concept of a “superman”.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, after the reconstruction of the Habsburg Empire, Hungary entered the most successful period of its history. The architecture was particularly successful, and in that period the unified Budapest got a look that, despite all the later misfortunes, ensures it to this day the status of one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
After the Great War, the last act of disintegration of the Ottoman Empire took place. Once the world’s greatest power was exposed to the merciless dismemberment of its territory. The complete collapse was prevented by the republican army of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which successfully opposed the imperial power, foreign occupiers and Greek rebels.
In the archaeological abundance provided by the ancient city of Thessaloniki, the greatest attention is paid to the objects from the ancient and Byzantine era, which are clearly marked on the ground, on maps and in tourist manuals.
Of course, this is always the case, buildings intended for the social elite attract the most attention. In China, these are magnificent palaces and temples built for members of the political, ideological and economic elite of that great country.
In recent years, Skopje’s architecture has been spoken of mostly pejoratively, primarily in light of the controversial buildings and monuments that, under the decisive influence of politics, are being erected on both sides of the river around Macedonia Square.
