HAU44035/36 Difficult Heritage: Architecture After Dictatorship

Political regimes change, but the architecture they build remains as a lasting legacy of their power. This module looks at what nations do with buildings and monuments that are left over from past dictatorships. Specifically, it explores how communities in twentieth-century Europe dealt with the physical remains of totalitarian governments. This investigation will bring us to Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, and other countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. We will cover the architecture of Fascist, Nazi and communist regimes. Above all, we will consider the question of whether the architecture of authoritarian governments should be preserved, adapted, or erased, while drawing on theory rooted in history, architecture, and memory.