Memory Resistances – Archival Testimonies: The case of an Athenian house of the Othonian period

Ἀντιστάσεις μνήμης – Μαρτυρίες Ἀρχείου: Ἡ περίπτωση ἑνὸς ἀθηναϊκοῦ σπιτιοῦ τῆς ὀθωνικῆς περιόδου (Κυδαθηναίων 11-13) (EL)

Memory Resistances – Archival Testimonies: The case of an Athenian house of the Othonian period (EN)

Φατσέα, Ρένα

This article focuses on the case of an extant Athenian house of the earlyOthonian period, which is located in the easternmost section of theold city of Athens (i.e., Plaka). It is a thorough study of the building’s architectural structure and its historical phasing along with the historyof its inhabitation. It draws its documentation on the physical structureas such in association with a wealth of archival materials. A series ofcontracts related to the site and the building construction – i.e., a fortuitousdiscovery – constitute a rare piece of evidence contributing to thebuilding’s history, its attribution (i.e., to Austrian architect Fr. Stauffert),original ownership (i.e., by French consul A. de Roujoux), and dating(i.e., in 1837-38 and construction in 3 phases). Along with the buildingas such, the paper seeks to both trace and document the history of itsneighborhood (Alikokkou) and its physical transformations during theearly decades of the modern state. To that purpose it builds primarilyon the series of historical maps (which is the main focus of the volumethat contains it), and secondarily on textual/ archival materials, that is,mainly building and property related contracts. Through the researcha number of long-standing erroneous assumptions about the buildingare unveiled and corrected, such as its dating from the late Ottomanperiod, i.e., a long-standing misconception supported by its kinship topre-modern house typologies featuring a hayat, that is, a second floorwalled loggia giving on to a courtyard. Collective memory’s inertia preservedthis hypothesis turning it gradually into historical factuality. Thispaper attempts to recover this and other gaps in the building’s historyand hence reconstruct its history proper. In that sense, it also serves asa critical commentary on how easily collective memory often slips intothe status of factual history, especially when it lacks the data, or dependsheavily upon orally transmitted information as is the case with vernacular(i.e., anonymous) architecture. (EN)

info:eu-repo/semantics/article

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Centre for Asia Minor Studies

Bulletin of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies

The Building

Δελτίο Κέντρου Μικρασιατικών Σπουδών

Greek

2015-07-01

https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltiokms/article/view/2698

Κέντρο Μικρασιατικών Σπουδών - Centre for Asia Minor Studies (EL)

1105-0322

2459-2579

Δελτίο Κέντρου Μικρασιατικών Σπουδών; Τόμ. 19 (2015); 317-380 (EL)

Bulletin of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies; Vol. 19 (2015); 317-380 (EN)

Copyright (c) 2015 Ρένα Φατσέα (EN)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0