3RD HERITAGE FORUM of CENTRAL EUROPE THE CITY Organised by Partners RD Honorary patronage of Prof. Małgorzata Omilanowska, 3 HERITAGE FORUM The Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland of CENTRAL EUROPE THE CITY With financial support of the Krakow Municipality September 16-18, 2015 Conference media patrons Permanent media patrons ESSENTIAL Krakow CIT Y GUIDES Cities as mirrors of civilisation are world of values and a process of their products of many centuries of re-interpretation. Therefore, Kevin stratification which result from a Lynch, a classic of modern "urban- commixture of cultures, ideas and ology," rightly stressed that cities values. Historic cities, in which the consisted not only of their form and past determines contemporary de- the functions which they fulfilled, velopment, are a special part of our but also of the ideas and values that heritage. It is no coincidence that people attach to them. historic cities make up nearly half of the UNESCO World Heritage List. In Central Europe cultural heritage However, the city is not only an idea has never been a given; it requires and a form, but also a function and constant choice. There is no doubt a process. that the flagship representatives of the civilisational legacy of Central The city is above all a living organ- Europe and the essence of its iden- ism. The measure of cities' develop- tity can be found in its metropolises, INTRODUCTION ment is the speed and complexity such as Prague, Budapest, Krakow, of the changes which they undergo. or Bratislava. Understanding these Prof. Dr. Jacek Purchla Contemporary urbanisation pro- cities, as well as a broader histori- Director of the International Cultural Centre cesses are characterised by some cal perspective on the changeable unprecedented dynamics and scale functions which they have played in of growth. According to the forecast relation to the European settlement of the World Bank, the number of network and its meandering mean- new city dwellers will have increased ing provides the key to understand- by two billion by 2030. Therefore, ing the essence of Europa Minor. if today 80% of urban populations is typically made up of newcom- Importantly, the 20th century meant ers, then the only thing integrating not only a triumph of nationalisms, city-dwellers is a given place and not and later of totalitarian regimes; it people! This fact provides a special brought the Holocaust and expul- challenge for heritage accumulated sions, but also the end of the dream in a city space, as well as poses ques- of Europa Minor. This was because in tions about the present problems the post-Yalta, bipolar Europe, di- concerning its protection. In addi- vided in 1945 into the East and the tion, cultural heritage is a category West, there was no room for the with its own dynamics. The term centre. As Karl Schlögel has rightly cultural heritage reflects both the observed, "removal of the middle attitude of a given society to the re-positioned erstwhile metropolises 4 3rd Heritage Forum of Central Europe 5 The City to the peripheries.”1 However, the It was then that Central Europe be- 1989, a breakthrough year for Cen- As Emil Brix has noted, “space is being Sovietisation of Budapest, Prague, came a choice, an ideological matter, tral Europe, allowed us to re-read re-discovered in its dynamic social Krakow, Lviv, and other Central Euro- but also a community of experiences. the varied meanings of the city: as a role. Cities are being interpreted as pean cities strongly clashed with the A crucial element to understand- process, as a function, as an idea, as texts, some of which, for instance in tradition of these cities as places with ing its specific identity was a set of a form, and as a mirror of civilisation. the 20th century in Eastern Europe, a special potential for freedom and a metropolises located on both sides Today we can speak not only of a fast belonged to as many as six differ- specific way of building communities. of the Iron Curtain and separated change of the growth model and its ent political regimes and territories. Communism negated the tradition of from one another by many borders: mechanism, but also of the way Bu- Streets and squares – if only owing Central Europe and its civilisational Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Bratislava, dapest, Prague, Krakow, Košice and to frequent changes of their names legacy. There was also no room in it Trieste, Krakow, and Graz... Karl Schlö- other Central European cities after – are understood as dynamic spatial for a city self-government and civil gel aptly commented on this divided 1989 have used the historic moment structures, as well as public spaces: society. In this sense, communism unity by writing, “and yet our borders as an opportunity for a significant museums, monuments, churches. Re- was a civilisational shock which the manifest themselves in something change promoting development. No gional discussions on identity (em- nations of Central Europe rejected. completely different: in what rail- one can deny that this change has ploying such terms as Central Europe, It was no accident that Budapest way stations from Trieste to Krakow been successful, indeed. Importantly, the Danube Region, the Balkans, New in 1956 and Prague in 1968 became have in common, an almost identical this success is a convergence and a Europe) are subject to this dynam- symbols of a struggle for identity. The décor and, of course, the light colour combination of wide-ranging phe- ics, according to which changes in myth of Central Europe triumphed of ochre. We change location, but we nomena, which create a completely function and meaning are possible at especially in the 1970s and 1980s – at are still in the same place; we cross new reality across Central Europe. any moment.”4 And this is due to the that time it meant a clear distinction borders, but the conductor remains What we are also witnessing is an fact, which is worth repeating, that between the Soviet reality and Eu- the same.”2 increasing impetus of urbanisation in Central Europe cultural identity ropean values. Intellectuals on both processes and a fast change not only has never been a given, but rather sides of the Iron Curtain – such as This singular experience of a Central of the idea of the city but also of the requires constant choice. György Konrád, Milan Kundera, Václav European metropolis corroborates rules of playing the city. It must also Havel, Czesław Miłosz, and Erhard the view expressed by Italo Calvino: be added that changes in the city- Busek – employed the Hungarian, “The city [...] does not tell its past, scape are inevitable, but they do Czech or Polish cultural distinctive- but contains it like the lines of a not always have to be a function of ness to manifest fundamental differ- hand, written in the corners of the urbanistic transformations. They al- ences between the Soviet reality and streets, the gratings of the windows, ways are, however, a reflection and a traditional European values. the banisters of the steps, the anten- barometer of social change, as well as nae of the lightning rods, the poles of the condition of the state in which of the flags, every segment marked they take place. A fundamental issue in turn with scratches, indentations, and, at the same time, a controversy scrolls.”3 in city management today is the con- 1 K. Schlögel, Środek leży na wschodzie. Europa w stadium przejściowym. Trans. into Polish A. Kopacki. flict between form and function. Warszawa 2005, p. 21. (Translation into English from the Polish version. The book was originally published 4 E. Brix, Z powrotem w Europie Środkowej. Eseje i szkice, in 1986, Polish translation followed the German 2 Ibidem, p. 40. Kraków 2012, pp.195-196. (Translation into English version: Die Mitte liegt ostwärts: Europa im Übergang, 3 I. Calvino, Invisible Cities. Trans. William Weaver, San from the Polish version.) München 2002). Diego, New York, London, Harcourt Inc. 1974, p.11. 6 3rd Heritage Forum of Central Europe 7 The City The Heritage Forum of Central Europe sions will be held in seven thematic is an international biennial confer- sessions: Cities and their narratives, ence where specialists from Central Heritage in conflict, Who is the city for?, Europe, as well as researchers and ex- Historic Urban Landscape, Creative her- perts on the region from all over the itage cities, Cityspace, and Revitalisa- world, discuss the issues of cultural tion practices in heritage cities. Parallel heritage. The Krakow conference is sessions will be intermingled with the voice of Central Europe on the plenary discussions devoted to the ThE HERITAGE FORUM philosophy, management, protection, burning issues of cities and heritage: economics, and politics of cultural Central European city – transformation of CENTRAL EUROPE heritage. The 1st Heritage Forum was and globalization, Cultural heritage held in 2011, and the second one, counts for cities, Heritage cities, and The Forum is organised under the auspices with its leading theme The Limits of cooperation in the V4 region and Cities: of the V4 Cultural Heritage Experts’ Working Group, comprising: Heritage was held in 2013. Re-fashioning needed! On revitalisa- tion in cities. During the three days Ms Zuzana Jandlová, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Prague The main motive of the 3rd Forum of discussions, over 80 participants in 2015 is The City. As Jane Jacobs has representing 16 countries will hold Dr. Tamás Fejérdy, expert of the Gyula Forster National Centre for said, cities are a complex problem speeches. Cultural Heritage Management, Budapest of interacting factors that are inter- Barbara Fogarasi, Gyula Forster National Centre related into an organic whole; at the The Heritage Forum is organized un- for Cultural Heritage Management same time they generate problems of der the auspices of the V4 Cultural climate change, crime, and inequal- Heritage Experts’ Working Group, Dr.