On October 6–7, 2015 the 34th anniversary conference of the Prague City Archives took place in Clam-Gallas palace in Prague. The main theme was graphic representations of the cities from the Middle Ages to the present time. The topic included not only announced graphic and photographic “portraits of cities“, but also their documentary value, as well as different kinds of manipulations with them and motives of this effort.
The keynote speaker JIŘÍ PEŠEK (Prague) outlined different functions of historical illustrations. He underlined better than exact illustrations of reality, but they represented schematic characteristics of cities, having based on selective accenting or suppression of particular objects. VILIAM ČIČAJ (Bratislava) and EVA CHODĚJOVSKÁ (Prague) followed in this thesis in their methodological focused papers. Chodějovská illustrated on Prague’s example the process of forming of such schematic characteristics from oversized map feature (typical meander of river Vltava) to the individualized symbol (the view of the Prague Castle with the unfinished cathedral over the Charles Bridge).
The next session – focused on the early modern period – was also dedicated to Prague. JANA HUBKOVÁ (Ústí nad Labem) pointed out specific trait of pamphlets, where pictures of real places are associated with unreal texts. On the other hand, particular events might be illustrated by images from different locations. ZDENĚK HOJDA (Prague) reached the same conclusion, i.e. that a quality of a depiction depended on a publicist’s purpose, on the picture of the clash with Passau army on Prague’s Lesser Town Square. JAN MOKRE (Wien) added to the topic a paper about difficulties that accompanied drawing of the Huber’s plan of Prague. TOMÁŠ DVOŘÁK (Prague) reflected on possibility of use of historical images and models of cities in contemporary suggestive museum expositions. The question was discussed, how much authors of vedute worked on the basis of their own observations, or whether they proceed from prepared sketches and older templates; and finally, what was the impact of this fact on the final form of images.
Papers of subsequent section studied different strategies used for compositions of images of late medieval and early modern cities, including historical theoretical instructions (THOMAS MANETSCH, Zürich). Speakers agreed that historical reality was transformed in iconographic as well as literary sources (MARIE TOŠNEROVÁ, Prague) according to particular assignments. KALINA MRÓZ-JABŁECKA (Wrocław) demonstrated a possibility of coexistence of various artistic forms with an example of a poem celebrating Wrocław and a veduta that illustrated this poem. A portrayal of particular objects (KLARA KACZMAREK-LÖW, Weißenburg) or events (VLADIMÍR SEGEŠ, Bratislava) was not the only result of the intentional manipulation (that was based on political and representative objectives of a contract owner). Also a manner of their depiction was important. This approach was accurately illustrated by GERHARD JARITZ (Budapest) in case of some “ugly” cities. Their aesthetical imperfections (such as damaged buildings, an absence of a paving) symbolically expressed a dysfunction of its community in a broad sense. Another case of this attitude was – in the Middle Ages very favourite – depiction of a city as a sacral place (ZOË OPAČIĆ, London) or a deliberate presentation of early modern Vienna and Prague as an “impregnable fortress” and “urban landscape” (FERDINAND OPLL, Wien / JIŘÍ PEŠEK, Prague). Following discussion was focused on an issue, to what extent historical instructions, concrete requests of contract owners and abilities and knowledge of particular authors had influenced the final form of a veduta (including a selection of depicted objects).
In the afternoon, attention was shifted also over the border of Central Europe and overseas. Not only architectural changes of example cities (Lviv, Riga, Elbląg) during the early modern period were described (ŁUKASZ T. SROKA, Kraków / MARGARITA BARZDEVIČA, Riga; ROMAN CZAJA, Toruń), but also cases, when authors of vedute had to deal with unusual circumstances. They included portrayals of defunct objects (The Temple in Jerusalem, FALK WIESEMANN, Düsseldorf), localities affected by war conflicts (SIMONA SLANIČKA, Bern) or fires (DANIELA SCHULTE, Zürich), ports observed from the sea level (MARCO CADINU, Cagliari) or mining complexes of Central Slovakia cities (BARBARA BALÁŽOVÁ, Bratislava). In this context, MICHAL BADA (Bratislava) pointed out specifics of Bratislava. Passing foreigners – affected by the proximity of the Ottoman border – enriched its image with various attributes of oriental culture such as mosques. JOSE CÁCERES MARDONES (Zürich) demonstrated a conflict of different cultures with an example of the Incan city Cusco “veduta”. The contrast between the used form of the depiction and a completely different non-European reality led to the schematic picture with many hidden components. MICHAEL LOCHER (Burgdorf) enriched this section with the paper describing an effect of strategy of the beautification of public spaces of cities (so called embellishment) on the architectural form of Prague in the 18th century.
The second day of the conference started with series of papers reflecting the topic of vedute from the perspective of archaeology, geoinformatics, historical geography and cartography, building history (VILÉM WALTER, Brno) and history of art (RALPH MELVILLE, Mainz). Attention of speakers was primarily focused on a documentary value of depictions used during their research. The measure of distortion of reality was influenced both by author’s chosen point of view or used template, but also by his artistic license (VILÉM ZÁBRANSKÝ and PAVEL RAŠKA, Ústí nad Labem). A team analysing engravings of battle scenes (JAN CHLÍBEC, TOMÁŠ JANATA, VÁCLAV MATOUŠEK and RŮŽENA ZIMOVÁ, Prague) reached similar conclusion. Identified differences in elevation and distances oscillated in tens of meters. Mainly a credibility of landscape elements surrounding cities was discussed, as well as credibility of various urban details.
The following section was dedicated to Prague’s agglomeration in the 19th and 20th century. ARNO PAŘÍK (Prague) studied the evolution of Prague Jewish quarter’s image on leaflets of Prague. He stated that the ghetto was – despite its size – practically invisible in vedute of Prague deep into the modern times. For a long time unheeded quarter hadn’t been subject of artist's interest by romanticism. KATEŘINA BEČKOVÁ (Prague) thought about a matter, if there were marks of increasing awareness of the cultural heritage in the works of graphic artists and photographers of the 19th century. This issue remained without definite answer. MIROSLAVA PŘIKRYLOVÁ (Prague) presented series of panoramic photographs dated to the first Czechoslovak Republic. The photographs documented quick changes in the shape of Prague’s outskirts and objects that yielded to the new construction. The same process – from the perspective of propagators of modern architecture – was reflected by MARIANA KUBIŠTOVÁ (Prague). She pointed out buildings that represented the city in the historical press.
The last session of the conference was dedicated to various motives that initiated inceptions of modern cities portraits. The introductory papers – that analysed iconographic sets depicting Munich (ELISABETH ANGERMAIR, Munich), Tallinn (TÕNIS LIIBEK and RAIMO PULLAT, Tallinn) and Kraków (KONRAD MEUS, Kraków) – clearly showed that historical reality might have considerably been distorted even in documentary images. It didn’t have to be caused only by a censorship (banned photography of military objects). Another factor was a selection of depicted themes and events, influenced by commercial reasons (souvenirs sale) or effort to suppress the elements that didn’t fit in intended concept (industrial buildings). Similar means were used by local politicians who presented their towns as “healthful cities” with a modern health and sanitary infrastructure (JÖRG VÖGELE, Düsseldorf), and in even more cunning form by propaganda of totalitarian regimes. In occupied Toruń (1939–1945) official photographers besides stress on German character of the city focused on shanty town associated with the previous regime (MAREK PODLASIAK, Toruń). Also representatives of Stalinist Prague worked with a various timelines during the creation of new image of the metropolis. In their effort, they used not only socialist construction, but also some selected historical monuments that symbolized supposed “progressive traditions” of the nation (MICHAL KURZ, Prague). A borderland between documentation and ideologically motivated pictures was typified by a set of photographs of White City in Tel Aviv. This enclave had been built from the 1930s close to the Palestinian Jaffa and meant a massive spread of the modern architecture in the Middle East. It was also an element that marked the settlement of the Jewish immigrants off from the local traditional buildings (ALEXANDRA KLEI, Berlin). Consequent discussion focused on various means used by historical propaganda to express themes like shortage, poverty, prosperity or order.
Presented papers, as well as discussions, proved that, in spite of changing mediums, “portraits of the cities” had in common both an aimed composition and a selective depiction. Regardless the time and varied motives of its creation, the work is always a result of more or less manipulation with a real model. Despite the itself point of view and a simple stress or omission of selected elements (either phenomenons or persons), or their re-interpretation through added attributes and appropriately used legend. The same place can be constructed many ways in accordance with different instructions. The conference contributions are to be issued in a thematic volume of the journal Documenta Pragensia (XXXVI).
Konferenzübersicht:
Moderation: Václav Ledvinka
Eröffnung der Tagung: Václav Ledvinka / Eva Semotanová (Prag), Michaela Hrubá (Ústí nad Labem)
Einführungsreferat: Jiří Pešek (Prag)
Viliam Čičaj (Bratislava): Die Vedute im neuzeitlichen medialen Raum
Eva Chodějovská (Prag): Das Bild Prags zwischen Karte, Vedute und Plan
Sektion A
Moderation: Eva Chodějovská
Jana Hubková (Ústí nad Labem): Reale und ideelle Ansichten Prags auf den Seiten einheimischer und ausländischer Flugschriften des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts
Zdeněk Hojda (Prag): Der Kleinseitner Ring auf dem „Passauer Kreuzweg“
Jan Mokre (Wien): Die Vogelschauansicht der Stadt Prag des Militärkartographen Josef Daniel von Huber (1769) – ein herausragendes Beispiel dieses speziellen Typs kartenverwandter Darstellungen
Tomáš Dvořák (Prag): Können wir das Prag von vor 150 Jahren erleben? (Diskussionsbeitrag)
Sektion B
Moderation: Roman Czaja
Gerhard Jaritz (Budapest): Das Bild der schönen und der hässlichen Stadt im Spätmittelalter
Zoë Opačić (London): From Sacroscape to Cityscape: Images of Central European Towns in Late Medieval Sources
Thomas Manetsch (Zürich): Zur Rekonstruktion der Bildsprache von Städtebildern der Spätrenaissance
Marie Tošnerová (Prag): Illusion und Wirklichkeit. Das Bild der Stadt in den narrativen Quellen der Frühen Neuzeit
Sektion A
Moderation: Zdeněk Hojda
Ferdinand Opll (Wien): Die Wiener Stadtansicht vom späten Mittelalter bis zum Aufkommen der Fotografie
Jiří Pešek (Prag): Prag und Wien als zwei Residenzstädte in den Abbildungen des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts im Vergleich
Klara Kaczmarek-Löw (Weißenburg): Die Städte der Krone Böhmen auf den Veduten vom 15. bis 18. Jahrhundert – das Bild der Stadt im Dienste der Politik
Vladimír Segeš (Bratislava): Die Reflexion der königlichen Krönungen in den Veduten von Bratislava (Preßburg)
Sektion B
Moderation: Gerhard Jaritz
Łukasz T. Sroka (Krakau): Iconography as a source for the study of architectural changes of the city of Lviv under Austrian control
Michael Locher (Burgdorf): Embellissement – die bildgebende städtebauliche Strategie des 18. Jahrhunderts in Mitteleuropa
Roman Czaja (Toruń): Straße, Haus und Parzelle auf den Stadtansichten und Karten von Elbing im 16.-18. Jahrhundert
Margarita Barzdeviča (Riga): Veduten als eines der ältesten visuellen Medien: am Beispiel der Stadtansichten von Riga aus dem 17. Jahrhundert und vom Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts
Sektion A
Moderation: Ferdinand Opll
Daniela Schulte (Zürich): Die brennende Stadt. Darstellungen von Stadtbränden in Bilderchroniken des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts
Simona Slanička (Bern): Von der Stadtwallfahrt zum Stadttheater: Vergleich einiger Stadtansichten von Hartmann Schedel und Matthäus Merian d. Ä.
Kalina Mróz-Jabłecka (Breslau): Stadtlob und Vedute. Zur Ko-Existenz der dichterischen und künstlerischen Stadtinszenierung am Beispiel Breslaus im 17. Jahrhundert
Falk Wiesemann (Düsseldorf): Die Darstellung Jerusalems in hebräischen Büchern und Drucken vom 16. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert
Sektion B
Moderation: Viliam Čičaj
Michal Bada (Bratislava): Die Abbildungen des frühneuzeitlichen Bratislava (Preßburg) – der Hauptstadt an der Peripherie und im Zentrum der Kraftlinien der Zeit
Barbara Balážová (Bratislava): Mundus subterraneus
Jose Cáceres Mardones (Zürich): Guamán Poma's Cuzco: Otherwise than Being
Marco Cadinu (Cagliari): Urban vistas from the Mediterranean sea. Instruments and reasons in choosing floating points of view
Moderation: Simona Slanička
Pavel Raška / Vilém Zábranský (Ústí nad Labem): Die Peripherie des Bildes: Das idealisierte und reale Hinterland der Stadt auf den Veduten von Aussig und Leitmeritz
Jan Chlíbec / Tomáš Janata / Václav Matoušek / Růžena Zimová (Prag): Die Pläne der Belagerung von Eger im Juni und Juli 1647 im Theatrum Europaeum. Ein Beispiel für die interdisziplinäre Untersuchung ikonographischer Quellen
Vilém Walter (Brünn): Die unbemerkten Details auf den historischen Abbildungen von Brno (Brünn) (Diskussionsbeitrag)
Ralph Melville (Mainz): Der Vedutist als Zeitzeuge. Die kurfürstliche Residenzstadt Mainz in der Sicht Wenceslaus Hollars und Franz von Kesselstatts (Diskussionsbeitrag)
Moderation: Jiří Pešek
Kateřina Bečková (Prag): Spiegelt sich in der Thematik der Veduten des 19. Jahrhunderts die Entstehung und Entwicklung des Denkmalbewusstseins der Gesellschaft wider?
Miroslava Přikrylová (Prag): Die Entstehung „Groß-Prags“ und die Bemühungen um eine systematische fotografische Dokumentation der Stadt in den 20er- bis 30er- Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts
Mariana Kubištová (Prag): Die fotografische Konstruktion des modernen Prag 1920-1945
Arno Pařík (Prag): Das Prager Ghetto im Bild und in der Mythologie der Stadt
Moderation: Łukasz T. Sroka
Elisabeth Angermair (München): Die Inszenierung der Stadt München in der frühen fotografischen Sammlung im Stadtarchiv München
Tõnis Liibek / Raimo Pullat (Reval): Abbildungen von Reval im 19. Jahrhundert. Die Veränderung des Blickwinkels
Konrad Meus (Krakau): Urbanisation of the 19th-century Krakow in light of preserved iconography
Jörg Vögele (Düsseldorf): Vom Seuchenherd zur Traumstadt: Zur (Selbst-)Inszenierung von Stadt und Gesundheit während der Industrialisierung in Wort und Bild
Moderation: Jörg Vögele
Marek Podlasiak (Toruń): Fotografie im Dienste der NS-Propaganda. Das Stadtbild Thorns in der Fotosammlung Kurt Grimms
Michal Kurz (Prag): „Für ein schönes, glückliches, sozialistisches Prag.“ Die offizielle Darstellung der tschechischen Metropole in der Zeit des Stalinismus
Alexandra Klei (Berlin): Vom Bild zur Stadt. Die Konstruktion der „White City“ Tel Aviv durch Fotografie
Schlusswort: Jiří Pešek (Prag)