Sisma

The earthquake that hit Zagreb on 9th November 1880 was one of the most important breakpoints in the history of architecture and urban planning of the city. It was estimated that in its epicenter, which was northeast of Zagreb, earthquake was of magnitude 6.2 on the Richter scale. Barely any building in the city remained undamaged, and many buildings had to be completely removed due to the danger of collapse. On third day after the tragic event, Zagreb photographers began photographing significantly damaged or destroyed buildings. Otto Dasch made the first photographs and was soon after followed by other esteemed Zagreb photographers: Hinko Krapek, Gjuro Varga, Hermann Fickert and Johann (Ivan) Standl. Photographers played a key role in disseminating visual information about the earthquake, which was the only event that enticed a rather great interest of the world press for the Croatian capital in the second half of the 19th century. Although the earthquake did not have catastrophic effects, early reports of the majority of German, Hungarian, French, Italian, English and Slovenian dailies were rather unreliable, and often replete with exaggeration. The news appearing after the primary fear toned down, was completely contrary to the previous reports in that they minimized the damage. The aforementioned photographers thus tried with their photos to contribute to the objective view of the situation. However, they shot almost only those buildings which were most severely damaged by the earthquake, not so much because they wanted to overemphasize the scale of the destruction but because such scenes were the most interesting for the audiences. That was the same reason illustrated magazines from different parts of the world published images showing the most damaged buildings. During 1881, three albums were made which showed photographs of the earthquake damaged buildings. Two of them contain works of Standl and Fickert respectively, while the third album is a collection of works by four photographers: Standl, Fickert, Varga and Dasch. Standl's album “Photographs of the Zagreb Earthquake“ is characterised by a great quality of photos. It contains 25 works which were mostly commissioned by the Yugoslav (today Croatian) Academy of Sciences and Arts where Standl worked as an official photographer. Academy's Institute for Mathematics and Physics started gathering information about the earthquake in mid-November, at the same time when Standl was commissioned to take photographs of damaged buildings. The aim was to keep memory on the earthquake and to facilitate its scientific research. Standl’s album has been preserved in a rather large number of copies in various public institutions (archives, museums) and in private collections. Contrary to Standl, Fickert created his album “Memories on the Zagreb earthquake on 9th November 1880“ through his personal efforts and initiative. Each buyer of the album could choose 15 photographs from Fickert's collection and thereby create his or her own album, which consequently led to the creation of several different compilations of Fickert's works. The album containing the works of all three photographs bears the title “Photos of the Zagreb Earthquake on 9th November 1888“. It was created most likely due to the efforts of a public institution, probably the Zagreb City Council. Its special value lies in the photographs taken by Gjuro Varga which show damaged buildings on Zagreb's main city square. The aim of this presentation is an analysis of the creation and content of the photos from the albums and an attempt to present the ways in which the photos influenced the formation of the event’s image.

Friuli is a border italian region traditionally dominated by Venetian culture, mixed with influences coming from neighboring Austria. But during the Eighteenth century, the architecture of the region was able to develop an original synthesis of different cultural contributions. The Schiavi family, architects and builders, well represent this attempt, in a transition period from baroque to neoclassicism. Furthermore, the Schiavi were the most active builders in the renewal of Friuli’s ecclesiastical architecture, perfectly representing the architectural and artistic knowledge of their time and being active in building or renewing more than twenty churches throughout the territory of the patriarchate of Aquileia. Supported by the illuminated patron Jacopo Linussio (1691-1747), Domenico Schiavi (1718-1795) and his family worked according to the patriarchate’s and the community’s needs and wills, which can be considered a reflection of earlier Carlo Borromeo’s precepts. In their architecture we can read influences derived from Andrea Palladio or Giorgio Massari. Many of these architectures were rebuilt or renewed after the earthquakes that occurred in the Eighteenth century in Friuli and mainly in its northern province of Carnia, allowing the Schiavi to become key players of this reform. The Schiavi’s manuscripts are a fundamental testimony of theoretical and practical knowledge, studies and designs providing important notions on architectural models appreciated by the family of architects. Among the works carried out by Domenico Schiavi and his family, we mention the chapel of Villa Linussio in Tolmezzo and the churches of San Martino in Villa di Verzegnis, Santa Maria della Purificazione in Tricesimo, Santo Stefano in Piano d'Arta and Sant’Ulderico in Sutrio, the latter with Austrian influences.

Il disastro è un trauma collettivo e talvolta le città distrutte da un evento tellurico non rinascono. E' un'ipotesi che potrebbe avverarsi anche per Amatrice, devastata da un sisma tra il 2016 e il 2017. Quelle scosse, però, hanno soprattutto stravolto la vita di chi vi abitava e oggi, ad anni di distanza, le persone sfollate sono ancora migliaia, convivendo con un’incertezza cronica sul futuro: torneranno nei loro paesi? I loro paesi torneranno? Ci sarà piena ricostruzione di determinate città? Se ciò avverrà, un giorno vivranno sicuri nelle nuove abitazioni? A partire da tali domande, il contributo analizza il concetto di "resilienza", rivelandone le criticità e le retoriche, sottolineando che l'obiettivo non è costruire delle ‘città resilienti’ o ‘resistenti’ in sé, ma bisogna puntare ad una "resilienza urbana". Lungi dall'essere un gioco di parole, si tratta invece di un radicale cambio di prospettiva che pone al centro la realizzazione e la conservazione di un ecosistema fisico e sociale in cui memoria e conoscenza possano dialogare.

[...] La materia giuridica incontra l’emergenza nell’ambito delle fonti, dell’azione e dell’organizzazione amministrativa. Diritto ed organizzazione sono strettamente legati poiché il diritto si plasma sullo Stato e sul suo apparato organizzativo. Le catastrofi, inserendosi imprevedibilmente in questo rapporto, «commuovono la pubblica opinione [...] reclamando la massima concentrazione di energie umane e di mezzi materiali», senza che vi sia spazio per «sottili dosaggi di poteri» e per «complicazioni di procedure, che potrebbero ritardare, se non addirittura compromettere, la tempestività e l’efficacia del soccorso, cui tutti devono animosamente cooperare». Sulla base di questi presupposti si giustifica la creazione di soggetti nuovi che devono convivere con quelli esistenti. Quando si verifica un disastro naturale possono realizzarsi condizioni tali da legittimare un’alterazione provvisoria delle competenze, attuabile anche mediante l’individuazione di autorità statali «in grado di agire immediatamente, coordinando l’azione di tutti gli organismi implicati» [...]