A Symbolism Study on Architecture and Ornament of Tosan Ward in Pura Mangkunegaran Palace

Bangsal Tosan (Tosan Ward) is one of European Architecture-Style buildings existing in Pura Mangkunegaran palace complex, Surakarta, Central Java. This article discusses the symbolic meaning of Bangsal Tosan’s architecture and ornament. Bangsal Tosan as a European architecture building and a part of Pura Mangkunegaran Palace building. As a European-architecture building, Bangsal Tosan belongs to neoclassical architecture-style building functioning as marquise and symbolizing an independent and sovereign state. As a part of Pura Mangkunegaran Palace building, Bangsal Tosan is a part of pendapa called kuncungan and symbolizes Mangkunegaran as a genuine state led by a legitimate ruler getting God’s mandate. Despite varying meanings, taken together Bangsal Tosan has the same meaning, i.e. as the symbol of Mangkunegaran Ruler’s power and authority.

A Symbolism Study on Architecture and Ornament of Tosan Ward in Pura Mangkunegaran Palace

Bangsal Tosan (Tosan Ward) is one of European Architecture-Style buildings existing in Pura Mangkunegaran palace complex, Surakarta, Central Java. This article discusses the symbolic meaning of Bangsal Tosan’s architecture and ornament. Bangsal Tosan as a European architecture building and a part of Pura Mangkunegaran Palace building. As a European-architecture building, Bangsal Tosan belongs to neoclassical architecture-style building functioning as marquise and symbolizing an independent and sovereign state. As a part of Pura Mangkunegaran Palace building, Bangsal Tosan is a part of pendapa called kuncungan and symbolizes Mangkunegaran as a genuine state led by a legitimate ruler getting God’s mandate. Despite varying meanings, taken together Bangsal Tosan has the same meaning, i.e. as the symbol of Mangkunegaran Ruler’s power and authority.

Transept zachodni w romańskiej katedrze św. św. Wita, Wacława i Wojciecha na Praskim Grodzie

The Romanesque Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert in Prague was erected as a double-chancel basilica with western transept. Occidental transverse nave and two choirs is intrinsic and distinctive feature of this basilica that indicates architectural ideas from which the Cathedral had originated. Alas, the basilica has, hitherto, been rather interpreted in isolation and without considering the broader European architecture context and by detaching the western transept from its topographic context. This has discouraged scholars from rigorous analysis of the origins of the form, which resulted in the creation of arbitrary and stereotypical narrative instead. This paper presents new interpretation of the Cathedral which tracks the links between the basilica and double-choir churches with western transept in Central Europe. In addition, this research builds on spatial analysis which identifies the relationships between the Cathedral and the landform of Prague Castle.

First monument of stone architecture in Belarus, created in the Romanesque building tradition

The article for the first time proposed a new version of the origin of masters who were invited to build the Minsk temple. The article says that the masters could be invited from Germany (Saxony), and not from Poland, as previously thought.In 1949–1951 the archaeologist Vasil Tarasenka found the ruins of an unfinished temple on the territory of Minsk Castle (later this monument was studied by E. Zagarulsky, G. Shtykhaŭ and A. Miadzvedzeŭ). The foundation and lower parts of the walls of the temple are made of stone and are squared with stone tiles of a rectangular shape on a mortar. The masonry technique is Romanesque, characteristic of Western European architecture.The main controversy is the time of construction of the temple. Some researchers believe that this is the second half of the XI century, others believe that the first Minsk appanage prince Gleb began the construction at the beginning of the XII century.Based on Romanesque construction methods, it is believed that Polish craftsmen built the temple. The author for the first time expresses and justifies the German (Saxon) origin of the builders of the temple in Minsk.

Sauraja Pattojo

Pattojo is a small kingdom in the past, and at this time, Pattojo was called village of Pattojo. The Kingdom of Pattojo is also called ke-datu-an Pattojo whose the king or queen was called datu. To be a king or queen, one must of the highest Nobel or Datu title. Bugis house is identical to the stilt on the house and the rectangular facet is elongated. The house's mention in the bugis tribe has a difference between the noble house and the ordinary people's house. The noble house is called saoraja (Sao=house, raja=big so that saoraja is a big house), and the people's house is called the bola. Generally, noble houses in ancient times were larger than ordinary people's houses. This research is a study on the form of Bugis noble house or king's private house (saoraja datu pattojo: local language) built before Indonesia's independence. The form of façade the arrangement of space in the house has nothing in common with the original Bugis house. It may indicate that the king's house did not follow the original form of Bugis house but has combined between the Bugis and European architecture. Some things that are very clearly undergoing a change from the original of Bugis house is the roof, position of the stairs, there is an arc shape on the underside of the house, and the arrangement of the room has also undergone changes.

In Search of a Cultural Background

The modernist architect and critic, Alfred Lawrence Kocher, proposed and commented on many bibliographical references in The Architectural Record in the years 1924-25. Recent studies on American architecture of the 1920s and 1930s have recognized the peculiar character of modernism in the United States and have gone in search of its cultural and social roots. However, Kocher’s extensive lists have so far been completely overlooked. They were based for the most part on the correspondence he exchanged with a number of American and British architects and George Bernard Shaw: he had sent to them a circular letter, asking for recommendations on texts on background literature that a young architect should know. The unpublished correspondence that Kocher had with Louis Sullivan and the 19 texts on “Aesthetics and Theory of Architecture” are analysed in particular by the author. Although from 1927 onwards Kocher became a passionate supporter of European rationalist architecture, his bibliographies cannot be considered a conscious foundational literature on modernism and modernity. They rather give an idea of the ‘cultural trunk’ on which the discussion on modern European architecture was going to be grafted; they help to illuminate the scene on which American architects moved in the mid-1920s. In some of the texts, the pragmatic notion of utility shines through, as − sometimes connectedly − does the concept of a creative act as a free, ‘natural’ act, which derived from American transcendentalism. Independent from Kocher’s will, a line of thought is even identifiable, through which one can explain the apparently contradictory combination of ‘maximum of utility’ and ‘maximum of free creativity’, openly advocated by the skyscraper architect Raymond Hood at the end of the 1920s. Such way of thinking was based on the recognition of the beauty of utility.

Dragestil in Russian architecture early in the 20th century

The article discusses the architecture of buildings erected in Russia early in the 20th century, which are associated with the dragestil common to Western European architecture of the modern era. The general dragestil concept in cultures of different countries is given on the examples of folk and cult architecture. The article considers the activities of Holm Hansen Munthe, the founder and leader of the dragestil in Norway who developed the national program of this style. For the first time, a general overview is given for buildings that reflect the dragestil national romanticism in the Russian Empire. The article analyzes the well-known dragestil projects and buildings in the cities of Omsk, Tomsk, Vyritsa station in the Tsarskoye Selo Railway and the Circum-Baikal Railway early in the 29th century.