The definition of anthropized landscape corresponds to the forms shaped by the human activity on the natural environment or, in other words, the anthropized landscape is complementary to the natural environment. When this definition is enriched with connotations and specifications that give rise to a meaningful unity of material and idea, presented as a symbolic element of a community by the men will or the work of the time, then the landscape should be referred to as a place of memory. The places of memory thus become “direct sources” of knowledge, those that a community voluntarily produces to pass them on to future generations, unlike the indefinite mass of indirect sources, namely those testimonies that an epoch handed down without questioning their future use. The Monument Site in Jelling can be regarded as a text or a palimpsest, which contain layers upon layers of importance. Through time, buildings have been removed, reused or reconstructed; the ancient Jelling have continuously been re-written and replaced with new parts. With the new findings, the legacy of a hidden chapter was brought to light, to communicate and process the memory of the historic layer, and thereby continue writing the ever-changing story of the Jelling Monument Area. The Viking Age royal monument complex in Jelling was inaugurated in September 2013 by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe of Denmark. The first stage of a larger master plan, adopted in 2009 by Vejle City Council, was completed to become a site landmark, and thus form a new framework for the UNESCO monument landscape and the more than thousand-year-old history of the site. The burial mounds, the significant runic stones, and the medieval church have entered into a new totality with the palisade and the stone vessel settings. The Jelling World Heritage site was arranged by Kristine Jensen Architect to address the narrative of the coming into being of a nation and, due to its historical complexity sedimentation, it represents one of the most important monuments in Danish history in terms of documenting the transition from one faith to another. The site takes part in writing the history of Denmark and recalling to memory an image of the past that reaches into our present time, setting up a unique combination of open-ended narratives and well-documented knowledge, imagination and information. The architectural and landscape interventions have been developed with awareness to the Abbey of Lorsch, acknowledged as a UNESCO World Heritage Site from 1991. This contemporary layer, designed by Martin Rein-Cano and Lorenz Dexler from Topotek 1 firm in Berlin, helps to establish the historical importance of the site as a clear legacy of the Benedictine monks that recalls to memory the Carolingian architecture of the early Medieval German history. In fact, the central concept of the landscape architectural design was to visualize the nearly completely lost monastery compound. Once access to the city, the Torhalle gatehouse, which was previously standing alone, was integrated and re-connected to the urban tissue through interweaving hard surfaces of the urban space with the soft greens of the monastery by way of a striped gradient of stone and grass. Thus, this gradient was rapidly incorporated to the adjacent Benediktiner Platz, completing the lost connection. The central design idea within the boundaries of the historic Lorsch Abbey was to render history visible as a landscape space, aiming the monastery remnants to trigger the intangible values that remind the experience of the Benedictine abbey.
The anthropized landscape as a place of memory: the Jelling Monument Area and the Abbey of Lorsch UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Manlio Montuori
2019
Abstract
The definition of anthropized landscape corresponds to the forms shaped by the human activity on the natural environment or, in other words, the anthropized landscape is complementary to the natural environment. When this definition is enriched with connotations and specifications that give rise to a meaningful unity of material and idea, presented as a symbolic element of a community by the men will or the work of the time, then the landscape should be referred to as a place of memory. The places of memory thus become “direct sources” of knowledge, those that a community voluntarily produces to pass them on to future generations, unlike the indefinite mass of indirect sources, namely those testimonies that an epoch handed down without questioning their future use. The Monument Site in Jelling can be regarded as a text or a palimpsest, which contain layers upon layers of importance. Through time, buildings have been removed, reused or reconstructed; the ancient Jelling have continuously been re-written and replaced with new parts. With the new findings, the legacy of a hidden chapter was brought to light, to communicate and process the memory of the historic layer, and thereby continue writing the ever-changing story of the Jelling Monument Area. The Viking Age royal monument complex in Jelling was inaugurated in September 2013 by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe of Denmark. The first stage of a larger master plan, adopted in 2009 by Vejle City Council, was completed to become a site landmark, and thus form a new framework for the UNESCO monument landscape and the more than thousand-year-old history of the site. The burial mounds, the significant runic stones, and the medieval church have entered into a new totality with the palisade and the stone vessel settings. The Jelling World Heritage site was arranged by Kristine Jensen Architect to address the narrative of the coming into being of a nation and, due to its historical complexity sedimentation, it represents one of the most important monuments in Danish history in terms of documenting the transition from one faith to another. The site takes part in writing the history of Denmark and recalling to memory an image of the past that reaches into our present time, setting up a unique combination of open-ended narratives and well-documented knowledge, imagination and information. The architectural and landscape interventions have been developed with awareness to the Abbey of Lorsch, acknowledged as a UNESCO World Heritage Site from 1991. This contemporary layer, designed by Martin Rein-Cano and Lorenz Dexler from Topotek 1 firm in Berlin, helps to establish the historical importance of the site as a clear legacy of the Benedictine monks that recalls to memory the Carolingian architecture of the early Medieval German history. In fact, the central concept of the landscape architectural design was to visualize the nearly completely lost monastery compound. Once access to the city, the Torhalle gatehouse, which was previously standing alone, was integrated and re-connected to the urban tissue through interweaving hard surfaces of the urban space with the soft greens of the monastery by way of a striped gradient of stone and grass. Thus, this gradient was rapidly incorporated to the adjacent Benediktiner Platz, completing the lost connection. The central design idea within the boundaries of the historic Lorsch Abbey was to render history visible as a landscape space, aiming the monastery remnants to trigger the intangible values that remind the experience of the Benedictine abbey.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
