IDENTITY AND LANDMARKS

Abstract

A place is defined by several elements. Built elements create urban spaces, with their spatial coordinates and volumes. These elements have, besides their urban functional meaning, a symbolic meaning, historical or cultural, and become thus urban landmarks.
Has the city of Iasi such qualities, such urban landmarks, revealed or unrevealed?
In this paper, we would like to draw attention to one of the values of the city of Iasi, namely to an important aspect of the urban organization of the ancient city.
A walk through the old city streets, wide or narrow, reveals an obvious fact: street perspectives are always marked by eye-stops, and these are usually churches – important cultural, spiritual, as well as spatial landmarks of the city.
The positions of churches in the city street network make them be perceived as important monuments, as architectural and spiritual landmarks in the citizens’ life.
The aspects we have pointed out remind us of Camillo Sitte’s words:
„There is no other means of fighting against the plague of inflexible geometrical regularity than rational theory. It is the only way towards reviving the freedom of thought of ancient masters and towards using, in full awareness, the means that they unconsciously followed in times when artistic practice was a tradition.
How could the permanent self-consciousness of our time and civilisation hope to replace the lost artistic inocence?â€
Unfortunately, as supporters of modern „urbanization†, we are far from being students of the lesson the city itself has to offer; we sometimes even find ourselves in the posture of aggressors of these values.