Received: 30/09/2016
Reveiwed: 28/10/2016
Accepted: 03/11/2016
711.4(443.611)”1852/1870”
711.4(497.7)”2014/...”
72:316.75
Original scholary paper
Boris Petrović
The Haussmannian Paris
and the neoclassical Skopje
(The Skopje 2014 project)
Abstract: This paper aims to present historical, aesthetical, conceptual
and ideological similarities between the Haussmannian reconstruction
of Paris that took place between 1852 and 1870 and the neoclassical reconstruction of Skopje named “the Skopje 2014 project”. The similarities between these two reconstructive projects will be inspected, as well
as (some important) differences. The main line of comparison is the
notion of the nation that is being constructed; alongside it, the notion of
identity, invention and (re)construction of the past (an important aspect
of the creation of the collective vision, necessary in most, if not all nationalistic projects). This notion is rooted in the past (always glorious
and idealistic), and it is aesthetically anachronistic and ideologically
well contextualized. The creation of these urban plans will therefore
serve as a corpus for an analysis of the creation of the national myth
and the creation of the nationalistic narrative through architecture and
urban planning.
Keywords: architecture, urban planning, nationalism, construct, narrative, anachronism, myth
T
he Haussmannian reconstruction of Paris that took place between the
years of 1852 and 1870 was one of the world’s most ambitious and
large-scale endeavors. More than 70% of the city was demolished and
built anew; great boulevards and avenues were made; a completely new type
of architecture and urban planning was presented (the now famous “Haussmannian” type of building); important monuments erected, like Opéra Gar-
Boris Petrović
| 23
nier; alongside the numerous “details”, like lamp posts, street fountains and
faucets, poster stands etc. It was only after this reconstruction that the city
known for its lack of hygiene, cholera, overall misery and overpopulation
issues started attracting attention as the “city of light”1. This is today still the
perceived image of Paris. What used to be known as a medieval city, where
a very sharp difference was drawn between the aristocratic private villa
(l’hôtel particulier) and the still-medieval apartments and shanty barracks,
became the city for the haute bourgeoisie. The aesthetical intervention was
inseparable from the ideological; throughout the 19th century, France was
slowly (and with setbacks, such as the period of the reconstruction and the
return of the monarchy) but surely moving through the transition from an
aristocratic monarchy to a bourgeois democracy. The development of Paris
reflects this transition in terms of architecture and urban planning.
We can safely state that a similar process is taking place in Skopje. A city
that was ravaged by an earthquake in 1963 saw more than 80% of its content
razed to the ground. Most historical buildings in the style of neoclassicism
and academism were destroyed and the city was rebuilt in the style of Social
realism, popular also under the name of “Brutalism”. World renowned architect Kenzo Tange was at the head of the team responsible for the reconstructive work that changed the city dramatically; instead of traditional Balkan
houses in the Ottoman style and the neoclassical academic (European) style,
he designed the city down the lines of a simple, yet vast socialist utopia.
“Brutalist” architecture was ideologically associated with communism –
stern, monumental, stripped of decorations and decisively futuristic; it was
very different than the heavily ornate neoclassical style seen in most European cities (like Paris, Vienna, Rome, etc.). Also, it is very important to state
that while the neoclassical style is associated with the capitalist bourgeois
ideology of nationalism, the Brutalist style is associated with the communist
(or socialist) ideology of internationalism.
However, after FYR Macedonia seceded from SFRY, it started a period of
transition from the former ideology of communism towards the ideology of
capitalism and nationalism. We bring these two notions together, as it is the
stance of Benedict Anderson2 that nationalism as an ideology is inseparable
from industrial capitalism and the industrial revolution. Our hypothesis is
that neoclassicism was and is the aesthetical (and by analogy ideological)
formulation and justification of nationalism. Therefore, the transitional period following the secession of FYR Macedonia from SFRY saw the establishment of Macedonian nationalism and its installment in the Skopje urban landscape. The “Skopje 2014” project is therefore not only supposed
24 | Belgrade Journal for Media and Communications #9
to artistically and historically articulate and justify Macedonian nationalism
and nation state, but also to uphold an integral part of nationalistic ideology
– capitalism, the end goal of the transition (not only of Macedonia, but the
entire “region” of ex-Yugoslavia).
It is down these lines that we are going to analyze and compare these two
reconstructions. The choice may appear odd at first, as Paris is known as one
of the most beautiful cities in the world, and the “Skopje 2014” project has
received overwhelmingly negative reactions3 and is considered by many to
be the expression of historicist kitsch4. The reasons why we compare these
two cities are the following:
1) We see both of these interventions, the Haussmannian reconstruction of
Paris and the “Skopje 2014” project as ambitious urban planning moves
that are meant to uphold one ideology over another. In the case of Paris
in is the cultural expression of the bourgeoisie over aristocracy; in the
case of Skopje it is bourgeoisie over the communist self-management
proletariat.
2) Both interventions aim to produce the aesthetical formulation of nationalism (as an important ideological vehicle of the class of the bourgeoisie) and to create the character and the image of the city down these
lines.
3) To achieve this, both interventions are profoundly anachronous – meaning, they both seek the cultural legitimization in the (distant) past and
present the construction of the city and its main buildings in the style
that is associated with a different historical period than the one in which
these interventions are being taken. In the case of Paris, we are speaking
of the neoclassicism aimed at Rome (the fact that the Haussmannian
Paris is a recreation of Rome, much like the French revolution was an
attempt at installing the Roman republic instead of the French monarchy) whereas in the case of Skopje we speak of the pre-Hellenistic period of Phillip the II and the Hellenistic period of Alexander the Great.
Both urban plans, inspired by nationalism, are therefore projected into the
distant past. This is the focus of our paper – the necessity of the ideology
of nationalism to project itself into the past (whereas, as it was visible in
the Brutalist reconstruction of Skopje by Kenzo Tange, and many other examples, the “opposing” ideology to nationalism, communism, projects itself
into the future) and how that narrative is achieved. The ideology of nationalism seeks to justify itself by insistence on its deep roots, that reach far into
history, so far in fact that we can assume it has been there since the dawn of
Boris Petrović
| 25
time and civilization. The French scholar in the field of national myth and
nationalism, Suzanne Citron states:
Around 1510, Jean Lemaire de Belges, historian of Marguerite de Bourgogne
and the humanist poet, publishes Illustrations of Gaule and singularity of Troy.
There, he amalgamates the translation of Homer, Cato and Cesar, and inserts
the fragments of antique history just recently “found” by an Italian, Anius
de Viterbe (it was in reality forged). The Gauls are ancient beyond temporal
measure, all the way to their biblical ancestors. They are the descendants of
Samothes (the fourth son of Japheth, the son of Noah) who founded a blood
line of the king of the Gauls. They are learned and have created universities;
pre-Christian, they believe in the immortality of the soul. An outcast member
of the royal family, escaped to Asia, was the founder of Troy, thus bringing the
Gaul civilization to Greece and afterwards to Rome. The Trojan roots are no
other than those of the Gaul. Francus, son of Hector, returned to the country
of his forefathers after Troy fell. The other escaped Trojans founded the great
empire of Sycambria and then, seduced by the goodness of Octavian, migrated
to Germania from where they progressively penetrated the land of the Gaul
where they were awaited by the descendants of Francus. The Francs are of
Gallic origin! 5
It is an integral part of the nationalistic ideology to state the ancient roots of
its (national) culture and therefore being. Projecting your nation, the foundation of your nation state, into a distant past is of utmost importance, as it
is what legitimizes a given culture, nation, and people. It is of utmost importance to show that the people in question, a given nation, is the oldest
among its rivals and also among the competing classes (which was of special
importance in 19th century France when the bourgeoisie sought to culturally
dominate the aristocracy, a class that claimed ancient roots and long, historical standing). This projection into the past needs to be overwhelming and
all-encompassing – as Anthony D. Smith states in an excerpt on the building
of national identity:
So the problem became one of accounting for the relationship between the periods of their emergence and their varied cultural forms: between what we might
term the “dating” and the “shaping” of nations.
Such a formulation presupposed the continuing utility of terms like “nation”
and “national identity” as categories of analysis alongside other categories of
collective cultural identity. For purposes of clarity and demarcation, defining
the concept of the nation in ideal-typical terms constituted a necessary first step.
This in turn allowed us to identify various forms of the nation as a historical
26 | Belgrade Journal for Media and Communications #9
community held to possess a cultural and/or political identity. Accordingly, I defined the category of the nation as a named and self-defining human community,
whose members cultivate shared myths, memories, symbols, values, and traditions, reside in and identify with a historic homeland, create and disseminate a
distinctive public culture, and observe shared customs and common laws.6
The creation of the nation therefore needs to not only encompass all of the
aspects of living (from the organization of the state to cultural policy) but
also needs to dominate the public space. This public space, however, also
needs to be projected into the (distant) past; as we can see is the case with
many “Roman” monuments built in Paris (church of Madeleine, the Arc de
Triomphe, the avenue of Champs Elysées, the Mars fields, the National Parliament etc.) and many “Hellenistic” monuments built in Skopje. The Balkan
peoples (that after the collapse of communist Yugoslavia reverted to calling themselves “nations” instead of “peoples”; in BCMS, nacije instead of
narodnosti) applied the same recipe as the one described by Suzanne Citron,
as stated here by Ivo Banac:
The initiator of the idea of Slavic reciprocity among the Croats was Vinko
Pribojevic, a Dominican theologian from Hvar, whose oration on the origin
and occurrences of the Slavs, delivered before a gathering of Hvar’s nobility
in 1525, glorified the Slavic peoples out of all proportion to what his audience
knew or expected. In accordance with the humanist practice, Pribojevic blended scriptural testimony with ancient myth to derive the Slavs from Noah’s
grandson Thyras, who sired the Thracians, who in turn begot the Illyrians,
who were, according to Pribojevic, the forefathers of all the Slavs. That meant
that all the ancient heroes of Thrace, Macedonia, and Illyricum were actually
Slavs. Alexander and his generals, Aristotle, scores of Caesars, and Saint Jerome were Slavs. And bellicose Mars was himself born among them.7
Comparing this excerpt with that of Suzanne Citron, we can clearly see that
the time (1510 and 1525), the method (projecting the roots of one’s “nation”
into the biblical past) and the theme (the Old Testament version of the origin
of different peoples and of the world) coincide. Anthony D. Smith also wrote
on the same note about the common, “Ilyrian” past of the peoples of Yugoslavia.8 He also speaks of the necessity that the nation uphold and culturally
justify itself through architecture –embodying the idea of the national being
through its historical heroes and notable people. We can see this principle
applied in Skopje via the statues of not only notable Macedonian historical
figures (on the Bridge of Arts, or in BCMS Most umetnosti) but also the cultural appropriation of Alexander the Great and Phillip of Macedonia:
Boris Petrović
| 27
At the outset, we need to distinguish between two phases of nationalism, which
very roughly correspond to two kinds of media and imagery, at least within
Europe. The first we may term an elite nationalism of the middle classes, for
it focused primarily on representations of the various actions of charismatic individuals and groups, both past and present. The second reflected, and
propounded, a mass nationalism, in which the national community took the
place of heroes and heroines, or rather in which it came to regard itself as the
exemplar of heroism and leadership. In the first phase, the role of great men
and women was purveyed in forms of art, music, and literature, which created a middle-class public, and which emphasized the exemplary qualities of
heroes and heroines. In the second phase and type, the focus shifts to rites and
ceremonies performed in an orchestrated mass choreography at specific sites,
purveyed in monumental sculpture and architecture and by means of secular
liturgies and sacred emblems.9
In Skopje, these two phases of nationalism (according to Anthony D. Smith)
are merged together. The exact situation was to be found in Paris during the
Haussmannian intervention – the city was marked by the monumental statues
of Napoleon the I (on the pillar of the Arc de Triomphe and on the column at
the center of place de Vendome) as well as many statues of artists, poets, and
writers (for example, on the façade of Hôtel de Ville and that of the Louvre).
This, however, is not the only merging that occurs. What is equally important
is the notion of the eternal value and presence of the nationalistic ideology.
Not only does it pretend to have roots that reach as far back as the biblical
origin of the world – it also pretends to last forever and to be forever immutable. The very purpose of neoclassical anachronous art is to formulate and
uphold an aesthetical and ideological Ideal that will forever stay unchanged.
By creating the (neo) Roman, that is the (neo) Hellenistic architecture and
urban landscape, the nationalistic ideology confounds the past, the present
and the future, therefore merging them together. The past, the present and
the future (of Paris, and also Skopje) are the same. As is the case with these
two cities, the past is the future (and vice versa)10. Suzanne Citron explains
it: “By the word ‘country’, by that of ‘France’, the yesterday and the today
are confounded. Covering the actual present, these words, projected into the
yester-time of legend, bring to life an image of France that has always already
been there. The history of France begins with the myth of France.”11
Time is therefore reset from the historical (linear) to the mythical (cyclical,
or non-existing). Suzanne Citron continues in the same direction: “Yet again,
the past is being interpreted as an announcement of the future, the amal-
28 | Belgrade Journal for Media and Communications #9
gamation from which the French nation will rise, which will only be truly
accomplished in the year 1789”.12 This ideological attitude towards history
and time (immemorial) almost necessarily drives the aesthetical position as
well. Everything that is new is bad; everything that is old, ancient, is good.
Furthermore, only the ancient things are good – as Nikola Kovac says, everything that is good is located in the past:
The return of the epic in the past consists of a quest for the sacred foundations
of the world. Not having the necessary distance to consider the historic facts in
their relativity, the epic narrative glorifies the memory, not only as the means
of mastering the experience, but also and above all as the source and a model
of moral values. All that is good is located only in the past. 13
Following this logic, we can better understand the “necessity” of the reconstruction of Skopje helmed by the nationalistic government of Macedonia
responsible for the project of “Skopje 2014”. The futuristic lines of the Brutalist Skopje was not only ideologically “wrong”, but was not able to carry
the ideology that places itself in the past and from there to the present and
the future. Here, we cannot obviously apply the “vice versa” rule – projecting into the future does not (in the perspective of the ideology of nationalism) encompass the past whereas, on the other hand, projecting into the past
encompasses both the present and the future – the appearance of the city of
Paris is a good argument for this. Much of the city still looks quite the same
as it did after the Haussmannian reconstruction was finished. With the exception of some new buildings (Centre Pompidou, The national library François
Mitterrand, the Montparnasse tower, the canopy over Les Halles shopping
district), the urban plan and the main axes of the city remain exactly the same
– and are likely to do so in the future as well.
It is therefore interesting to approach the remodeling of these two cities from
that perspective. Not only are we talking about the projecting of the aesthetical, ideological and (by simple deduction) etiological aspects of the city into
the past – we are addressing the entire cultural model. The buildings and
urban plans are the embodiment of our ideologies, that is, of ourselves – or,
more precisely, as we’d like to see ourselves, and as we’d like to be seen by
others. Friedrich Nietzsche stated:
Architecture for the perceptive. There is and probably will be a need to perceive what our great cities lack above all: still, wide, extensive places for reflection; places with tall, spacious, lengthy colonnades for inclement or unduly
sunny weather where no traffic noise or street cries can penetrate, and where a
Boris Petrović
| 29
finer sensibility would forbid even a priest to pray aloud: buildings and places
that express as a whole the sublimity of stepping aside to take thought for oneself. The time is past when the Church possessed the monopoly of reflection;
when the vita contemplativa primarily had to be a vita religiosa; and yet that is
the idea expressed in everything the Church has built. I do not know how we
could ever content ourselves with its buildings, even stripped of their ecclesiastical function; they speak far too emotive and too constrained a language, as
the houses of God and as the showplaces of intercourse with another world, for
us as godless people to think our thoughts in them. We want to have ourselves
translated into stones and plants; we want to have ourselves to stroll in, when
we take a turn in those porticoes and gardens.14
Contemplating the historical kitsch of the Haussmannian Paris and that of
the “Skopje 2014”, it is both interesting and important to have this ideological and aesthetical position in mind, here presented by Friedrich Nietzsche
– architecture is the translation of ourselves into stone. Much like any work
of architecture ever made (that is still around) it is a testament of its era, the
customs, reflections and projections of its people. It will therefore be judged
accordingly by the generations to come.
30 | Belgrade Journal for Media and Communications #9
Notes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12
13 14 Nicole Beaurain, “Hervé Maneglier, Paris impérial. La vie quotidienne sous
le Second Empire, Paris, Éditions Armand Colin, 1990,” in L’Homme et la
société, no. 104, 1992, Anthropologie de l’espace habité, 138-140.
Benedict Anderson, Imagined communities – Reflections on the Origin and
Spread of Nationalism, London & New York: Verso, 1983, 80-86.
No author signed, “Macédoine : Skopje 2014, kitsch nationaliste et foire aux
antiquités,” Le Courrier des Balkans. 2012. Available at http://balkans.courriers.info/spip.php?page=dossier&id_article=18171. Accessed September 30th,
2016 ; Dejan Bugjevac, “СКОПЈЕ ЌЕ УМРЕ ОД НЕВКУС,” Globus, no.
97, 2009. Available at http://www.globusmagazin.com.mk/?ItemID=C18D7
40B2343534A8B173AAD06639F3A. Accessed September 30th, 2016; Catriona Davies, “Is Macedonia’s capital being turned into a theme park?,” CNN
Edition, 2011. Available at http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/04/world/europe/
macedonia-skopje-2014/index.html. Accessed September 30th, 2016.
Biljana Vankovska, “Skopje 2013,” Peščanik, 2013. Available at http://pescanik.net/skopje-2013/. Accessed September 30th, 2016.
Suzanne Citron, Le mythe national, Paris: Les Editions de l’Atelier/Les Editions Ouvrières, 2008, 155.
Anthony D. Smith, The Cultural Foundations of Nations, Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing, UK, 2008, 187.
Ivo Banac, The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics,
Cornell & New York: Cornell University Press, 1984, 71.
Anthony D. Smith, The Ethnic Origin of Nations, Cambridge USA: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1995, 149-150.
Anthony D. Smith, Chosen Peoples, New York: Oxford University Press Inc.,
2003, 223-224.
Paris is commonly known among its denizens as the “museum city” that
never changes and very seldom sees any new buildings being made.
Suzanne Citron, Le mythe national, Paris: Les Editions de l’Atelier/Les Editions Ouvrières, 2008, 34.
Ibid., 184.
Nikola Kovac, Le roman politique, Fictions du totalitarisme, Paris: Editions
Michalon, 2002, 63.
Markus Breitschmid, “Nietsche’s ‘Architecture for the Perceptive’: From Sacred Space towards a Space for Reflection,” Spaces of Utopia: An Electronic
Journal, no. 4, Spring 2007, 74-87.
Boris Petrović
| 31
References
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities – Reflections on the Origin and
Spread of Nationalism. London & New York: Verso, 1983.
Banac, Ivo. The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics.
Cornell, NY: Cornell University Press, 1984.
Beaurain, Nicole. “Hervé Maneglier, Paris impérial. La vie quotidienne sous le
Second Empire, Paris, Éditions Armand Colin, 1990.” In L’Homme et la
société, no. 104, 1992. Anthropologie de l’espace habité.
Bugjevac, Dejan (2007). “СКОПЈЕ ЌЕ УМРЕ ОД НЕВКУС.” Globus, no. 97,
2009. Available at http://www.globusmagazin.com.mk/?ItemID=C18D740B2
343534A8B173AAD06639F3A. Accessed September 30th, 2016.
Breitschmid, Markus. “Nietzsche’s ‘Architecture for the Perceptive’: From Sacred
Space towards a Space for Reflection.” Spaces of Utopia: An Electronic
Journal, no. 4, spring 2007: 74-87.
Citron, Suzanne. Le mythe national. Paris: Les Editions de l’Atelier/Les Editions
Ouvrières, 2008.
Catriona Davies, “Is Macedonia’s capital being turned into a theme park?.” CNN
Edition, 2011. Available at http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/04/world/europe/
macedonia-skopje-2014/index.html. Accessed September 30th , 2016.
Kovac, Nikola. Le roman politique, Fictions du totalitarisme. Paris: Editions
Michalon, 2002.
Smith, Anthony D. Chosen Peoples. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.,
2003.
———————. The Cultural Foundations of Nations. Oxford, UK: Blackwell
Publishing, 2008.
———————. The Ethnic Origin of Nations. Cambridge, USA: Blackwell
Publishers Inc., 1995.
Vankovska, Biljana. “Skopje 2013.” Peščanik, 2013. Available at http://pescanik.
net/skopje-2013/. Accessed September 30th, 2016.
No author signed, “Macédoine: Skopje 2014, kitsch nationaliste et foire aux
antiquités.” Le Courrier des Balkans. 2012. Available at http://balkans.
courriers.info/spip.php?page=dossier&id_article=18171. Accessed September
30th, 2016.
32 | Belgrade Journal for Media and Communications #9
Boris Petrović was born in Belgrade and graduated from the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, at the Department for World Literature and
Theory of Literature. After that, he obtained an MA in Paris, at the Université
Paris Sorbonne in the program at l’UFR de la littérature comparée (the chair
of comparative literature), with a master’s thesis entitled Comparative analysis of the works of Harold Pinter and Dusan Kovacevic on the subject of
the usage of the absurd in political theatre. Obtained a PhD title at the same
department for his doctoral thesis entitled National myth in the work of John
Ford and Veljko Bulajic. His main interests include: nationalism, mythical
narrative, usage of mythical narrative in the construction of ideology, ideology in arts, propaganda. He has published academic works and taken part
in several conferences dealing with these subjects, especially in the field of
visual analysis (posters and films) with an interdisciplinary approach. Fluent
in English, French, Serbian, medium proficiency in Italian. Ran a marathon,
and aims to run several more.
Email: [email protected]
Boris Petrović
| 33