FACES OF URBAN CULTURE LANDSCAPE

2021
FACES OF URBAN CUTURAL LANDSCAPE
AN ANTHOLOGY
Edited by Jana Pecníková

First published in 2021

by KOPRINT / Department of European Cultural Studies FF UMB

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or

preproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, without permission from the editor.

Authors: ©Jana Pecníková, ©Tatiana Tökölyová,

©Ruslan Saduov, ©Laia Anguix, ©Ivana Pondelíková, ©Jozefa
Pevčíková, ©Viera Krešáková

Reviewers:
Marta Lacková (University of Žilina, Slovakia)
Eva Reichwalderová (Matej Bel University of Banská Bystrica,
Slovakia)

ISBN 978-80-969837-8-0

The anthology is published within the Erasmus+ project 2018–1–

PL01–KA203–050963.
CONTENT

Introduction - Urban Cultural Landscape 5

Chapter 1 - Identity and Place as a Social Construct 14
Chapter 2 - Cultural and Linguistic Landscape in a Multi-Ethnic City: A
Methodological Turn 33
Chapter 3 - Street Art in Empty Streets: The Significance of Urban Arts
and Culture During the Covid-19 Pandemic 48
Chapter 4 - London’s Musical Legacy Reflected in an Iconic Freddie
Mercury 65
Chapter 5 - Lovecraft Country – The Fantastic Landscape Of
Massachusetts, USA 82
Chapter 6 - Industrial Landscape and Slovak Industrial Heritage, Case
ooof Forest Railway in Čierny Balog 104
Notes on Contributors 119
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank all the authors for their valuable contributions to
the book and also for their engagement with the spirit of urban cultural
landscape, my academic and professional colleagues for their
dedication and support of my research endeavors. Special thanks also
to the production team, especially to Ivana Pondelíková, a member of
the Department of European Cultural Studies, Faculty of Arts, Matej Bel
University in Banská Bystrica, for her hard work and professionalism
in making our dreams possible.

Jana Pecníková

4
INTRODUCTION - URBAN CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

Jana Pecníková

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.

When we see land as a community to which we belong,
we may begin to use it with love and respect. “1
Aldo Leopold

The concept of the cultural landscape presupposes that what we study

is not something external, but part of us. We are part of a cultural
landscape and we are a landscape. Philosophically speaking, a
landscape would not be a cultural landscape without people. The
oldest civilizations did not separate the landscape from nature but
transformed it under the influence of their deities and beliefs. Based
on the 1992 Operational Guideline in 1992 to the UNESCO Convention
on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972),
the term cultural landscape is beginning to appear in the broader
public. And in the 1990s, it is a term associated with cultural
geography and the protection of cultural heritage.

Under the influence of the development of new communication

technologies, climate change, socio-demographic impacts on changes
in urban areas, there is a shift in the meaning of the term cultural
landscape, which is much more than “place as such”, is used in the
context of beliefs, ideas, culture, identity linked with a place. Under the
influence of globalization, it is linked with a sense of place, or with a
territorial identity. “The link between landscape and identity is one of
the most powerful feelings in human beings. [...] Increasingly attention is
being paid to the critical role landscape plays in our sense of place,
identity and belonging.”2 In addition to the current phenomenon of
Fear of Missing Out (F.O.M.O), we encounter the fear of losing roots,
past, landscape (Fear of Missing Landscape - F.O.M.L.). This crisis leads
to an increased interest in the places where we live, and which have
arisen under the influence of our culture. And culture is perceived in
the broadest sense of the word.

1 Leopold, 1949, p. 8
2 Taylor, 2015, p. 12
5
Cultural heritage has an important role to play in the study of the
cultural landscape, because the landscape is constantly transformed,
becoming a response to human values and ideologies that change in
space and time. The study of the cultural landscape is an
interdisciplinary process that connects disciplines. Many publications
are created that develop the concept of the cultural landscape, whether
from a historical, linguistic, geographical, or cultural point of view. By
living in a rapidly changing time that is shaping the cultural landscape
around us, more attention needs to be paid to it. World organizations
such as UNESCO, IUCN, ICOMOS, the Council of Europe point to the
urgent need to act to find partnerships and develop the theme of
cultural landscape development to enrich cultural identities, because
the destruction of unique cultural landscapes, lack of development
policies and adherence to measures leads to irreversible damages.

“Cultural landscapes are the places where human culture is on display

where our human landscape is our unwritten biography, reflecting our
tastes, our values, our aspiration, and even our fears in tangible visible
form.”3 However, the cultural landscape, in addition to material
cultural patterns and elements, also contains intangible values and
associations, is an environment that shapes human identity. We can
say that it is a cultural construct. And it is important to find answers to
why the cultural landscape in which we live looks the way it does? And
why do our ancestors and we create it this way? What contents, forms
and shapes do we give it? The landscape is not very rational, it rather
reflects what we like or dislike, or the way we want “our place” to look
like.

For a cultural landscape, a place is important. And the place can be a

city, a part of a city, a borderless space, even a cultural monument that
carries significance. We emphasize significance of a place. Often this
place is connected to the community of people who maintain it and
give it vitality and value. The cultural landscape is mostly primarily
associated with the community of people, their identity, and cultural
meanings. Culture is “a general process of intellectual, spiritual, and
aesthetic development, a particular way of life, whether of a people,
a period, or a group, and works and practices of intellectual and artistic

3 Ibid., p. 2
6
activity.”4 Sometimes culture is defined as a repertoire of collective
habits, thinking and behavior that has led to interaction with the
natural environment and manifested itself in space and time. Culture
helps maintain a certain degree of order in a society instead of chaos.
It is a complex phenomenon that includes all human creations that also
represent a particular culture.5

The most researched cultural landscapes are those to which UNESCO

pays attention under the World Heritage cultural landscapes program.
They are given increased attention due to their protection and
conservation. In this publication, however, we deal with the topic of
the cultural landscape differently, we consider the associative cultural
landscapes that considers cultural associations, as well as the
continuing landscapes, which is reflecting the straightening in time. We
focus on interrelationships of land, culture, language, art, and heritage.

A separate chapter of the research is historic urban landscapes, which

are concentrated in urban settlement shaped by multiple generations.
They are a type of cultural landscape that is a product of time, place,
and people, and reflects wealth, society, and identity. In 2011, UNESCO
issued a Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape6 (HUL).

HUL serves as an instrument to lead to the conservation and

management of the historic urban landscape, to support its
sustainability and development. Identify cultural resources regarding
iconic monuments and places, collaborative partnerships,
regeneration of values, sustainability of heritage and communities.
The goal of HUL is to maintain the character and spirit of the heritage
site and define opportunities for the future.

This planning is especially important in view of current urban growth

trends. The city is in the hands of residents, politicians, tourists,
developers, employers and its population is constantly increasing, the
city is expanding, and this leads to uncontrollable growth, which
changes its character. It is a great challenge to find a balance between
the historical and modern appearance of the city.

4 Williams in Taylor, 2015, p. 4

5 Pondelíková, 2020, p. 18
6 UNESCO, 2011

7
In the case of urban cultural landscapes, however, we do not only
observe how these trends affect the material form of the city -
buildings, structures, urban art (sculptures, site objects, etc.),
vegetation. But landscape-rooted intangible heritage elements are also
important: places of memory, marking events, joy and suffering,
commemoration of past event, festivals and rituals, traditional dance,
music and performance, skill, arts, and crafts. All this forms a shared
urban image. And it all reflects cultural diversity7 and creativity, which
can be integrated with conservation and development in a sustainable
manner 8.

If we do not want to explore the city only by HUL, and only with an
emphasis on the historically valuable environment, then “mapping of
cultural landscapes becomes a mapping of the imagined realities of
different subcultures. In urban landscapes many simultaneous cultural
realities exist.”9 The cultural landscape of the city is different through
the eyes of a tourist than the eyes of a resident, it is different through
the eyes of an artist or a writer. “Artists, poets, and writers are often
essential in distilling this imagined reality, and their work takes on
added significance in the process of documentation.”10 The urban
cultural landscape of the city has no fixed borders, because culture and
art can take the place into a completely different perspective and
expand it with other associations.

When managing a cultural landscape, utopian planning is problematic,

which usually fails with unsustainability or inefficiencies. The city and
its future are today one of the most significant victims of climate
change. Here we return to the essence of the cultural landscape, which
was first defined as a natural landscape transformed by man. Today
we return to this statement because it is a product of both human and
natural systems. And thus environmental issues are literally affecting
cities today. Landscape viability is a concept designed to strengthen
the capacity to display a few key attributes, which include cultural
roots and origins, but also the ability to be dynamic and evolving to

7 Pecníková, 2020
8 UNESCO, 2011
9 Smith in Taylor, 2015, p. 190
10 Ibid., p. 191

8
sustain the city’s “life”, to survive, in particulate environmental
conditions of climate change.

“The diversity, the otherness, the comparison, the difference, the

continuity, and the ideal reappropriation that, with other statements of
document-monument and testimony events, become the new materials
of the contemporary city and expand themselves in their urban image
represent a new level of confrontation to be compared to additional
models of development.”11 Interpretation of the past as the basis for
anchoring identity can lead to activities aimed at rebuilding the
cultural heritage. Thus, its function is preserved, but at the same time
it has been given new functions. In the case of strong affiliation and a
reference to identity, we call it a “speaking territory”, but if the place is
not characterized by any characteristic identity, it is a “silent territory”.

“Cities rose and developed, sometimes in a progressive way, sometimes

in a homogenous way, on the basis of objective criteria which determined
their physical structure, the organization of the space, and their
transformation in time. They were expression of the cultural evolution of
the people settled in their respective territory.”12 Knowledge of
historical events underlies the relationship between the city and the
territory and is the basis for assessing the changes that are taking place
in it. At present, we are seeing a new phenomenon called the “loss of
sense of the city”, in which cities seemingly unstable in time and space,
their transformations instead of acceptance, rather raising questions
in people and a sense of loss of values. La Cecla calls it “loss of local
minds”13. Alternatively, it is a form of cultural amnesia when the
memory of the city and cultural layers of the city disappear and are
replaced by new forms.

The concept of multi-layered city is perceived by the city as a complex

cultural good, which arose because of stratification of uses. To
interpret the urban transformation, we must know the historical-
morphological identity of the place, while we can also use the
topographic method and interpret the signs of the transformation of
the city. Namely, the city is literally “composed” of layers, e.g., new

11 Colavitti, 2018, p. 19
12 Ibid., p. 24
13 La Cecla in Colavitti, 2018, p. 25

9
buildings are often created on the sites of the original buildings, the
city is constantly being transformed by new and new layers.

In urban development, we follow the trend of culture-led

development. “Culture is increasingly recognized as a driving force for
urban development. Today, cultural institutions such as museums, or
events such as the European Capital of Culture are used as a tool form
improving city´s image, upgrading urban spaces, and providing a lively
urban environment.”14

In the past, the landscape was transformed using materials that were
available. Therefore, it is still possible to see the structure of buildings,
architecture, and method of processing. But the most important
substance was not the material itself, but it was human work, and
therefore what, why and how people created in the given conditions.
In addition to material manifestations, one of the pillars is also
intangible. Practices, skills, experiences, but at the same time culture,
traditions, symbols and their materialization in space and time. It was
a natural way of building identity and continuity with the development
of human creativity. In this sense, it was always man, the one who
transformed the landscape. “Traditions allow us to recognize the lessons
of history, enrich our lives, and offer our inheritance to the future. Local,
regional, and national traditions provide the opportunity for
communities to retain their individuality with the advance of
globalization.”15

Each landscape is made of colors, it forms the so-called colourscape

and color is the most important factor for objects to be distinguished,
identified, and notified. Each color has a symbolic meaning and a
psychological effect on people. Colors are what determine and define
the landscape in many ways. If we look at old black-and-white photos,
we do not see as many details in them, as when we look at color photos.
Chromatics identity is an expression that includes resources for
defining cultural landscape and local identity through color
perception.

14 Oevermann, 2015, p. 4
15 Bianconi, 2019, p. 7
10
Today, as we try to find something original and a “sense of identity” in
everything, we return to the already existing cultural infrastructure,
which consists of the entire cultural heritage of mankind. And colors
are an important part of it because we perceive the city with the
senses, and especially with the eyes. The cultural landscape of the
place is therefore associated with colors, lines, shapes, symbols, and
writing, too. At present, all visual elements that communicate with the
observer can also be perceived under the colors of cities. Today’s cities
are transformed by advertising spaces, sometimes even visual smog.
This is also one of the existing and contemporary cultural layers in
cities.

Another topic of the current debates is that cultural pluralism leads to

the homogenization of places and the “loss of place” that accompanies
the lack of originality, authenticity, and identity of places. This applies
not only to the aesthetic side of cities, but also to the effects of
homogenization, which bring the same features, symbols, while the
“dominant image” prevails. And the memory of the place completely
disappears. Another current trend is “iconocracy”, which leads to the
use of emoticons or images that replace fonts. Images, advertisements,
graffiti, and visual stimuli are becoming a new element in urban
systems and part of the cultural landscape.

The study of the cultural landscape points to the need to set up a

specific cultural policy to limit a “tragic formlessness”. The city adapts
to the needs of man, and we should consider memory perception,
distant perception, and close perception. Finally, we present a quote
from one of the most important theorists of the cultural landscape, Ch.
Norberg Schulz: “Because the landscape gives us our identity. And only
when we understand our places, we will be able to participate creatively
and to contribute to their history.”16

We can perceive the city as a cultural landscape on several levels.

Whether it is a real landscape, which is a landscape of fact, a specific
space. Or it is a fantastic landscape that bears a certain spiritual or
cultural legacy, associated with myths, traditions, and legends. Finally,
it is an ideal landscape, the aim of which was to reflect certain ideals of

16 Norberg–Schulz, 2010, p. 21
11
the time, and according to them, the character of the city was
transformed.

In the following chapters, we offer several perspectives on how we can

perceive the urban cultural landscape. Whether through its socio-
cultural level, language, street art form, or through the connection to
personalities in the field of music and literature. Not only
archaeological and historical monuments play a key role in the
formation of cultural landscape, but in particular all narrative (written
and verbal) cultural monuments. One of the most important parts of
culture are written texts, which on the one hand reflect the culture and
on the other hand disseminate it.17

We include a wide range of approaches, practices, research, and

critical reflections. We intend this anthology to stand as a statement
about possible research in the field and we hope this work will not only
inaugurate a new genre of writing devoted to sustained engagement in
the research, but will also help us to value, and do this type of research
more.

Bibliography
BIANCONI, F. et. Al. 2019. Landscape Lab. Cham : Springer, 2019. 291
p. ISBN 978-3-319-94149-3.
COLLAVITTI, A. M. 2018. Urban Heritage Management. Cham :
Springer, 2018. 153 p. ISBN 978-3-319-72338-9.
LEOPOLD, A. 1949. A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and
There, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1949, 48 p.
NORBERG–SCHULZ, CH. 2010. Genius loci. Krajina, místo, architektura.
Praha : Dokořán, 2010. 220 p. ISBN 978-80-7363-303-5.
OEVERMANN, H. et. Al. 2015. Industrial Heritage Sites in
Transformation. New York : Routledge, 2015. 221 p. ISBN 978-0-8153-
4700-2.
PECNÍKOVÁ, J. 2020. Úvod do štúdia kultúry. Banská Bystrica : DALI-
BB, 2020. 79 p. ISBN 978-80-8141-241-7.
PONDELÍKOVÁ, I. 2020. Úvod do medzinárodných kultúrnych vzťahov a
interkultúrnej komunikácie. Banská Bystrica : DALI-BB, 2020. 95 p.
ISBN 978-80-8141-243-1.

17 Pondelíková, 2018, p. 128

12
PONDELÍKOVÁ, I. 2018. K otázke svetovej literatúry písanej po
anglicky. In: Skúsenosť inakosti = Experience of otherness : osobná a
politická identita v kultúre, literatúre, preklade a humanitných vedách :
recenzovaný vedecký zborník príspevkov z medzinárodnej konferencie
konanej dňa 13. 9. 2018 na Katedre anglistiky a amerikanistiky
Filozofickej fakulty Univerzity Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici. Bratislava
: Z-F LINGUA, 2018. s. 127-147. ISBN 978-80-8177-050-0.
SCHAMA, S. 2007. Krajina a paměť. Praha : Argo/Dokořán, 2007. 702
p. ISBN 978-80-7203-803-9.
TAYLOR, K. et al. 2015. Conserving Cultural Landscapes. New York :
Routledge, 2015. 393 p. ISBN 978-0-8153-4691-3.
UNESCO. 2011. [online]. [cit. 2021-03-04]. Available on:
https://whc.unesco.org/documents/publi_wh_papers_07_en.pdf

13
CHAPTER 1 - IDENTITY AND PLACE AS A SOCIAL
CONSTRUCT18

Tatiana Tökölyová

Abstract
The article reflects research focused on the social dimension of the
identity of the place, specifically cultural and ethnic aspects as viewed
by the theory of social identity. The introductory part of the article also
presents important bases for research, namely the ethnic, cultural and
geopolitical realia of the country within its micro-region of Polynesia
to justify the relevance of exploring Māori tourism in terms of the
identity of the place as a social construct. The main goal of the research
presented here is to verify the claim that Māori tourism has proven to
be one of the effective ways to support the Māori element of the
country’s identity. The conclusion of the article points out that the
economic - social tool set up to restore and strengthen the Māori
identity has become one of the tools for building local and national
(Polynesian) identity of the country.

Key words: Taonga, Tangata Whenua, Māori, identity, New Zealand,

identity of place

1 Methodology
At present, the process of socio-spatial transformation of identity of
place is culminating, and therefore concepts such as tradition,
individuality and identity have become basic and at the same time very
lively and sensitive factors in the context of the social environment. As
a result, in both the Pacific and New Zealand, identity has become a
complex concept evolving under the changes in the ethnic composition
of society and changes in the regional migration patterns. As the main
topic of the article is a reflection of research focused on the social
dimension of the identity of the place, specifically cultural and ethnic
aspect of the identity of the local environment, it focuses on Māori
tourism as a New Zealand’s experience and practice in improving the

18 Acknowledgment: This publication was supported by the Operational Program

Integrated Infrastructure for the project: “Addressing societal threats due to the
COVID-19 pandemic”, Code ITMS2014+: NFP313010ASN4, co-financed by the
European Regional Development Fund.
14
Māori social integration. One of the tools of such social integration,
which allows the study and evaluation of behaviour and relationships
between people based on identity (ethnic, linguistic), is the so-called
Māori tourism. Therefore, it forms the core in examining the identity
of a place as a social construct. The theory of social identity provides a
theoretical basis for the study of Māori tourism as a tool for building
the identity of a place and the national identity.

The argumentation line is supported by examples of the use of the

Māori element of country’s identity in the tourism industry, through
examples in tourism practice (used from web sites of selected
organizations and institutions supporting this segment of tourism).
The main aim of the article is to prove that Māori tourism has gradually
become a social construct, i.e. that it is not only an economic tool (as a
tool of tourism - a sector of the national economy), but also a tool
creating and strengthening the importance of place and of the physical
environment towards the importance of place and moment of
attachment, i.e. a tool for building and preserving the identity of ethnic
and nation. For this reason, the article follows up on several researches
in the field of examining identity as a social construct. These research
work with the initial definition of a place as a physical environment,
various research emphasizes the social construction of the importance
of a place and the importance of the physical environment to the
importance of a place and the moment of attachment. The objective
thus set requires the establishment of the baseline facts of the study,
namely the ethnic composition of the country, with an emphasis on the
Māori population; subsequently clarifying the link between the ethnic
composition of the country and its region, and identifying the main
Māori source of the tool under the study, i.e. of Taonga. Strength and
potential of this segment of economy is supported by data up to 2019
due to the effects of the current Covid19 pandemics. The aim of the
article is not to provide a categorization of local identities, but to
contribute to the discussion on the effects of socio-cultural diversity in
the context of globalization.

15
One such comprehensive research, which is the basis of the initial
argumentation of this article is the one by A.L. HAUGE Identity and
Place: A Critical Comparison of Three Identity Theories (2011)19.
Specifically, she critically analysed (1) place-identity theory, (2) social
identity theory, and (3) identity process theory. The theory of place
identity has significantly contributed to the development of the study
of architecture and the material (human -built) environment in the
field of psychology and social sciences, emphasizing the influence of
the physical environment on identity and self-perception. Moreover,
she showed that the processes described in social identity theory and
identity process theory are useful in explaining the relationship
between identity and place. An “identity of place” may be relevant if
considered to be part of other categories of identity. The
argumentation of this article is also based on the semantic dimension
of Māori terms (especially Tangata Whenua and Taonga) and primarily
from the understanding of Taonga, i.e. Māori understanding of tangible
and intangible cultural heritage.

Another important research for the study of Māori tourism is the

research of R. C. Stedman (2003)20, because he integrated (1)
characteristics of the environment, (2) human uses of the
environment, (3) constructed meanings, and (4) place attachment and
satisfaction. The author based from examination of three theories used
to explain how architecture and the natural and material environment
affect human identity. Ambition of this article is to prove that identity
manifests itself on many levels, with a place as one of them. And this
argument is followed by the research presented here, and justifies the
use of Māori tourism as one of the tools of building the identity of place
at the micro level (individual identity tied to place; Māoris as Tangata
Whenua - people of the earth), meso level (identity of an individual
through his community connected to place), as well as at the macro
level (i.e. as one of the pillars of national identity). Therefore, the
research presented here is located in New Zealand and focuses on
Māori tourism as one of the tools for building the identity of place. The
research object of identity as a social construct is New Zealand in its
geographical environment - the Pacific region. Regional anchoring is,
in my view, decisive for examining the country’s identity.

19 Hauge, 2011
20 Stedman, 2003
16
For this reason, the article deals with the clarification of the
significance and importance of the country´s location from the point of
view of cultural and regional identity, clarifying thus basic arguments.
These are:
 regional identification of the country within the micro-region of
Polynesia; which gives
 importance and relevance of establishing Tangata Whenua
(Māori) and the Māori aspect as the basis for the country’s
identity set in her historical and ethnic context altogether with
 understanding Taonga as an expression of the cultural and
ethnic aspect of the identity of the local environment.

These result in the final – application part into the fulfilment of the
main goal of the article. The conclusion points out that the economic -
social tool set up to restore and strengthen the Māori identity
comprises an inseparable part of promoting and strengthening the
identity of place, besides building the national (Polynesian) identity of
the country. The results of the research are presented in concluding
part.

The basis for examining the identity of a place in the case presented
here is currently acceptance of the idea of a common homeland of the
Polynesian nation in New Zealand with the country’s only indigenous
people, the Māori, as Polynesian population. According to the 2018
census, the ethnic composition of New Zealand society has changed in
favour of increasing Māori population and Pacific peoples (Tagata
Pacifika).21 Developments since the 1990s have confirmed the growing
importance of ethnic groups in the political life, and the socio-
economic impact of measures to protect the Māori language (Te Reo
Māori) and culture stems from this development. Documents and
census statistics examined and analyses of development trends in the
country enable to identify certain socio-political tendencies in society
in favour of the importance of the Māori element for society and the
national identity of New Zealand. Applying the idea of a common
Polynesian homeland, the Māori are perceived as a link between the
country and the Pacific region and the peoples of Polynesia. In this
context of the study of identity, it is necessary to proceed from the
definition of the intangible aspects of the formation of the nation,

21 Māori population estimates. In: Stats New Zealand. 2018. online

17
which here is the determination of a common Polynesian homeland.
The relevance of this statement is also proved by the analysis of Māori
tourism as one of the applied tools interconnected to the historical
context.

2 Examining the Identity of a Place Through Māori Tourism

It’s really important to acknowledge a person.
By using the words 'Kia Ora' we acknowledge not just them,
but everything about them including where they come from
and who they come from.22
Arekatera Maihi, Ngati Whatua ki Orakei

Accepting the idea of a common Polynesian homeland with the

country’s only indigenous people, Māori, confirms Te Reo Māori as the
original language in New Zealand as the country’s basic language,
giving it a unique cultural identity. The Māori language thus expresses
a relatively significant social power to strengthen the Māori youth in
their national self-knowledge linked to the place. Māori tradition
considers a place to be a river, a mountain or a traditional place of
community - similarly, the universality of “Kia Ora” greeting can be
explained (example of one of its graphic versions used in Māori
tourism campaigning as an expression of the identity of the place see
in Picture 1 below).

Picture 1: One of the versions of traditional Māori greeting

Source: Māoritourism New Zealand online

From this research point of view, Māori are seen as key in protecting
the cultural (i.e. natural) Polynesian and Pacific heritage as “Māori
culture makes New Zealand unique in a globalized world and is a central
part of our sense of place, identifying us as a nation.” whereas the term

22 The meaning of Kia Ora. In: New Zealand. online

18
“national heritage” includes history, taonga, places and symbols of
nationality”23. Māori culture and the presentation of their customs is,
besides the unique nature, one of the reasons why tourists visit New
Zealand as the Māori element is extremely lively in all areas of life in
New Zealand society. The country’s growing ethnic diversity is thus
clearly linked to the process of protecting the heritage of the Pacific
and Polynesian peoples. According to Spoonley, these Pacific
communities develop new cultural forms and identities, they express
multiple identities to multiple places.24

The analysis of Māori tourism as a link between several identities must

be seen in the context of New Zealand’s role in building a regional
identity. It is an objective factor that evolved naturally with
independent changes in the country's internal political environment.
Indeed, national identity has evolved as a subjective response to the
globalizing challenges to which the country has been exposed.

3 Māori Tourism as a Matter of Taonga

Māori tourism can be understood as gaining any tourist experience
associated with Māori culture. This means that the product of Māori
tourism can be defined as the opportunity provided to consumers as
part of a comprehensive tourist product, enabling them to touch Māori
culture or any tourist activity and business carried out, owned by or
otherwise participated in directly by the Māori. “Indigenous tourism is
a significant component of the tourism mix in New Zealand …. as a sector
that can create economic opportunities and benefits for Indigenous
peoples...”25 And globally, “New Zealand’s diverse and exciting cultural
life is very attractive to overseas investors, performers and audiences [...]
Programmes such as Sistema Aotearoa and Te Matatini’s kapa haka
events demonstrate how cultural experiences can provide social and
economic benefits to families and communities.”26 Stats NZ (2015)
distinguishes Wairuatanga, the spiritual dimension of Māori values, as
an essential part of Māori-centred tourism.27 Therefore, two key

23 Ministry for Culture and Heritage Statement of Intent 2013-2016. p. 7. online

24 Spoonley, 2000, p. 4
25 Puriri – McIntosh, 2019
26 Ministry for Culture and Heritage Statement of Intent 2013-2016. p. 7. online
27 Māori tourism statistics 2015. In: Stats New Zealand. online

19
segments need to be explored and joined within Māori tourism:
Tangata Whenua and Taonga.

Tangata Whenua as a term denoting Māori people and Taonga as the

very base of their heritage. Māori dictionary entries define Tangata
Whenua as “local people, hosts, indigenous people - people born of the
whenua, i.e. of the placenta and of the land where the people’s ancestors
have lived and where their placenta are buried.”28 Te Ara – Encyclopedia
of New Zealand (2013) defines Tangata Whenua as “the people who
have authority in a particular place”29. The idea of Tangata Whenua as
key pillar of Māori tourism promotion is illustrated by pictures 2-4
below.

The basis for examining Māori tourism lies with the Treaty of Waitangi
(1840), which needs to be seen as anchored in the Māori ethnic group
and the Māori culture. Colonization caused not only a significant
decline in their population, but they lost their share in land ownership
- the basis of their economic and social lives. Even the 1960s were
marked by a general demand for the return of Māori culture -
Māoritanga30, when the justice of the Waitangi Treaty was again
discussed. In 1975, a Waitangi tribunal was established, which, after
many complaints, returned some of the wrongfully confiscated land to
the Māori. This process is the basis for the renewal of Māori
community life and thus for Māori tourism itself. The government has
begun to pay more attention to the promotion of the Māori language in
the media and in schools, and overall interest in Māori literature and
art has increased. Television and radio programs began to appear in
Māori, many places in New Zealand regained their original Māori
names, and last but not least, government agencies received their
names in both official languages (Māori and English). Tribal structures
and councils have been strengthened, and the influence of the Māori
has increased not only in culture but also in political life as a
manifestation of recognising the Māori principle in national identity.

28 Tangata and Whenua. In: Māoridictionary. online

29 Story: Papatūānuku – the land. In: Teara. online
30 Sorrenson, 2003, p. 285 – 286

20
Picture 2: The Hongi - a traditional Māori Greeting, at Tamaki Māori Village Rotorua
Source: Māorilifestyles online

Picture 3: Promotion of the “Tangata Whenua: Waikato” of Michael King and Barry
Barclay’s landmark 1970s Māori documentary series Tangata Whenua (picture is
illustrating The Great Trees and The Carvin)
Source: New Zealand on Screen online

Picture 4: The first picture of a short film Tangata Whenua – People of the Land as
“an invitation to look beyond the obvious to the subtle beauty of the truth about
our origin, purpose, identity, and sense of belonging”
Source: Vimeo online

21
The second component is the understanding of Taonga. The Māori
dictionary´s modern definition refers to Taonga in Māori culture as a
valuable thing, whether tangible or intangible, including socially or
culturally valuable objects, resources, phenomena, ideas and
techniques.31

Tangible Taonga32 includes objects, resources, phenomenon, ideas and

techniques socially or culturally valuable. They include all sorts of
heirlooms and artefacts, natural resources such as geothermal springs
and access to natural resources, such as water rights as well as land,
fisheries. Intangible examples may include language, spiritual beliefs
or cultural traditions. As by Karaitiana Taiuru, varying definitions and
interpretations have implications for policies regarding such things as
intellectual property and genetic engineering.33 Tourist may touch the
mentioned Māoritanga effects today also because many New Zealand
museums contain the term Whare taonga (a “treasure house”) or the
Ministry for Culture and Heritage is also called Te Manatū Taonga. A
taonga has major political, economic and social consequence in New
Zealand and derives its today’s authority from the above Treaty of
Waitangi, which promised that Māori would retain undisturbed
possession of their taonga. As illustrated in Picture 5 below, Māori
tourism is based on the understanding of Taonga. It shows that this
segment of tourism is based on such material Taongas as various
artefacts, architectural manifestations, land, fishing, natural resources
(popular geothermal springs) and access to natural resources. These
material aspects are the expression and anchorage of the place of the
intangible Taonga34. Generalised, no land means no Taonga and no
Taonga means no Tangata Whenua and no Aotearoa.

The logo below expresses the connection between tangible and

intangible Taonga. The fish here may be understood as a symbol of the
richness of nature, which is home to Tangata Whenua. The graphic
representation of the fish also indicates the shape of the canoe, which
expresses the idea of understanding the Taonga - the river as an

31 Taonga. In: Māoridictionary. online

32 Taonga. In: Definitions. online
33 Karaitiana 2018, Williams 2001
34 He taonga te raraunga? Is data taonga? 2018. English panel discussion on “To what

extent is information tapu or sensitive to Māori when it comes to sharing data

online?”. In: Stats New Zealnad. online
22
expression of the identity of the place, not only as a place to live, but
also as a source of livelihood and connection of individual parts of the
country.

Picture 5: Logo of NZ Māori Tourism Company

Source: Māoritourism New Zealand online

This logo expresses the connection between material and intangible

Taonga. The fish here may be also understood as a symbol of the
richness of nature, which is home to a unique nation, the Māori.

Picture 6: Photo of Ā whina -the on-campus whā nau for Mā ori students to work
together to share knowledge, achieve academic success, and build strong
communities and leaders.
Source: Victoria University of Wellington online

23
Support for this specific segment of the economy, i.e. a segment with
the main goal and mission to promote a unique Māori culture, has
recently grown significantly not only in the number of companies with
this focus, but also in the range of services they provide. Despite
significant initial financial support from individual governments for
the development of this segment, this “investment” has clearly proved
its worth and currently Māori tourism makes a significant contribution
to the region’s budget. Stats NZ show that in 2015 Māori tourism was
contributed by accommodation and food providers. Māori Tourism
includes community – based companies providing also events
promoting culture and heritage making tourists experiencing Māori
culture by visiting a marae, watching a carving or weaving
demonstration or learning about fascinating myths and legends
from Māori guides (famous story-telling) altogether with festivals and
arts (performing arts including), traditional Māori tattoos and carved
meeting houses35 with the principles of manaakitanga altogether with
tour providers or art galleries and other tourism companies. It
contributed $214 million towards the overall New Zealand economy in
the year ended February 2015. In 2019 there were 234 Māori tourism
businesses employing 11,100 people with 29% of Māori tourism
businesses in the arts and recreational services industry, however it
remains uncertain due the COVID-19 outbreak and border closure to
international tourists in late March 2020. Mostly, the communities in
Rotorua (Picture 6) or Kaikōura can suffer a large impact on earnings
and employment.36 Effects of the Trans-Tasman bubble (Pacific travel
bubble) open in mid-April 2021 between Australia and New Zealand
are difficult to predict yet.

35Māori-culture. In: New Zealand. online

36Māori tourism businesses employed more than 11,000 in 2019. In: Stats New
Zealand. online
24
Picture 7: Mitai Māori Village in Rotorua
Source: Stuff New Zealnd online

Māori tourism interlinks economic tools for re-building their economic

position locally and nationally, with an environmental aspect so crucial
for Māoris as Tangata Whenua – people of the land knowing Aotearoa
best. The following picture illustrates pillars of Māori tourism – the
land with protected nature, Tangata Whenua with their culture and
tradition localised in the communities joined into one country.

Picture 7: Demonstration of the pillars of Māori tourism - New Zealand Māori

Tourism website
Source: Māoritourism New Zealand online

25
The above examples only confirm the findings of several studies even
in the 90s expanding the understanding of Māori tourism as any tourist
activity and business with Māori direct participation.37 This
understanding reflects a shift to the level of “sustainable tourism”
(which uses culture as a commercial product) and thus recent changes
in the sector, when these direct services (such as simple
accommodation within Māori dwellings) have grown into building
large hotels that not only provide accommodation but also employ
Māori residents, thus increasing the socio-economic impact on the
local population.

Picture 8: Photo illustrating natural heritage in tourism practise - waka tours on the
Ōtakaro Avon River.
Source: Stuff New Zealnd online

The picture above confirms findings by Lindsay and Walters38 that the
main features of sustainable Māori tourism are tourism activities
carried out by Māori-owned businesses and institutions. These
activities must be sustainable from an environmental, social, cultural
and economic point of view, which clearly expresses its inter-
ministerial nature and importance. This is the condition that the
activities are implemented within sustainable Māori tourism aimed at
the Māori community and supporting development of this community.

37 Zeppel, 1997, p. 475

38 Lindsay – Walters, 1998
26
“Building meaningful partnerships is to have a well-functioning tourism
system we need to build more meaningful partnerships. This will mean
[...] to ensure effective engagement with Māori. We will encourage,
enable and support partnerships between Māori tourism enterprise, iwi,
hapū and tangata whenua and government, industry, businesses, regions
as well as communities to engage and collaborate on projects that lead
to improved tourism outcomes.”39 This understanding reflects the shift
to the level of the sustainable tourism, which uses culture as a
commercial product, and thus changes the sector with direct services
(such as simple accommodation with iwis) growing into large hotels
not providing accommodation but also employing Māori people, thus
increasing the socio-economic impact on the local population. Thus,
the basis and essence of the Māori tourism is the connection of classical
services in tourism with the Māori aspect, i.e. acquaintance with the
cultural heritage of the country and its dissemination through tourists
(for details concerned activities and companies involved see e.g. New
Zealand Tourism Strategy 201540).

In my opinion, it is necessary to state other partial goals of the

development of such a sector of the economy in order to meet the
multiple goal of Mori tourism, i.e. meeting not only economic goals but
also the added values that this activity brings. These include the
promotion of local employment (employing the local population),
cultural protection, preservation and protection of the environment,
the aspect of education (also raising funds for building local
education), family values (as most businesses and facilities working in
this segment of tourism are owned by individual families and not tribal
structures) and thus building a sense of community, as financial and
non-financial the profit from this activity is “consumed” directly in the
community and by the community, it contributes to its development.
Although profit is not a key goal of these activities, it is a necessary
activator of the whole process.41

39
New Zealand-Aotearoa Government Tourism Strategy, 2019, p. 5. online
40
New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015. In: Ministry of Tourism. online
41
Lindsay, 2000, p. 6 – 7
27
In this context, a network of organizations and institutions actively
involved in this activity has recently been established, such as various
sections in individual ministries, regional tourism organizations and
specialized Māori tourism organizations, private marketing companies
and various industry associations from several sectors of the tourism
industry, which provide consultancy in the start-up of new activities of
an exclusively Māori nature (as 13 regional tourism organisation;
Ministry for Māori Development, Tourism New Zealand, Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment, Te Puni Kōkiri, Ministry for
Culture and Heritage, New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute -Te
Puia, Poutama Trust, and others cooperating with Iwis and Hapus).

4 Conclusion
As this article has also pointed out, Māori tourism is one of the most
effective ways of developing and advancing on Māori issues, as it
involves not only cultural, linguistic, but also economic and political
issues. This means that it contains the basic aspects of the Māori
development and thus of the development of New Zealand society
under the changes in the ethnic composition of society and in the
migration patterns of the region. For this reason, the main aim of the
research presented here was to verify the claim that Māori tourism
proved to be one of the most effective ways of promoting the identity
of place as a social construct. This investigation was based on the
identification of the main source of Māori identity and the degree to
which it is reflected in Māori tourism. In order to verify this claim, the
introductory part of the research focused on (1) examining the current
development of the country’s ethnic composition, which is conditioned
and determined by (2) the country's regional and cultural location in
the micro-region of Polynesia. The findings of the examination of these
questions were reflected in the main line of argument. The objective
thus set required the establishment of the initial facts of the study,
namely the ethnic composition of the country with an emphasis on the
Māori population; subsequently clarifying the link between the ethnic
composition of the country and the study of Taonga, identified here as
the main source of the tool under study - Māori tourism. Fulfilment of
the goal is demonstrated by the final conclusion that the Māori
tourisms in terms of Tangata Whenua and Taonga can be
unambiguously identified not only for an economic-social tool, but also
for the social construct of the identity of the place in accordance with
theory of social identity. The argumentation was also based on the
28
semantic dimension of the terms in the Māori language (especially
Tangata Whenua and Taonga), as well as on key aspects of national
policies to support this segment of tourism and primarily based on
Taonga, i.e. Māori understanding of tangible and intangible cultural
heritage. Taoga is thus transferred to the macro level, i.e. nationwide
through nation branding campaigns. The ambition of this article is to
prove that identity manifests itself on many levels, one of which is the
place.

The article also points out that the economic and social tool set up to
restore and strengthen the Māori identity has become one of the tools
for building the country’s national (Polynesian) identity. In this sense,
this article draws attention to the various dimensions of the identity
itself conditioned by the place, where local identities can become
mechanisms for overcoming the problems associated with the growth
of globalization. We consider Taonga to be the main starting point for
this instrument. Therefore, in conclusion, it can be stated that Māori
tourism combines the cultural uniqueness of the country and natural
wealth. It is a connection of material and intangible aspects of Taonga,
thus acquiring the character and function of the social construct also
in accordance with theory of social identity as it integrates:
1) characteristics of the environment - the country best known to
Tangata Whenua;
2) human uses of the environment - a significant moment of nature
protection, New Zealand as a green anti-nuclear country;
3) constructed meanings - strong location to the micro-region, use
of Māori city names; and
4) attachment and satisfaction - as the spiritual dimension of
expressing the identity of a place.

The implementation of Māori tourism and its activities also prove how
architecture and natural and material environment affect human
identity, as it contains two main components - material (presentation
of architectural elements, handicrafts, food tastings, accompanying
tourists around the country, etc.) and intangible manifestations of
Taonga (traditional clothing, dances, songs, tattoos, etc.). This also
illustrates the efforts of New Zealand governments to restore the
status and opportunities of indigenous peoples. The basic goal was to
improve their position within the majority society. However, a
secondary, no less important effect is that governments have thus
29
given more opportunities to Māori to build their own intellectual,
economic as well as political elites of the indigenous population and a
sense of co-responsibility for the success of this project. Māori tourism
combines the cultural uniqueness of the landscape with natural
wealth, i.e. it is a connection of material and intangible aspects of
Taonga, thus acquiring the character and function of a social construct.

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0502

Doc. PhDr. Tatiana Tökölyová, PhD.

Department of Political Sciences
Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Saints Cyril and Methodius
Trnava
tatiana.tokolyova@ucm.sk

32
CHAPTER 2 - CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE IN
A MULTI-ETHNIC CITY: A METHODOLOGICAL TURN42

Ruslan Saudov

Abstract
This chapter is devoted to the methodology of analyzing the linguistic
and cultural landscape of a city. The discussion of methods in a
systematic study of landscape is relevant for at least two reasons. First,
it brings the research into proper order providing for a smooth
procedure and predictable outcomes. Second, it increases validity and
objectivity of the research. The landscape scholarship, it seems, does
not have an established procedure of analysis, it being a significant
omission. Having a ready-made replicable methodology could be a
visible contribution to the scholarship. The methodology offered in
this chapter is triangulated, which, to our opinion, helps to achieve
better results.

Key words: linguistic landscape, cultural landscape, methodology,

research procedure, triangulation

1 Introduction
Methodology is an important aspect of any research given that the
validity of any study depends on the proper procedural arrangements
made by the researcher. At the same time, methodology is often a weak
point in a research, especially in case the type of research is not widely
used, and proper procedures are not yet established.

This chapter is designed to address the methodology of urban

landscape research in an inhomogeneous (multiethnic, multilingual,
multireligious) region. The nature of this writing piece is primarily
theoretical, but occasionally we provide examples to support our
claims. These examples are taken from the author’s home city of Ufa,
the capital of Bashkortostan, a constituent of Russia. The region is a
home of over 100 ethnicities with three, Russian, Tatar, and Bashkir,
being the largest, and its capital city represents a diversified urban
landscape. Therefore, several languages can be distinguished on the

42The research has been supported through the Grant of the Russian President to
investigate the cultural and linguistic landscape of a city in the multi-ethnic region.
33
landscape, which makes the area acceptable for the analysis of the
kind.

The goal of this chapter, therefore, is to arrive at a methodology of

urban landscape analysis applicable in an inhomogeneous region,
which is a home of several ethnicities, religions, and languages. The
core task of such methodology should be triangulation of its approach
as well as replicability in similar regions.

The key term employed in this chapter is linguistic landscape. This

notion is applied here in the meaning given to it by Landry and
Bourhis: “the visibility and salience of languages on public and
commercial signs in a given territory or region.”43 More specifically, a
study that counts as a linguistic landscape analysis is supposed to meet
the following criteria:
a) It is visual, not aural. It includes signboards and large printing on
product packages but not audio information such as
announcements in a subway car.
b) It is in public spaces, not private; thus, it includes a sign in a store
window, but not a sign inside a home like “God bless our mess”.
c) It is aimed at multiple and unspecified readers. It would include
a note on a shop door that says “back after lunch”, but not such a
sign on the door of a home.
d) It is information acquired passively. It would include headlines
at a newsstand but not articles in a magazine.
e) It gives us a sense of being in a particular place or which effects
our perception of that place.44

Meanwhile, we depart from the notion of linguistic landscape to arrive

at a wider term, which would incorporate the culture behind the
landscape. The Humboldtian idea that language reflects culture and
the mindset of the people who use it is, in our opinion, productive and
applicable to urban landscape. Linguistic landscape as a notion defined
by Landry and Bourhis is artificially stripped of its cultural meaning.
The language units taken for analysis are ripped from their cultural
environments. While for some purposes such separation of language
and culture is possible, the outcomes of such analysis are inherently

43 Landry and Bourhis, 1997, p. 23

44 Long and Nakai, 2014, p. 229
34
poor compared to the richness of meanings embedded in urban
landscape. To avoid the impractical results of such division, we
propose the notion of linguistic and cultural (linguacultural)
landscape. The simultaneous analysis of the linguistic and cultural
meanings of the landscape units yields richer results.

The theoretical foundation that we stem from is behaviorism. We

assume that human behavior can be understood by analyzing the
outcomes of human activities. Urban landscape is one of the visible
results of the collective action of an entire community. Therefore, it can
reflect the mindset of the people who live on that territory. By
exploring the urban landscape, we can make assumptions about the
identity of the people who produce this landscape on everyday basis.
In this respect, we hold it essential to analyze the landscape in order to
arrive at broader conclusions about the community.

Urban landscape scholarship is capable to deliver important practical

outcomes. Research of landscape is informative about both synchronic
(here and now) and diachronic (over time) condition of the urban
space. It helps to see which social, historical, and cultural layers
dominate on the landscape. We, therefore, learn about the local
chronotope, a continuum of time and space. From this, a number of
outcomes can be achieved. One of them is learning about the functions
of the local languages and cultures: to know what a certain language
used for, for instance. If languages are inequal in their function, this
may lead to social strains between the ethnicities speaking these
languages. Such strains may be efficiently predicted and addressed by
the community or its authorities. Apart from that, the existing
landscape trends may predict cultural shifts in the future. Urban
landscape scholarship is, therefore, relevant not only for research but
also for practice.

2 Literature Review
Language landscape scholarship emerged in the 1960s but blossomed
in the early 21st century. The first attempt to describe language
landscape was the work of Japanese geographer Yasuo Masai, who
analyzed the signs of one of the districts of Tokyo and came to the
conclusion that language reflects important socio-economic patterns

35
of the city.45 Despite that many of his conclusions are debatable, he laid
the main vector of linguistic landscape scholarship for many years: the
study of commercial signs and, in particular, the use of the English
language on them “as a symbolic resource and marker of modernity,
internationalism, globalization, ‘high class’, and so on.”46

Contemporary linguistic landscape scholarship extends beyond the

borders of Japan and includes a wide variety of its forms. Similar
studies have been and are being conducted in many cities around the
world: Jerusalem47, Brussels48, Montreal49, Ghent50. The peripheral
areas are also explored to the same extent51 52. Conferences on
linguistic landscape research are held regularly: Tel Aviv (2008), Siena
(2009), Strasbourg (2010), Addis Ababa (2012), Namur (2013), Cape
Town (2014), Berkeley (2015), Liverpool (2016), etc.

It is obvious that linguistic landscape studies are particularly

interesting in the regions where several ethnic groups live or where,
for historical reasons, they replaced each other leaving traces on the
linguistic landscape of the city. The Russian Federation, as a multi-
ethnic region of the world, is also of considerable interest in terms of
studying language landscape. Of particular interest are the regions
where several ethnic groups live and maintain their languages and
cultures.

In Russia, the research of the linguistic landscape of Cheboksary (the

region of Chuvashia) was carried out by Hector Alos i Font53. A
thorough study was conducted in Kazan54. Moscow is also a popular
destination for linguistic landscape researchers55.

45 Masai, 1972
46 Jaworski – Thurlow, 2010, p. 14
47 Rosenbaum – Nadel – Cooper – Fishman, 1977
48 Wenzel, 1998
49 Monnier, 1989
50 Collins – Slembrouk, 2007
51 Kotze – du Plessis, 2010
52 Pietikäinen – Lane –Salo – Laihiala–Kankainen, 2011
53 Alos i Font, 2014
54 Gabdrakhmanova – Makhmutov – Sagdieva, 2015
55 Kuptsova, 2013

36
Cultural landscape was started by a Norwegian scholar Christian
Norberg-Schulz. He believed certain places carry a spirit, genius loci,
which makes them different from other places. He believed that “the
city is not only buildings with a variety of practical functions, but it is […]
a historical form of the human world.”56 Cultural landscape, therefore,
is a field where scholars interpret the city based on the manifestations
of culture visible on its streets (architecture, sculpture, graffiti, etc)57.
Pecníková claims that “the city can serve as a space where cultural
changes and their institutionalisation as well as specific cultural
phenomena can be observed.”58

3 Methodology
Methodology of cultural and linguistic landscape is difficult to design
because a landscape study may aim at different goals to be achieved.
An incomplete list of such objectives is given below:
 Study the interlanguage relationships on the landscape; learn
about the functions of languages
 Observe compliance with the local language policy
 Study the connection of linguistic units to cultures
 Learn about the intercultural connections through linguistic
interferences
 Explore the connection between toponyms and cultures
 Examine the cultural non-verbal components (colors, flags,
monuments, etc)
 Explore the diachronic development of the landscape?
 Examine local identity
 Reconstruct local chronotope

The diversity of the possible objectives makes a unified methodology

a hard goal to achieve. Yet, we believe that the procedure offered in
this chapter allows to cover all these and some other objectives should
the researcher need it. Overall, we offer a three-step analysis, and in
each of them, a different set of methods may be used. Below, we
address each step in a separate subsection.

56 Norberg–Schulz, 1979
57 Pecníková, 2017
58 Ibid.

37
4 Fieldwork
It is self-evident that an urban landscape study starts from collecting
the material in the field. To this end, researchers make pictures or
videos of any verbal reactions in the urban space. When making these
visuals, it is important to capture the context of each message.
Therefore, it is advised to make more than one picture of the same
verbal reaction. The proper order of pictures is also desirable. The core
principle is that the verbal reaction could be easily found on landscape
should it be necessary. It is, thus, necessary to make pictures of verbal
reactions in successive order: street by street, one side of the street,
then the other side of the street. It is desirable that the verbal reactions
should be tied to house numbers: the researcher may take a picture of
the house number plate before recording the verbal reaction. Finally,
it is important that the technology used for collecting the material
should be sufficient to produce pictures or video of the quality that
allows readability of the verbal messages.

One more aspect is important when we discuss the process of material

collection, and that is going to be safety. Even though it is usually not
explicitly prohibited by law to make pictures of houses, such activity
may draw the attention of the law enforcement, such as police, who
may approach to inquire about the reason of taking the pictures.
Another consideration is the safety of the researcher being outside.
Safety, therefore, is a serious issue, and to address it, we have designed
a field researcher’s check-list before starting the collection of the
material:
 Always carry an ID with you when performing the field research.
 If available, always carry an organization or researcher ID with
you when performing the field research.
 Always inform someone about the field research time and place.
 Make sure that you collect the material in daytime only and avoid
any trouble.

These measures may seem excessive. However, we believe that

precautions are necessary for ensuring the safety of researchers. The
question that we may hold to be essential is the scope of the material
collected for urban landscape research. Unless the settlement is so
small that it is possible to make pictures of all the verbal messages
outside, it is a matter of selecting appropriate parts of the landscape.

38
We hold it essential that for a complete research of urban landscape it
is necessary to divide the city into several parts and collect the
material from the most representative streets in each.

Specifically, we recommend to sample from the city center, from the

city districts, from the periphery, and, if needed, from other cities in
the same region (see Diagram 1). Such a division of the city is
necessary because of the different amount of investment into urban
infrastructure. A city center is normally well-maintained by the city
administration. It is what tourists would see; it is thought to be the face
of the city. Therefore, authorities would typically want to show the
best of it. In regions with indigenous groups, city administrations
would want to display their culture not only because it reflects identity
of a part of the population, but also because it may be attractive to the
guests of the city. As a consequence, the city center is dense with the
markers of indigenous culture and language, such as various
nominations, signs, symbol, and the like. For instance, in Ufa, the
indigenous culture of the titular ethnic group Bashkir is represented
by the use of its language (all the information about organizations and
businesses is converted into Bashkir), symbols (flags, ethnic flower),
monuments to local leaders and their names which serve as toponyms,
ornaments, colors, etc. In Picture 1, one may see an ethnic ornament at
the top of the building one the left as well as several Bashkir ethnic
symbols beside the man in an ethnic costume on the street art sample
on the right. It is interesting that another representative ethnicity
Tatar does not receive equal treatment. Naturally, the markers of their
culture are also used but not their language, which has certain
differences with the Bashkir. Overall, these markers may be functional
(i.e. communicate an informative message such as a store name) as
well as decorative (i.e. communicate a declarative message such as a
slogan).

39
Picture 1: Examples of ethnic elements on Ufa landscape
Source: Ruslan Saudov, 2021

Meanwhile, in Ufa, the further we depart from the city center, the fewer
markers of indigenous culture and language we encounter. It is also
true for many other cities. Should we collect the landscape material
from other city districts, it may turn out that while the indigenous
cultural and linguistic markers decline, other linguacultural markers
increase in number. In Ufa, it is the Russian culture and language that
start dominating in the urban landscape the more we depart from the
center.

The periphery of the city may display even fewer signs of indigenous
culture. By periphery, we mean any settlements adjacent to the city.
Even though they are beyond the city boundaries, they belong to the
city because its residents keep connection with the life in the city
through friends and acquaintances, employment, shopping, recreation,
and in multiple other ways. Normally, the verbal messages found in the
periphery are highly functional: they inform about the store names,
directions, warnings, etc. Therefore, the messages in the periphery
reveal the real functional capacity of each language in the city.

The comparison of the city center, its districts, and periphery allows to
arrive at the conclusion about the use languages and their functions in
the landscape. A homogeneous use of the language would mean that
the language is a regular means of communication of the local
residents. It can be used both officially and for everyday conversation.
40
Sometimes, it may be necessary to analyze landscape in other cities or
settlements in the region. This could be done for the sake of
comparison of the city in question with other places in a similar
multiethnic environment. This digression may inform the researcher
if the results in a single city are replicable in other parts of the region
or not. This stage is optional, and it only works if there are reasons to
believe that the results achieved in the city are abnormal or unique for
the region.

For example, the Bashkir language is routinely used in the city center
of Ufa. In accordance with the local regulations, all the nominations
and basic information about office hours shall be given in both Russian
and Bashkir languages, and this requirement is observed in the
majority of cases. However, when we depart from the center, fewer
businesses comply with this requirement, and there are fewer
instances when the Bashkir language is used. Moreover, the Bashkir
language is hardly ever used to render important information such as
safety precautions. Instead, the Russian language prevails in such
cases. The comparison between the use of the Bashkir language in the
city center and in the districts / in the periphery allows a conclusion
that the language is used for decorative purposes more than for real
communication.

We advise to collect the material from the largest streets in each part
of the city. We reason that urban landscape is influential because it is
visible. Therefore, it is the most visible streets, the streets with the
largest number of people that need to be analyzed. Usually, they are
main streets in the city with the greatest number of stores and
entertainment.

Diagram 1: City clusters to be analyzed for urban landscape research

Source: own processing, 2021

41
After the material is duly collected from the streets of the city, it is time
to properly classify it according to the nature of the verbal messages.
We propose the following classification but, depending on the research
goals, it may vary from case to case. The pictures of the landscape units
should be collected in separate folders on a computer:
 Separate folders for each type of verbal message (signboards,
billboards, advertisements, etc.).
 Open the following folders according to the language of the
verbal message or combination of them. For Ufa, we offered the
following division:
o Exclusively in Russian.
o Exclusively in Bashkir/Tatar.
o Exclusively in English or other foreign languages.
o The same text in Russian and Bashkir/Tatar languages.
o Same text in Russian (and/or Bashkir/Tatar) and in a foreign
language.
o Other cases
 In each of these sub-folders, separate in different folders the
pictures where words are accompanied by an image and those
that are not.
 Within the “accompanied by an image” subfolder, select the
wordings whose meaning is directly related to the image and
those which are not.

This kind of categorization allows distinguishing the different

subtypes of verbal messages on the landscape and analyze them in an
orderly manner without missing any relevant examples. First, it allows
to see what kind of messages exist (and prevail) on the landscape.
Second, it helps to see which language prevails or the distributions of
languages in each group of verbal messages. For example, foreign
languages will predictably be more usable on advertisements. Third, it
shows if the language on landscape is placed in a certain visual context
that supports it or not.

5 Linguistic Analysis
When the material is collected and classified, it is time to use linguistic
methods of analysis. Below, we provide an incomplete list of methods
usable in urban landscape analysis. More methods could be added to
the list depending on the goal of the research. It is worth noting that

42
we recommend a discursive approach to the analysis, which means
that any verbal message on the landscape should be regarded in a
wider (visual or verbal) context.

Stylistic analysis is used to investigate the different styles used on the

landscape as well as stylistic devices typically employed in the
landscape. Most examples, predictably, will be found in advertisement
texts as the most appeal-oriented ones.

Morphemic analysis is useful in establishing the productive patterns of

language interference (when features of one language are used in the
system of another language). For instance, one of the coffee shops in
Ufa labels its coffee as “roasted Ufada.” While “roasted” and “Ufa” are
written in English, the grammatical pattern is borrowed from the
Bashkir: instead of the English preposition “in” the authors of the
phrase used the Bashkir suffix of location “da” and, thus, blended the
two language systems.

Axiological analysis is intended to analyze the values communicated

through the landscape. Not only the key values can be revealed but also
how densely they are employed throughout the city.

Diachronic analysis of toponyms (place names) helps to analyze the

use of different toponyms through time. For instance, in Ufa, the
landscape contains nominations which date back to the tsar times, the
Soviet period, as well as the latest decades after the USSR collapse. The
legacy of each of these periods carries an important message which
could be analyzed using the tools of diachronic analysis.

Sematic analysis is a universal tool which enables the researcher to go

deeper into the meaning of a language unit through the analysis of
semes, the particles of meaning. Besides, the design of semantic fields
allows to learn about the connections between the meanings of various
language units.

Linguacultural analysis is designed to establish a link between a

language unit and the culture behind it. It is particularly interesting
when a word in one language informs about the other culture, which
sometimes happens in a multi-ethnic region.

43
Analysis of polymodal texts may be very influential in the exploration
of urban landscape. It is used to discover and describe the texts that
employ not only the verbal but also non-verbal messages attached to
the verbal ones.

6 Sociolinguistic Analysis
The next stage of urban landscape analysis is the use of sociolinguistic
methods. We believe that it is essential that the researcher should also
discuss the landscape with people in order to estimate the degree to
which the landscape reflects the people’s vision of the landscape.
Moreover, sociolinguistic methods are irreplaceable for identity
research. It seems not enough that the researcher should evaluate the
landscape alone. Scholars should also discover how people relate
themselves to it.

The sociolinguistic methods include surveys as well as interviews (or

focus groups). The former allows collecting opinions from a large
number of people, while the latter enable the researcher to learn about
particulars about the subject of what is being asked. This way, the
research is triangulated, meaning that it employs both quantitative
and qualitative methods of analysis. For instance, in Ufa, surveys
helped to discover the Bashkir language in the landscape is best
supported by the people aged 31-59, while younger and older people
were not so eager to preserve it59.

7 Discussion and Conclusion

We believe that the proposed methodology of linguistic and cultural
landscape research is a valid procedure which enables to arrive at
diverse and reliable results. Depending on the research goals, scope of
research, team, and available funds, researchers are able to tailor the
procedure to their own needs by making use of one or several
methods. However, we insist that the large-scale research such as the
one proposed in this chapter is most informative, and it carries
important implications for scholarship as well as authorities and
businesses should they be interested in improving language policy or
communication with the general public.

59 Saduov, 2020
44
The methodology enables to compile a cultural and linguistic map of
the city with the indication of the linguistic and cultural dominants,
identify the functions and statuses of the languages that make up the
city's language landscape. It informs about the cultural and linguistic
connections in the visual space of the city. It can help to understand
the degree of influence of foreign borrowings and/or foreign
languages on the languages spoken in the city. Authorities can make
conclusions about the efficiency of the language and cultural policy.
Importantly, the landscape study assists in identifying the cultural and
linguistic identity of the city's residents and their satisfaction with the
cultural and language policy, as well as their satisfaction with the
visual design of the city.

The methodology, though, has a significant limitation of being

resource-consuming. Indeed, the complete analysis of linguistic and
cultural landscape would require considerable investment of time and
expertise. In order to collect the necessary material from the streets, a
researcher would need to spend many hours in the field and later
hours by computer while classifying the material collected during the
fieldwork. Similarly, it takes time to compile a survey and find the
appropriate population sample to conduct it. In some cases, especially
when the city is small, traditional survey methods become more
difficult due to the lack of respondents. Find volunteers for interviews
as well as conduct these interviews and process the results. It is also
worth noting that the methodology proposed in this chapter requires
that the researcher should possess skills in different areas of expertise
in linguistics and social science. Therefore, the complexity and the
scope of the study would require a team of professionals to complete
the tasks of the research.

Linguacultural landscape study is a scholarship informing about a

number important linguistic, cultural, and social patterns in a given
community. When properly conducted, it may become a handy tool to
safeguard community from social strains. Linguacultural landscape
research can be established as a long-term mechanism of monitoring
the societal stability.

45
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Zamechaniya Po Vypolneniyu Zakona Chuvashskoi Respubliki ‘O
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doc. Ruslan Saduov, PhD.

Department of English Language and Intercultural Communication
Bashkir State University
Ufa, Russia
ruslan.saduov@gmail.com

47
CHAPTER 3 - STREET ART IN EMPTY STREETS: THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF URBAN ARTS AND CULTURE DURING
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Laia Anguix

Abstract
Since March 2020, cities worldwide have been shaken by the Covid-19
pandemic. Mobility restrictions, social unrest and political upheaval
have affected all aspects of urban culture: street art is no exception.
This paper documents how Covid-19 and its associated lockdowns
have restricted, inspired and transformed urban art, from the
development of novel subjects to the rise of new motivations.
Moreover, it studies the strengthening of urban art’s social
commitment, describing its engagement with the mental health of city
dwellers worldwide. In this regard, and looking beyond the
mainstream definition of street art as mainly related to graffiti, the
article discusses the urban performative cultural responses to Covid-
19 arising at the margins of public/private street spaces. Ultimately,
this research aims to spark awareness upon the significance of urban
art as a tool for resilience and wellbeing, political criticism, creative
expression and mutual encouragement in troubled times.

Key words: Street art, Covid -19, urban culture, mental health, graffiti,
pandemic iconography

1 Introduction
The Covid-19 pandemic has proved to be specially challenging for
cities, as places where the combination of high population density and
concentration of economic activities have often led to the world’s most
severe outbreaks of the pandemic.60 The impact for city dwellers has
nonetheless gone beyond the sanitary emergency, with the scarcity of
open spaces and the difficulty to avoid crowded places adding an extra
layer of physical and psychological struggle.61 At this stage, it is safe to
affirm that the pandemic has brought radical changes to the urban way
of living, and street art has not been an exception.

60 Sharifi et al., 2020

61 Lai et al., 2020
48
This paper aims to bring a reflection on the multiple ways in which the
coronavirus pandemic has turned street art and urban culture upside
down. Firstly, through the appearance, rise and revival of a frenzy
combination of new and historic iconographies, ranging from rolls of
toilet paper and symbols related to historical plagues, to saints, pop
superheroes, doctors and masked celebrities. Secondly, through the
arrival or enhancement of a range of disparate motivations such as
political criticism, raising public morale, denouncing Sinophobia, and
either supporting or opposing the official “stay at home” instructions.
Thirdly, through the exacerbation of the legal challenges traditionally
faced by street artists, due to restrictions of movement and heavier
police surveillance.62 Last, through the surge of an array of
unclassifiable manifestations of urban culture carried out from
balconies and windows during the strictest period of lockdown, such
as flash-mobs, concerts, painted banners, screenings over
neighbouring buildings, and simultaneous displays of mobile phones’
torches.63 By studying these unique manifestations within their
immediate context, this paper aims to contribute to documenting a
fleeting yet unique moment in the history of urban art and culture.

2 New Iconographies
Visual representations of pandemics are not rare in art history, but
neither this topic nor its implications had ever been part of street art
before 2020.64 In their search for inspiration, many of the street artists’
initial responses to the crisis rescued medieval and early modern
iconographies of historical plagues, such as sick people, medical staff,
or skeletons: an example would be the frightening bird-looking
Venetian plague doctor painted by the artist Suhaib Attar in his terrace
of Amman, Jordan.65 In countries with a strong catholic tradition,
slightly satirical, or perhaps slightly superstitious images of saints –

62 The coronavirus crisis has emphasized the street art’s role of urban subversion
discussed by Mould, 2015
63 For the mobile phone lights’ displays in Italy see: “Coronavirus, alle 21 l'Italia si

illumina: nuovo flashmob dalle finestre”, 2020. For the concerts in balconies in
several European cities, check: Prideaux, 2020
64 For examples of the connection between art and historical plagues, see:

DesOrmeaux, A. L., 2007; and McCouat, P., 2012

65 Attar, 2020

49
which in the tradition had offered protection against plagues – have
not been rare.66

The earliest Covid-19 themed artworks also tended to focus on the

elements of the pandemic that were most visually obvious, such as the
facemasks, thus leading to an overflow of masked celebrities, cartoon
characters and pop icons. One of the most broadcast examples of this
iconography appeared in the streets of Barcelona in connection to the
cancellation of the Mobile World Congress, as early as February 2020.
In it, and following its signature style of reinterpreting pop culture
with a political twist, the Italian artist TVBoy featured a masked
version of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa taking a picture with a mobile phone
featuring the Congress logo.67 Thanks to the fast spread of images via
news sites and social media during a time of intense screen
dependency, versions of this idea have been repeated ad nauseam by
artists around the world, replacing the Giaconda with an array of other
art historical masterpieces.68

Picture 1: Man with the Red Turban by Lionel Stanhope (Ladywell, South-east
London, April 2020)
Source: The Guardian online

However, as soon as the epidemic started gaining both seriousness and

socio-political complexity, the iconographic repertoire grew
exponentially, thus leading to the appearance of a unique and entirely
new visual programme inspired by science, popular culture and social

66 Torres, 2020
67 Mobile World Virus. In: TVBoy. 2020. online
68 Coronavirus street art - in pictures. In: The Guardian. 2020. online

50
media, which fed from superheroes, politicians and film characters.69.
An interesting subtopic has been the representation of the ways in
which the sanitary emergency has exposed our most primitive human
weaknesses. The mitigating strategies adopted by each country may
have been different, as well as the impact of the virus in the population.
However, when subjected to the stress, fear and frustration associated
with the pandemic, people around the world have acted in related
ways. Street artists have been quick in capturing some of our most
primary reactions, sometimes with compassion, sometimes with
anger, and sometimes with humour. Indeed, the satirical
representation of the instincts of survival that led us humans to
accumulate loads of hand sanitiser and spaghetti have been frequent.
One of the most reproduced images on this topic has been the mural
painting Mein Schatz!, by EME Freethinker in Berlin, Germany,
featuring Gollum, from the Lord of the Rings, looking fondly at a roll of
toilet paper.70

Picture 2: Hunters by Biodpi (Rome, Italy, July 2020)

Source: Barbara Picci online

69 Sayej, 2020
70 Coronavirus street art - in pictures. In: The Guardian. 2020. online
51
One of the main artistic challenges has been representing the virus
itself. To display the fear towards an unknown invisible enemy, artists
have recurred to two main strategies: the most common one has been
transforming the microscopic spiked ball that has nowadays become
so commonplace in our daily lives into a caricature or comic character.
Sometimes, biological realism has given way to political satire, as can
be seen on the mural created by the artist Welinoo in Copenhagen,
where the virus has the face of former USA president Donald Trump.71
Word games featuring the name of the virus are also very common,
often with allusions to that Mexican brand of beer that in the last few
months, and despite all the panic buying, has tended to be left in
supermarket shelves.72

Coexisting with this tendency to dark humour, Covid-related

representations have nonetheless empathised with human feelings of
loneliness and isolation: the images of people caged in their own
homes are common, as so are the kisses of masked couples, which have
become an almost universal symbol of our unfulfilled desire for human
touch. Also universal is the narrative created out of the fight against
the virus. In it, and following the trend started by the media, artists
around the globe have agreed in pointing to medical workers as the
heroes of our collective ordeal: for the first time in the history of street
art, doctors and nurses have reincarnated into pop culture characters
via their representation as angels, warriors and Marvel superheroes.73
Although most Covid-related iconographies have been unequivocally
global, with related examples appearing simultaneously in countries
geographically and culturally distant from each other, a few examples
are interesting precisely for having a distinctive local taste. This is the
case of the artworks featuring local scientists and fundraisers winning
people’s sympathy, who have become stars of the show in their
respective countries. For instance, in Madrid, Spain, the epidemiologist
Fernando Simon, who acts as the government’s scientific adviser, has
become the subject of a mosaic portrait by the artist Basket of Nan.74
In the UK, the 100-year old Second World War veteran Captain Tom
Moore, who became a national inspiration during the first lockdown

71 Chaos, p. 210, 2020

72 Cascone, 2020
73 A street art fresco pays homage to caregivers, these superheroes. In: Web24. online
74 Maroto, 2020

52
after raising over £29 million for the British National Health System by
walking laps of his garden, has been endlessly portrayed in walls all
over the country.75

3 New Motivations
The appearance of new iconographies has been accompanied by the
birth of new motivations, together with the strengthening of some of
street art’s pre-pandemic driving forces. This has been particularly
evident in the representation of influential political leaders such as
Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsonaro or Donald Trump, whose questionable
approaches to the crisis have transformed them into excellent targets
for the street art’s distinctive visual satire. In some cases, because of
their significance within the international geopolitical context,
portraits of these political figures have even appeared outside their
own countries: this was the case of Gnasher Murals’ much-shared
portrait of Donald Trump drinking bleach, originally painted in the UK,
but reproduced in newsfeeds all around the world.76 Indeed, while
street art has since its origins been politically charged, since 2020 its
message has gained a more global approach, as well as new causes to
fight for.

Initially, it seemed that advising on public health was one of these

causes. On the first months of the pandemic, many artists made efforts
to spread scientific advice, encouraging people to stay at home, keep
social distances and wash their hands. The use of much-loved pop
icons such as the Simpsons or Yoda contributed to enhance the
messages.77 Because of the colourful effectiveness of their visual
messages, and because of their popularity amongst young audiences,
some of these murals have even been chosen as the official means of
spreading information, with street artists in several countries
receiving paid public commissions for hospitals, schools and other
public buildings. This is the case of the murals created by the RBS Crew
collective at Cheikh Anta Diop University, aiming to provide

75 An example would be the mural by Graffiti by Title in Belfast. See: Vernalls, 2020
76 Childs, 2020
77 Artist Nello Petrucci displayed the Simpsons sitting on their iconic sofa for a mural

in Pompei, Italy, which featured the omnipresent pandemic motto “Stay at Home”. In
Bergen, Norway, the artist Siri Roiseth depicted baby Yoda wearing a facemask with
the title “Wash your hands you must”. See: Shirey, 2020 and “Sweet home” by Nello
Petrucci in Pompeii, Italy, 2020
53
information on hygiene steps to help prevent the spread of
coronavirus.78

In some cases, the commitment to the public good has gone beyond
sharing official advice, with artists undertaking a duty of raising public
morale during difficult times. An organised example of this endeavour
can be seen in the campaign “Back to the Streets”, which aimed to
create a thousand murals in a thousand walls owned by property
owners across the US. The artist Corie Mattie, one of the participants
in the project, expressed her motivations to take part with the
following words: “I wanted to find some way to help raise awareness
and also give hope. A unique opportunity has arisen for artists during
Covid-19, a period of strong artistic expression.”79

Indeed, by violating lockdown regulations to mock political leaders,

rend homage to healthcare workers and show solidarity with victims,
street artists have provided humankind with a much-needed relief
from the psychological struggle of the period. Nonetheless, their
support to official instructions and their cheer-up, positive messages
have tended to fade away with the evolution of the crisis. Towards the
autumn of 2020, Covid-related images started to convey a new idea of
rebellion, together with a claim for freedom. The pandemic fatigue,
together with the rising distrust towards the way in which political
leaders are handling the emergency, have crystallised into an
increasing number of examples featuring a growing discomfort
towards the dystopia which is offered to us as “the new normal”. In the
same way, the denounce of the social inequalities arising from the
crisis, as well as the financial interests underpinning it, are becoming
more frequent. Amongst the many examples, it is worth mentioning
the stencil mural Social Distancing, by Pikoenelojostencil in Santiago,
Chile, featuring a man dressed in a suit distractedly using retractable
tweezers to hand a banknote to a beggar and her child. 80 On a similar
note, the mural Locked in a golden cage, by Innerfields (in Tiblisi,
Georgia), features a lonely man wearing a mask and sitting inside a
birdcage, with his gaze lost into the screen of his mobile phone, to such

78 Dogru, 2020
79 Sayej, 2020
80 Picci, 2020

54
an extent that he fails to perceive the bird that is handing him the key
to scape his prison.81

Picture 3: November 2020 1984 by Airbornemark (London, UK, November 2020)

Source: Airbornemark online

Another idiosyncratic aspect of Covid-related street art is the

positioning regarding the anti-Chinese sentiment or Sinophobia that
spread around the world together with the propagation of the virus.
To counteract and denounce the rise of racist and anti-Chinese
messages in political speeches, press and social media, Chinese
communities around the world created the hashtag #Iamnotavirus,
which several street artists have been adding to their works. 82 For
instance, artist Amanda Newman portrayed Ai Fen ‘The Whistle-Giver’
(Melbourne, Australia), whilst the artist Laika chose Rome’s most
multi-ethnic, district, the Esquilino, to display her message stating
“There is an epidemy of ignorance, we must protect ourselves!”83
Nothing in the slogan is accidental: the Chinese woman who holds it is
Sonia, famous in the district for owning a restaurant in Bixio St, the
Hang Zhou. On this regard, Laika explained: “I have chosen Sonia as a
subject because she, like so many others, is Roman in every possible way,
and she perfectly represents how Rome has, over the centuries, adopted

81 Street art platform All City Canvas picks Tbilisi mural for November top selection.
In: Agenda.ge. online
82 Fouché, 2020
83 Santucci, 2020

55
millions of people coming from everywhere.”84 Unfortunately, this
attitude has not been unanimous amongst street artists. For instance,
in the village of Campobasso, Italy, the association Malatesta
commissioned the artist Blu to paint a huge mural entitled The
Pandemic. The artwork, which was considered the highlight of the
street art festival “Draw the Line”, shows an apocalyptic world invaded
by menacing pandas. Whilst the artist has not given any explanation
on his intentions, the piece can easily be read through a racist lens.85

4 New Techniques
The creation of graffiti artworks, which even under normal
circumstances tends to take place on the brink of illegality, became
even riskier after many countries started their respective lockdowns.86
The unprecedented context, with its associated heavier police
surveillance, has led to technical changes, such as an increase in the
number of artworks made using the stencil technique, consisting on
passing ink or paint over holes cut in cardboard or metal onto the
surface to be decorated. Another popular technique whose use has
increased during the lockdown periods has been the wheat paste
poster - this is the preparation in the studio of a drawing on paper, with
only a few moments needed at the site of installation, pasting the
poster to the desired surface.87

Also typical in 2020 and 2021 has been the modification of previously
existing pieces of street art (such as Bansky’s Girl with the pierced
eardrum), public street signs, and even statues, to add Covid-related
elements, mainly facemasks.88 In countries and situations in which the
strict lockdown rules have made going out simply too risky, artists
have opted for “working from home strategies.” There are, for instance,
several examples of murals painted in semi-private communal spaces
that are easily visible from the street or from the sky, such as terraces,
courtyards and balconies. In some cases, these artworks have been
recorded by drones and shared on social media. This has been the case
of the graffiti created by the artist S. F. on the floor of the communal

84 Ibid.
85 La Pandemia, by Blu, in Campobasso, Italy, 2020
86 Mould, 2015
87 Ross, 2016
88 Coronavirus: Banksy’s Girl with a Pierced Eardrum given face mask. In: BBC. online

56
terrace of his residential building in Athens, which despite this semi-
private setting have reached worldwide popularity after being shared
online.89 In this regard, it is to wonder to what extent, on their search
for images to depict the virus, journalists and press agencies around
the world have contributed to the rise in popularity of street art and
graffiti during this period.

Continuing with lockdown experimentation, several artists have been

applying street art techniques to their works on canvas, which they
have then hung on their windows and balconies, or displayed over the
boarded windows of high-street shops. On a related note, viewers
around the world could even have a peer at Bansky’s bathroom, when
the artist shared on his social media that he had also started “working
from home”.90 In occasions, these kind of approaches have taken the
form of collective initiatives: this is the case of the project
Stayathomepejac, in which the artist Pejac invited people to interact
creatively with the urban landscapes on the other side of their
windows. As Pejac put it, “in these strange days of global lockdown, I
believe that creativity can be one of the best therapies to fight anxiety
and boredom.” The initiative had an unexpected success, with
hundreds of submissions being sent in from more than fifty countries
worldwide, thus evidencing the engagement of the general public with
collective creative initiatives during this period.91

Taking lockdown inspiration a step further, some artists even swapped

paint for light, and projected artworks on the facades of their
neighbouring buildings. For instance, the collective project #olaveciña,
in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), used this technique to send
cheering messages to neighbours, encouraging them to fight loneliness
by talking to each other.92 The idea took hold for public monuments of
several countries, which were lit in a range of symbolic colours to rend
homage to medical workers. In a similar manner, theatres around the
world lit their buildings in red to denounce the risk to their survival
posed by the Covid restrictions.93

89 “Stay home”: Greek graffiti artist sends a plea over coronavirus. In: Euronews.
online
90 Coronavirus: Banksy makes 'bathroom' lockdown art. In: BBC. online
91 Martos, 2020
92 Pampín, 2020
93 Venues and crew signal 'red alert' for live music, theatre and events. In: BBC. online

57
5 Urban Performative Cultural Collective Manifestations
Beyond the so-called “professional urban artists” (with all the nuances
behind this expression), during this past year many city dwellers
worldwide have felt the need to express their hopes, fears or anger via
techniques related to street art. From children painting with chalk to
banners on balconies, the array of creative outputs brings about a
reflection on the almost instinctive need for artistic expression, as a
way to overcome suffering and anxiety. Quite often, these creations
have taken the form of collective participatory initiatives.

Indeed, the forced confinement, the anguish in the face of uncertainty,

the loneliness and the fear have made us humans feel insignificant. In
the solitude of our houses, we have looked outside, and we have
discovered that, only a few metres away, other people were as lonely
and as scared as we were. In an effort of collective resilience, we have
established links with those neighbours who until a few months ago
were only strangers. It all started with the applauses for health
workers, but in the most densely populated cities, where the distances
between houses is shorter and the number of people per square
kilometre intensifies, the daily applause appointment was quickly
enriched with creative ingredients: someone brought a musical
instrument, someone hung a flag, or a hand-painted banner, someone
decided to dance on a roof. Soon, calls to action spread across social
media, inviting whole districts to fitness classes on balconies, concerts
of classical music and simultaneous festivals of mobile phone
torches.94 Whenever an important event took place, balconies
displayed it: for instance, the death of the writer Luis Sepulveda was
signalled with screenings of a film based on one of his novels.95 On the
25th of April, Italians celebrated their national holiday singing ‘Bella
Ciao’ from their balconies, whilst in Spain, unable to attend ceremonies
for the passing of the left-wing politician Julio Anguita, his supporters
organised an homage in the form of red handkerchiefs hanging from
balconies.96

94 De Luca, 2020
95 Biagioli, 2020
96 Unida, 2020

58
The popularity of these events, together with the feedback that can be
gathered in press cuttings and social media, evidence that these
unprecedented examples of urban culture may have played a
determining role in maintaining the mental health of city dwellers
during a collective ordeal. For example, in London, the participant Asif
Khan stated: “I like it because it is representing something we all want
to say. With all the museums closed, it feels like art has found a way to
come out into public space and remind us all why we need it here – and
more than ever at this time.”97 In Madrid, an anonymous participant of
the project Balconen40tena stated: “Seeing my neighbours in person on
these days feels much better than seeing my lifelong friends on a video
call.”98

7 Conclusion
In over a year of dealing with Covid-19, and after a succession of
lockdown periods, humans have produced thousands of examples of
pandemic-related street art, created a myriad of collective cultural
responses, and invented multiple creative ways to escape isolation and
connect with each other. This paper has just intended to introduce a
few of them, with the aim to spark some awareness upon the
significance of urban art and culture as a tool for resilience and mental
health, political criticism, creative expression and mutual
encouragement in these troubled times.

Besides highlighting the significance of urban culture for collective

wellbeing, this paper has aimed to offer a glimpse on the speed at
which creative ideas and iconographies have travelled around the
world during this last year. On this regard, it is worth insisting that
variations on the same ideas have been appearing repeatedly and
almost simultaneously in cities of different countries. On one hand, this
phenomenon emphasizes the collective and anonymous nature of
urban culture. On the other, it evidences that artists, like every one of
us, have spent hours and days in front of their screens, scrolling down
their social media feeds, trying to make a sense out of this period of
collective madness. Despite all the differences and inequalities that
this pandemic has awakened, it has also made us one in our shared
anxiety. The bittersweet note is the fact that artists, like all humans,

97 Campbell, 2020
98 Abad, 2020
59
have lost innocence with the evolution of this crisis. When all this
apocalypse is over, not only our souls but also our cities will bear new
scars.

DISCLAIMER: because of street art’s own nature, often the authors of

the artworks and their date of creation remain unknown. Details
regarding authorship have been provided whenever they were
available. For dates of creation, the references regard the month in
which images of the artwork first appeared online.

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Laia Anguix, PhD.
Gardens, Libraries and Museums
Oxford University
Oxford, UK
laia.anguixvilches@glam.ox.ac.uk

64
CHAPTER 4 - LONDON’S MUSICAL LEGACY REFLECTED IN
AN ICONIC FREDDIE MERCURY

Ivana Pondelíková

Abstract
Cultural landscape is an unexplored scientific field of cultural studies.
It connects the concept of identity, history and cultural memory of a
land. Cultural and artistic wealth of the territory, and emergence of a
specific culture are least explored. The city is a space in which we can
study cultural expressions. It is an independent cultural unit that
reflects events, personalities, influences that shaped its identity and
character. The world’s metropolises are often based on intellectually
interesting and stimulating individuals, who define the character of a
cultural landscape. In the submitted text, we focus on London and its
musical legacy reflected in an iconic frontman of the musical band
Queen, Freddie Mercury. Mercury was a phenomenon that continues
to influence the London’s identity even after his death. Few months
after he passed away, the Wembley stadium was sold out to
commemorate and celebrate the life and work of one of the world’s
most significant musician. The movie Bohemian Rhapsody has caused
that even younger generation, despite the rock music flourished in
1970s, was attracted by the Queen’s music. Mercury’s mixed identity
is reflected in Queen’s musical production. The aim of this text is to
explore cultural musical landscape of multicultural London that is a
cradle of British rock music, which has shaped the generations.

Key words: Cultural Musical Landscape, London, Freddie Mercury,

Identity, Rock Music, Sights, Multiculturalism

1 City Cultural Landscape

A cultural landscape is an unexplored scientific field of cultural studies.
It connects the concept of identity, history and cultural memory of a
land. Minca states that a cultural landscape is an ideological concept
that represents what is important to a given society.99 In addition to
material expression, there is an intangible component in the cultural
landscape; i.e. people’s way of thinking, their feelings, acting, sense of

99 Minca, 2013
65
belonging (identity), as well as cultural and historical events that
fundamentally influenced its formation.100 The study of the cultural
landscape is only in its beginnings. Cultural and artistic wealth of the
territory, and emergence of a specific culture are least explored. The
cultural landscape is a materialized system that includes verbal, visual
and physical aspects of human existence, creating space for
multidimensional and dynamic development of the world. 101 The
cultural landscape also captures what the society wants or does not
want to keep in the cultural memory, but it is part of it.

The cultural landscape originated in the process of cultivating the

natural landscape and consists of several dimensions102:
a) time dimension means to understand what processes the
cultural landscape has gone through;
b) space dimension means the location and size of the cultural
landscape;
c) economic dimension means its economic and business
development;
d) technical dimension means that the type of country is
determined by its sophisticated technical development, remains
or current works that define the landscape;
e) socio-cultural dimension is the least explored, it covers cultural
richness of the territory, cultural development, cultural events
and the emergence of a specific culture.

Cultural landscape can be perceived sensually or spiritually.

Connecting a city with art, memory and identity opens up the
possibility of a new perception of a certain place as a cultural
landscape. The city as a cultural landscape can be defined as a complex
of time layers of the memory of the chain of generations of its
inhabitants, the memory embodied in architecture, sculpture, painting,
music, landscaping, etc. At the same time, however, it represents a
complex of images that have existed and continue to exist in ethnic,
generational, social, opinion, local and other modifications.103 The city
is primarily a social space; it expresses the connection between society

100 Pecníková, 2020

101 Ibid.
102 Heinrichová, 2012
103 Soukupová, 2007, p. 8

66
and the city, between objects, phenomena and processes that have
been connected to it. Its integral part is art with all its kinds that play
a significant socio-cultural role. The value of a particular place is
expressed by its usefulness and satisfying the needs of people.

2 Cultural Musical Landscape of London

If we label the city as a cultural landscape, then, among other factors,
it is necessary to perceive the broader cultural character of the city as
its cultural potential.104 City is an independent cultural unit that
reflects events, personalities, influences that shaped its identity and
character. The world’s metropolises are often based on intellectually
interesting and stimulating individuals, who define the character of a
cultural landscape. Music is an integral part of contemporary culture
globally and song can be understood as a common language. Music is
intrinsically linked to cultural identity of an individual as well as
a nation.

London is one of the most multiculturally rich and diverse cities in the
world with a population of nearly nine million people, some 30 % of
whom were born outside the UK.105 What this means in terms of music
is that these cultures living together in one place spill easily into one
another, creating a kind of musical identity particular to this city.
London is a city of cultural hybridization, which means mixing cultural
elements of different origins, intercultural exchange and the
incorporation of foreign cultural elements into local cultural practices.
London is a prototype of a European city; its story contains not only
the past106, but also the present and the future. It is not visited only for
monuments but also for events offered by creative people. Creativity
is characteristic of cities, thanks to which cities are not only attractive,
but also stand at the forefront of social progress.107 Regarding London,
the most important is the huge concentration of talent that is typical
for this city. Above all, to understand cities, we must stop perceiving
them as a set of buildings and remember that “the real city is made of
flesh, not concrete”108.

104 Pecníková, 2020, p. 58

105 Barton, 2012
106 More about London in Javorčíková, 2021. Londýn z pohľadu kultúry, reálií

a literatúry. In: Mestá a ich príbehy. Európska učebnica o kultúrnych tradíciách.

107 Glaeser, 2019, p. 144
108 Ibid., p. 25

67
Cities connect smart and intelligent people, who play an important role
in cultural exchange. Creativity, knowledge and innovation can only
live and grow in conditions of diversity and tolerance that are typical
for cities. According to Florida openness and tolerance towards
members of other ethnic groups, other sexual orientations and various
minorities in general is closely linked to the innovation and success of
a city, region or country.109 The higher the openness and tolerance of
others, the higher the prosperity and growth of the city.

Cities are birthplaces of various artistic streams, which contribute to

their development. Regarding music, London is considered a cradle of
British rock music that flourished in the 1970s. Rock 'n' roll has been
present for over half a century and it is still alive. Most rock 'n' roll
musicians such as the Rolling Stones seem to refuse to leave the scene.
However, if they leave, their legacy would be visible and strongly
present.

Rock'n'roll is a matter of image, style and taste. Rock is rooted in

African-American rhythm and blues. It began life as a musical
opposition in sound, aesthetics, and its place in the music business. For
instrumentation, rock centres on the amplified electric guitar. The rock
band is usually a quartet, consisting of a singer, solo guitarist, bass
guitarist and drummer. Other instruments, such as piano are often
included. In its beginning, rock immediately became popular with the
young ones. Preferences for different musical genres vary according to
culture, environment, ethnic background as well as socio-historical
period. They are also associated with personality’s characteristic
features. Musical identities are central to the shaping of personal
identity, especially in the formative years. Rock is often associated
with political activism as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex
and drugs. In addition, it is expression of youth revolt against adult
consumerism and conformity. Rock'n'roll, has unashamedly pursued
the goal of widely accessible performances that are popular among the
younger generation. The biggest highlight of rock music was
Woodstock festival in 1969. Since then it has spread all over the world.

109 Florida, 2002

68
When we thing of the music of London, we must thing of the Rolling
Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Queen and
many others. These bands and musicians have created the cultural
musical landscape. The cultural musical landscape is a materialized
system that includes sound, visual and physical aspects of artists’
existence in a land, who helped create and develop musical identity of
the space. The music created in the city is a many-splendored thing
that “reflects its remarkable history, its mind and its memory, as well as
its ever-evolving identity.”110 Cultural studies analyses many popular
cultural forms such as film and television, comics and graphic novels,
advertising, art, new media, music, fashion, sport, and leisure etc.
These domains are shown to be extremely powerful forces in shaping
our societies and our identities. In cultural studies, culture is
understood very broadly without following the traditional distinctions
between “high” and “low” culture; for example, Queen musical videos
have become a significant cultural text alongside with a classical opera.

Queen is considered the best British rock band. This year it will be 50
years since they started in the formation with Freddie Mercury (lead
vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals)
and John Deacon (bass). Their musical style is often labelled as rock,
hard rock, pop rock or glam rock. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame in 2001, the band is the only group in which every member
has composed more than one top-chart single, and all four members
were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. 111 In July
2020, Queen became the third band (after the Beatles and Pink Floyd)
to feature on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail.
The stamp set features eight of Queen’s legendary album covers, a
classic photo of the group and four live shots. The song Bohemian
Rhapsody was voted the “the UK’s favourite hit of all time” in 2002.

3 Phenomenon of Freddie Mercury

Among the most talented people, who produced the art in London,
belong the iconic frontman of Queen, Freddie Mercury. He was born
1946 in Zanzibar to Parsi-Indian parents. What makes Mercury the
best singer of all times is his voice. In 2016, a study was conducted by
Austrian, Czech and Swedish scientists to clarify why Mercury’s voice

110 Barton, 2012

111 Queen. In: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 2001. online
69
is inimitable. More than the technical aspects, the scientists pointed to
his incredible four-octave vocal range, which included everything from
a typical rock roar to a heavenly pure falsetto tone.112 Mercury was
troubled by an overbite, which caused him to grow four extra teeth,
which pushed out the front ones. He was ashamed of this anomaly, but
he had never undergone a surgery for fear that the surgery would have
negative effect on his voice. In addition, he had troubles with
overloading his vocal cords, but even that did not stop him from
singing. For Mercury, music was very important: “if it was no music,
there would be no life.”113 The band Queen was formed in 1970 and that
year he also changed his name and became Mercury.

To characterize his personality and style is not easy, however we can

put it in Varvatos’ words: “style is all about taking snippets of
inspiration and creating a unique personality and look that feels
inherently right.”114 Regarding his personality, Mercury once said of
himself: “When I’m performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I’m a
completely different man.”115 Mercury’s identity can be characterized
as a hybrid one, which describes an individual who has a mixed racial
and ethnic origin and is formed on two levels - biological and cultural.

4 In footsteps of Freddie Mercury in London

Feltham
In the spring of 1964, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar to
escape the violence of the revolution against the Sultan of Zanzibar and
his mainly Arab government, in which thousands of ethnic Arabs and
Indians were killed.116 They moved to London and first resided at 19
Hamilton Close, Feltham, West London. Afterwards they briefly
relocated to 122 Hamilton Road, before settling into a small house at
22 Gladstone Avenue in late October that year.

112 Casas, 2018, p. 94

113 Casas, 2018, p. 97
114 Varvatos, 2013, p. 28
115 10 of Freddie Mercury’s Most Famous Quotes. In: Art-sheep. online
116 Remembering Zanzibar’s revolution and its bloody aftermath. In: TRT World.

2021. online
70
On 24 November 2009 (the eighteenth anniversary of Mercury’s
death), Brian May together with Mercury’s mother, Jer Bulsara
accompanied by her daughter Kashmira, unveiled a plaque in his
memory in Feltham town centre. May pulled away a cover to reveal the
Hollywood-style star, which read: “Freddie Mercury - musician, singer
and songwriter”, along with the dates he lived in Feltham, between
1964 and 1968.117 May and Mrs. Bulsara were happy to honour
Mercury this way as he was a man with a big appetite for life and even
bigger taste for music. Mercury’s mother expressed that London gave
him an opportunity to develop his talent and ambitions to fulfil his
dream.118 This ceremony made Feltham a popular place that attract
Queen’s fans.

Moreover, in 2016 Bulsara’s modest London home at 22 Gladstone

Avenue got the English Heritage blue plaque119, that is a permanent
sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to
commemorate a link between that location and a famous person,
event, or place, serving as a historical marker. The London blue
plaques scheme was started in 1866 and is thought to be the oldest of
its kind in the world. Across the capital there are over 950 plaques.120

Picture 1: Blue plaque at Gladstone Avenue, London

Source: English Heritage online

117 Teed, 2009

118 Ibid.
119 Marcus, 2020
120 London’s Blue Plaque. In: English Heritage. online

71
Following the success of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) the
Feltham’s local authorities have decided to name one of London’s
streets after Mercury. They agreed to rename part of Hanworth Road;
the address of the headquarters of the World Zoroastrian
Organization.121 Mercury was born a Zoroastrian as his parents, Bomi
(1908–2003) and Jer Bulsara (1922–2016), were from the Parsi
community of western India. The Bulsaras had origins in the city of
Bulsar (now Valsad) in Gujarat that was a part of Persian Empire in the
past. Zoroastrians believe in the division of man into physical and
mental form, with the soul surviving the body. Suffering or bliss after
death depends on the deeds one has performed during one’s life.
Mercury practised this religion during his life and his funeral service
was conducted on 27 November 1991 by a Zoroastrian priest. He was
cremated in Kensal Green Cemetery, West London. In accordance to
Mercury’s wishes, Mary Austin buried his ashes in an unknown, never-
published place.

Garden Lodge in Kensington

Kensington is a district in the west of central London. The north-east
is taken up by Kensington Gardens, containing the Albert Memorial. In
the south, there is the Imperial College London, the Royal College of
Music, the Royal Albert Hall, National Historical Museum, Victoria and
Albert Museum, and Science Museum. The area is home to many
international embassies and consulates and the residence of many
politicians, famous or wealthy people. Kensington Palace has been a
residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century. In the past,
it was home of Lady Diana. Currently it is the official residence of the
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Mercury’s dream was to buy a house in the Kensington area. Since

1985, he had lived through one of the most fulfilled periods of his life,
settled in and moved to the Garden Lodge, a luxury twenty-eight room
Georgian mansion surrounded by a high brick wall, found by Mary
Austin. He lived there with his cats and his partner Jim Hutton (1949–
2010), by whose side he found the longed peace. After Mercury’s death,
the Garden Lodge was inherited by Austin, who has lived there since
then.

121'Freddie Mercury Close': London street named after Queen singer. In: Reuters.
2020. online
72
Ealing Art College
Ealing Art College was a further education institution on St Mary’s
Road, West London. Today, the collage is a part of the Ealing campus
of University of West London. In the early 1960s the college focused on
fashion, graphics, industrial design, photography and fine arts to
encourage creativity, artistry and imagination. The college was
attended by Freddie Mercury or Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones
and many other notable artists. Mercury studied graphic art and
design art, graduating with a diploma in 1969. He later used these
skills to design heraldic arms for his band Queen. The logo combines
the zodiac signs of the four band members; two lions for Deacon and
Taylor (sign Leo), a crab for May (Cancer), and two fairies for Mercury
(Virgo).122 The lions embrace a stylised letter Q, the crab rests atop the
letter with flames rising directly above it, and the fairies are each
sheltering below a lion. A crown is shown inside the Q, and the whole
logo is over-shadowed by an enormous phoenix. The Queen crest bears
a passing resemblance to the Royal coat of arms of the United
Kingdom, particularly with the lion supporters.

Picture 2: Queen logo

Source: Etemo online

In 2009, the University of West London was awarded the prestigious

Queen’s Anniversary Prize for outstanding achievement and
excellence in hospitality education from Her Majesty the Queen
Elizabeth II, in recognition of the quality of its teaching provision.123
The University draws on a heritage of over 150 years in teaching and
professional education and continues to play a significant role in the
educational, cultural and economic life of its region. Education is the
most reliable indicator of city’s growth. If the educational level of the

122 Casas, 2019, p. 35

123 The University of West London, online.
73
city’s inhabitants is high enough, with the size of the metropolitan area
the productivity of the individual also rises sharply.124 Cities and
schools complement each other, which is why the quality of education
is an important component of the success of individual cities.

Regarding Queen’s members, all four of them gained university

education thus making Queen the most educated musical band in the
world. Above all, in 2007 May received his PhD in astrophysics from
Imperial College, some 30 years after he had begun his studies. He
composed a song dedicated to the New Horizons space mission. The
song was premiered on 1 January 2019 at NASA’s control centre at the
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Greenbelt,
Maryland, USA.125 Its premiere coincided with the farthest ever flyby
by a man-made spacecraft in history.

Live Aid at Wembley

Live Aid was a beneficial concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well
as a music-based fundraising initiative. The event was organised by
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the 1983 – 1985
famine in Ethiopia. Estimates now suggest that around GBP 150
million was donated as a result of the concerts.126 The Live Aid concert
was conceived as a follow-on to the successful charity single Do They
Know It's Christmas?, which was also the masterpiece of Geldof and
Ure. Labelled as the “global jukebox”, the event was held in parallel at
Wembley Stadium in London attended by about 72 000 people and
John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, USA attended by nearly
90 000 people. In addition to these two main events, smaller informal
events took place in Germany and Australia. An estimated audience of
1.9 billion, in 150 nations, watched the live broadcast, nearly 40 % of
the world population.127 Among prominent guests, the most notable
were Princess Diana and Prince Charles who attended the concert at
Wembley.

124 Glaeser,2019, p. 298

125 New Horizons by Brian May. In: Song Facts. online
126 Live Aid raised millions of pounds but, 30 years on, what is its legacy? In: East

Anglian Daily Times. 2015. online

127 Jones, 2005, online

74
Queen’s performance at Live Aid is unforgettable. Their biggest hits
sounded like one big unite. During their performance, the phones did
not stop ringing as people called to donate. The event went down in
history as the day when music changed the world. Queen’s
performance helped transform the concert into a sensitive and
wonderful experience. In addition to music, the attractiveness of
Queen lies in their glamorous look followed by large stage,
sophisticated lighting and sound, luxurious spaces and huge audience.
Their rock music is innovative in all ways; it is a mixture of all genres,
including opera or oriental sounds. After more than three decades
since Live Aid, Queen’s performance is still considered greatest live
performance in the history of rock.

Following the success at Live Aid, in 1986, Queen went on their Magic
Tour and they became the first band to sell out the Wembley. That was
their last tour, since then Mercury was only releasing music. Live
performances are linked to innovations, as the first performances of a
new artistic phenomenon are almost always held live and only then
electronically distributed throughout the world.128 Mercury continued
to record with Queen following his diagnosis, and he was
posthumously featured on the band’s final album, Made in Heaven
(1995). In 1997 the three remaining members of Queen released No-
One but You (Only the Good Die Young), a song dedicated to Mercury
and all those that died too soon.

Fashion Aid at the Albert Hall

Labelled as the “largest gathering of fashion creatives in the UK”,
Fashion Aid was a splendorous and glamorous designer fund raising
event that took place at London’s Royal Albert Hall on November 5,
1985.129 Fashion Aid was the idea of that time student Fameed
Khalique130 (these days famous designer) who created it as a part of
his degree course at North East London Polytechnic. He took the idea
to Geldof and it became an alternate funding initiative following the
success of Live Aid. Khalique and Geldof decided it would be an idea to
bring together top artistic talents from the fashion and music world to
raise funds for Ethiopia. The venue was attended by 5 500 people;

128 Glaeser, 2019, p. 148

129 Pafford, online
130 About Khalique. In: Khaliquelondon. online

75
among notable ones were that time UK Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher, Madonna, Ringo Starr and many others. The final of the
fashion show was a fake wedding concluded between actress Jane
Seymour (known as Dr. Quinn) and Freddie Mercury, both dressed in
Emanuel’s designer gowns, who later designed the wedding dress of
Lady Diana.

The Royal Albert Hall is the most treasured and distinctive building.
The authors Francis Fowke a H.Y. Darracott Scott were inspired by
ancient amphitheatres. The hall has an oval shape with dimensions of
90 to 80 m and a capacity of 8 000 visitors, although current safety
regulations allow a maximum of 7 000.131 It forms part of the national
monument to Prince Albert, the decorative part of which is the Albert
Memorial north of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington Gardens. This
hall houses the largest organ in the United Kingdom. Since its opening
on 29 March 1871, the Royal Albert Hall has hosted many important
personalities and various events. There is a regular festival of classical
music Proms, various rock concerts, balls, ballets, operas and circus
performances, conferences and educational events. Various sporting
events in boxing, tennis and wrestling (including the first sumo
tournament outside of Japan) are held there.

With the release of movie Bohemian Rhapsody, it seemed that Queen

shone again. At the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra performs Symphonic Queen to capture the legacy of Freddy
Mercury. The show presents a thrilling tribute to the iconic rock band
Queen, with an unforgettable evening of anthems that definitely rock
the spectators.

We will Rock you at Dominion Theatre

The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre and former cinema on
Tottenham Court Road in the London’s Borough of Camden. The
Dominion was home to the long-running musical We Will Rock You
played at the theatre from 14 May 2002 until 31 May 2014. We Will
Rock You is a “jukebox musical” based on the songs of Queen and a
book by Ben Elton. The musical tells the story of a group of Bohemians
who struggle to restore the free exchange of thought and fashion, and

131Explore the Royal Albert Hall. A guided tour is included in The London Pass. In:
Londonpass. online
76
live music in a distant future where everyone dresses, thinks and acts
the same. Musical instruments and composers are forbidden, and rock
music is all but unknown. In 2012, to celebrate the tenth anniversary
of We Will Rock You, the theatre created the Freddie Mercury Suite,
which displays pictures from the Queen singer’s lifetime.

During that period, the 20 feet-tall statue of Freddie Mercury stood

proudly atop the canopy outside the Dominion Theatre. This gold-
coloured statue had welcomed no fewer than 6.6 million spectators to
the musical for 12 years. The statue was removed soon after the
curtain fell for the final time in spring 2014. Since then, it has been
standing in Roger Taylor’s garden. Mercury had true connections to
the area. It was at the Dominion Theatre that he made his final public
appearance at the 1990 Brit awards.

Picture 3: The statue of Freddie Mercury at the Dominion Theatre, London

Source: Pixabay online

In addition to Dominion’s statue, there is another more famous statue

of Freddie Mercury. It is on the Lake Geneva in Montreux, Switzerland,
the “Mekka for musicians”. The three-meter tall statue was designed
by Czechoslovak sculptor Irena Sedlecká. It was unveiled as a tribute
to Mercury on 25 November 1996 by Mercury’s father and Montserrat
Caballé accompanied by bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor. Since
2003 fans from all around the world have been gathering in
Switzerland annually to pay tribute to the singer as part of the “Freddie
Mercury Montreux Memorial Day” on the first weekend of September.
77
Picture 4: Statue of Freddie Mercury in Montreux, Switzerland
Source: Ivana Pondelíková, 2009

5 Conclusion
The contemporary cultural studies view culture as something
dynamic, living, and changeable. Studying city leads to questions of
how culture is produced there; how culture is interpreted; how culture
can be preserved or destroyed within the city; and how new artistic
streams, artists or other influential people, new commodity models,
communications and information technology, and globalisation affect
cultural landscape.

Queen are valued by British society. Back in 2002, Her Majesty the
Queen Elizabeth II celebrated 50 years on the throne with her Golden
Jubilee. The patriotic event was marked with a concert called Party at
the Palace. The whole celebration started by Brian May playing God
Save the Queen on the roof of Buckingham Palace. This iconic moment
is probably the best remembered of the entire venue. The whole event
was the greatest concert in Britain since Live Aid.

Queen has helped develop London as a musical cultural landscape.

Mercury’s musical legacy has endured over the years and he himself
became a legend. This year it will have been 30 years since he passed
away, the life goes on without him, show continues, however his
influence has not stopped. Following Mercury’s death on 24 November
1991 from bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS, the remaining
members of Queen came together with their manager Jim Beach to
organise a tribute concert to celebrate the life and legacy of Mercury,
and to raise money for AIDS research and spread awareness about the
78
disease. On 20 April 1992 a beneficial concert held at Wembley
Stadium for an audience of 72 000.132 Dozens of stars (Roger Daltrey
of The Who, Elton John, George Michael, Liza Stansfield, David Bowie,
Annie Lenox, Lisa Minnelli and many others) sang at the event, which
was broadcasted to 70 countries and raised about GBP 20 million 133
for AIDS charities. The concert was opened with a message from the
three remaining members of Queen in tribute to Mercury. Elizabeth
Taylor gave an AIDS prevention speech, which was followed by a
compilation of Mercury’s various interactions with audiences. The
concert was a huge success and helped to launch The Mercury Phoenix
Trust, an AIDS charity organisation.

Despite, Wembley is the largest UK football stadium that was opened

in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was
demolished from 2002 to 2003; its greatest fame was brought by
concerts connected to Queen. Mercury’s successful musical career
begin at Wembley and after he passed away his life, personality and
production was celebrated and commemorated there. London offers
everything enjoyable in one’s life. It is multicultural, hybrid as
Mercury’s personality and music was. The essence of a city, country,
state or nation is not tangible, so understanding of its identity can also
vary regionally or locally. A common feature in the determination of
city’s identity is the psychological link, it is intangible and indefinable,
which connects people and creates a sense of belonging.134 This can
also be supported by a common political or religious ideology,
language or traditions, as well as art or other psychological ties that
are so specific that differentiate the city from others.

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BB, 2020. 79 p. ISBN 978-80-8141-241-7.
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Available on: https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/queen
Remembering Zanzibar’s revolution and its bloody aftermath. In: TRT
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https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/remembering-zanzibar-s-
revolution-and-its-bloody-aftermath-43195
SOUKUPOVÁ, B. et al. 2007. Město-identita.paměť. Bratislava : Zing
Print 2007. 270 p. ISBN 978-80-88997-40-5.
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reddie-mercury-memorial-unveiled-in-feltham/
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Mgr. Ivana Pondelíková (née Styková), PhD.

Department of European Cultural Studies
Faculty of Arts
Matej Bel University
Banská Bystrica
ivana.stykova@umb.sk

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CHAPTER 5 - LOVECRAFT COUNTRY – THE FANTASTIC
LANDSCAPE OF MASSACHUSETTS, USA

Jozefa Pevčíková

Abstract
Paper examines fantastic landscape, a specific layer of cultural
landscape that consists of site-specific meanings based on fictional
cultural narratives. Thus, it puts focus on the fantastic landscape as a
cross point of a cultural landscape and meanings that have been
emerging from human imagination and artistic and mythopoetic
tradition. The paper then examines work of writer Howard Philips
Lovecraft and analyses its impact on creation of fantastic landscape of
state Massachusetts, USA, through the scope of receptive aesthetics
and the system of expressive qualities.

Key words: cultural landscape, fantastic landscape, pop culture,

Howard Philips Lovecraft, Lovecraft Country

1 Introduction
Fictional places have been an inseparable part of every culture on
Earth since the beginning. Whether it was the Garden of Eden, mythical
Cretan labyrinth built by Daedalus, Avalon castle or G. R. R. Martin’s
Westeros to stay in the field of Western culture, human imagination
always found its way to project its meanings into the places of the real
world. The question has never been “if”, rather it has rather been
“how”: how we shape the world around us with our imagination and
how it affects our perception of the world?

The reciprocal relationship between our imagination and specific

locations has been unconsciously understood and developing for a
long time. Only recently, the academic public has begun to examine it
closer. In terms of the cultural landscape concept, this relationship has
become an important part of understanding our cultural imprint in the
landscape, providing it with a site-specific fictional narrative. It
influences the character of that location differently from human
presence per se and contributes to the creation of genius loci and
fantastic landscape as a unique layer of cultural landscape. The work
of H. P. Lovecraft is a specific element influencing the creation of
82
fantastic landscape, too, considering his work with geographical units
and the ways he transforms and shifts meanings from real places to
fictional ones and vice versa. Moreover, as his work has had
considerable influence on contemporary pop culture, especially in
terms of further widening of fantastic landscape of Massachusetts, we
will include it in this research as well.

2 Cultural Landscape and the Transition of Meaning between Real

and Fictional Places
The concept of cultural landscape is a flexible term, and each scientific
point of view and examination brings forth different aspects of it, thus
making it difficult to create a uniform definition. Several definitions
emerged during the 20th century in fields of geography, architecture
and urban design, ethnology etc., each confirming the variety of angles
the cultural landscape can be viewed from.

In terms of contemporary cultural research and cultural heritage

preservation, the World Heritage Centre described cultural landscape
as “cultural properties [… that] represent the ‘combined works of nature
and of man’”135, further specifying that cultural landscapes “are
illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over
time, under the influence of the physical constraints and/or
opportunities presented by their natural environment and of
successive social, economic and cultural forces, both external and
internal”136.

One of earlier definitions was provided by Korr137. In his research on

material culture and cultural landscape he expanded the bilateral
formula “human – environment” to a triangular relationship “human –
artefactual components – natural components” to emphasize the
influence of man and his creative cultural activity on his natural
environment. Another, more holistic definition was provided by
Cosgrove and Jackson138 during their research and revaluation of
cultural geography. According to them, the cultural landscape concept
is “a sophisticated cultural construction: a particular way of composing,

135 World Heritage Centre, 2012, p. 14

136 Ibid.
137 Korr, 1997
138 Cosgrove – Jackson, 1987, p. 96

83
structuring and giving meaning to an external world whose history has
to be understood in relation to the material appropriation of land”139.

It is the last definition especially that hints on the nature of fantastic

landscape. According to Pecníková, this type of landscape “is assigned
a specific symbolic or spiritual meaning, cultural legacy of myths,
legends, symbols”140.Therefore, we can understand fantastic landscape
as a specific layer or dimension of the “general” cultural landscape,
closely connected to fictional cultural narratives. This category of
narratives consists of answers to how we understand the world in
various historical eras and to how we create new meanings on artistic
basis to explain the world around us. These narratives include ancient
mythologies and myths, rituals, symbols, artistic works of fiction etc.
and can be further divided into three groups depending on their
relation to a place or a landscape:
1) site-specific narratives (based on the existence of a specific
place or part of landscape; e. g. Victor Hugo’s novel The
Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Homer’s Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed
videogame series, bathing in the Ganges river etc.),
2) site-descriptive narratives (based on the resemblance of a
specific existing place or part of landscape; occurs mostly in
all forms of speculative art; e. g. the Lord of the Rings books
with Hobbiton resembling rural England, the Harry Potter
film series resembling natural landscape of Scotland,
alternate comic-book universes with fictional cities
resembling real ones, various Romantic paintings etc.),
3) (post)modern myths according to Barthes141 (based on
symbolic meaning; e. g. American dream, “Las Vegas is the
city of sin”, Mother Russia etc.).

The further research on Lovecraft will take all three groups of

narratives into consideration since characteristics of all those groups
can be found in the register of the topic – whether concerning solely
Lovecraft’s works or the wide scope of pop cultural meanings related
to him. Considering this frame, it is then important to provide a more

139 Cosgrove – Jackson, 1987, p. 96

140 Pecníková, 2020, p. 47
141 Barthes, 2000

84
detailed expertise of the term “resemblance” which is crucial for the
group of site-descriptive narratives.

The question of human experience with the atmosphere and identity

of a certain place is crucial to this research. Despite its nature and
function, human imagination only finds its roots in the real world, and
even imaginary creations, in spite of being fictive and imagined in
original ways, draw from meanings created in the lived reality. The
phenomena of atmosphere and identity of a place was further
examined by Norberg-Schulz, who used term genius loci – “spirit of the
place” – to describe meanings assigned to and collected by a place. As
he explains, genius loci consists of the structure of the place and its
identity142 (what it is like and what it is).

When Norberg-Schulz speaks about the structure of a place, he

proposes two elements: the first is the physical form (“space”),
whether it is natural or one complemented by artefactual (man-made)
components. The second element is the character of a place, “a general
comprehensive atmosphere and […] the concrete form and substance of
the space-defining elements”143. In natural places, the structure reflects
the actual form of the land created and formed by geological activity,
weather conditions and activity of flora and fauna. In artefactual places
(e. g. cities, parks), the structure is shaped by human activity and lived
patterns as well as by the way the place is complemented by its natural
environment.

Identification with such place depends on the ability of an individual

to understand the structure of that place (“become friends”144 with it)
and to orientate in it. However, when it comes to fictional places (site-
descriptive, specifically), their physical form is absent and can only be
approached through author’s verbal or non-verbal description and
recipient’s understanding. Hence, in the effort to fully comprehend
genius loci and meaning of a site-descriptive place in our conscience,
to befriend it and identify with it, the second element of the structure
– the character of a place – crucially grows in importance.

142 Norberg–Schulz, 1979, p. 19

143 Ibid., p. 13
144 Ibid., p. 21

85
When the physical components of an existing place are experienced by
an individual, a process of creation of impressions begins. Basic
components (“space” as Norberg-Schulz denotes it) are taken into
consideration during the process, such as vertical and horizontal
structure, amount of light and land, presence of some form of water,
colours, buildings, street network, trees planted and so on145. These
basic meanings are then complemented by meanings connected with
the question of “how are things made”146 (e. g. concerning used
architectural style). Consequently, a verbal or non-verbal description
is formed in our consciousness which is based on meanings.

The character of a fictional place (the meaning of “what is the place

like”) is then formed through meanings we decode when we use
artworks in semiotic way – as media, carriers of meanings which only
have one task. That is to transmit someone’s way of perception of the
place from them to us, to share the idea, thus, to create site-descriptive
cultural narrative based on reality, to create an image. That process
includes experiencing literary works, paintings, songs and so on as
well as their components, such as used style of language, colours,
viewing angles, tones etc. Hence, when compared to a real place, this
image (of fictional place) can only mimic the reality and is only
accessed and understood indirectly – it resembles the reality.

The transmission of meanings of a place as described above is

supported by Norberg-Schulz’s notion on how the meaning of
structure of real-world places is transmitted: “Places are designated by
nouns. […] Space, instead, as a system of relations, is denoted by
prepositions. […] Character, finally, is denoted by adjectives […].”147

The process of creation of meanings through art have been analysed

by František Miko (since 1960s), later by Ľubomír Plesník (since
1980s) at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. Miko,
focusing on literary works at that time, founded his theory on receptive
aesthetics, semiotics, and theory of communication. He later widened
the scope of his theory to all artistic forms and created a universal
system of expressive qualities which were divided into groups based

145 Norberg–Schulz, 1979

146 Ibid., p. 15
147 Norberg–Schulz, 1979, p. 16

86
on intentions of the participants of communication, communicative
situation and used medium148. Contemporary version of his system of
expressive qualities, further developed by Plesník, consists of six basic
categories which divide into specific groups that are used in different
communication styles: “formal (administrative), informal, academic
and artistic”149.

We will examine places created by site-descriptive narratives through

the lens of Miko’s theory. Lovecraft was a writer of fiction, therefore,
we will focus on the artistic style of communication. As fictional places
lack the physical form, there is no chance to experience the place per
se with human senses. According to Miko150, it only exists in the form
of complex idea in our conscience and consists of meanings that are
brought to our mind (recalled) by decoding the expressive qualities
and understanding them.

In conclusion, our approach towards literary work of H. P. Lovecraft

and his legacy in pop culture in context of fantastic landscape of New
England stems from two paradigms. First, fantastic landscape concept
consists of cultural landscape paradigm relating to fictional narratives,
and second, the places created by these narratives can only be
indirectly, medially described or visualised, and their character is only
accessible via expressive qualities and meanings. Thus, instead of
experiencing the place physically, we create a resembling image in our
conscience. As this image, the fictional genius loci, can be spread via
literature, music, and other art forms, it is possible to include it into a
site-specific cultural conscience – the fantastic landscape. Our aim in
the following paragraphs will be to find notions of fictional places in
Lovecraft’s fiction and interpret them in terms of system of expressive
qualities. That will result in understanding of the character of these
fictional places and the way they influence fantastic landscape of
Massachusetts.

148 Plesník et al., 2011

149 Ibid., p. 27
150 Miko, 1991

87
3 New England and the Fantastic Lovecraft Country
The following section of the paper will focus on American writer
Howard Philips Lovecraft (1890 – 1937). Despite being overlooked
and considered an unsuccessful pulp author during his life, Lovecraft
gained considerable popularity posthumously, mainly since 1980s.
Apart from influence his philosophy of cosmicism has had on popular
culture, literary works of the founder of so-called cosmic horror are set
in a specific location – New England region on the east coast of the
U.S.A. In this context, he can be considered an influential element in the
formation of fantastic landscape of New England.

Generally, the subgenre of cosmic or Lovecraftian horror is

characterised by elements of indescribable terror and indifference of
the cosmos towards human existence. Lovecraft expressed his opinion
on egocentric view of humankind in one of his letters to James
Ferdinand Morton (1929):

“I don’t make the mistake of thinking that the resultant of the natural forces
surrounding and governing organic life will have any connexion with the
wishes or tastes of any part of that organic life-process. […] [T]he cosmos […]
gives a damn one way or the other about the especial wants and ultimate
welfare of mosquitoes, rats, lice, dogs, men, horses, pterodactyls, trees, fungi,
dodos, or other forms of biological energy.”151

The thesis of indescribable horror is, then, closely connected to this

worldview. As stated by Klinger152, Lovecraft thought “that it is not only
inaccurate but inartistic to depict alien beings and worlds in human
terms”. This idea led to creation of Lovecraft’s most popular alien
characters, such as Cthulhu or Azathoth, their several ancestors and
crossbred inhabitants of Earth. In Lovecraft’s fictional world, these
beings inhabit distant cosmic places based on non-Euclidean geometry
or originate there, coming to Earth only via dark occult rituals.
However, despite the possibility of contact with human race, they
remain indifferent or pay no particular attention to worldviews of
humankind. That is a lucky coincidence, as the reader of his works is
often reminded, since these phenomena are not only
incomprehensible to human senses and mind, but the experience with
cosmos and its other inhabitants often results in insanity of the main

151 Derleth – Wandrei, 1971, p. 39

152 Klinger, 2014, p. 61
88
characters. Lovecraft articulates this idea in one of the most popular of
his works, short story Call of Cthulhu (orig. publ. 1928):

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind
to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst
of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The
sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but
some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such
terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall
either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace
and safety of a new dark age.”153

Despite his interest in cosmic environment, the setting of most of

Lovecraft’s stories was not so strange; on the contrary, the setting of
his stories was quite specific, although Lovecraft put much effort to
emphasize its mythical, otherworldly nature. He was inspired by the
U.S. region of New England which consists of several states: Maine,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut154.

Lovecraft spent his whole life in this region: life-long citizen of

Providence, only moved from his birth city for 2 years after marrying
his wife and left behind rich correspondence providing an evidence of
his numerous short-term journeys to neighbouring regions155. He was
exceptionally aware of cultural landscape and atmosphere of
Massachusetts, which became a setting of most of his works. In a
description found in one of his letters Lovecraft expresses his view of
New England and Massachusetts based on historical facts. His idea of
the atmosphere of his works, explained in the following quote, is
crucial for our analysis of Lovecraft’s contribution to the fantastic
landscape of the region:

“As for New England as a seat of weirdness – a little historic reflection will show
why it is more naturally redolent of the bizarre & the sinister than any other
part of America. It was here that the most gloomy-minded of all the colonists
settled; & here that the dark moods & cryptic hills pressed closest. An abnormal
Puritan psychology led to all kinds of repression, furtiveness, & grotesque
hidden crime, while the long winters & backwoods isolation fostered monstrous

153 Lovecraft, 2011, p. 355

154 Discover New England, 2020, online
155 Klinger, 2014

89
secrets that never came to light. To me there is nothing more fraught with
mystery & terror than a remote Massachusetts farmhouse against a lonely hill.
Where else could an outbreak like the Salem witchcraft have occurred? Rhode
Island does not share these tendencies – its history & settlement being different
from those of other parts of New England – but just across the line in the old
Bay State the macabre broods at its strongest.”156

There are two key elements in this excerpt that imply Lovecraft’s
literary modus operandi – first is his awareness of meanings connected
with this particular cultural landscape and his intention to incorporate
them into his works of fiction, and the second is key terms –
expressions – to describe the atmosphere (and genius loci) of places in
his stories. This allows us to examine his work in context of the first
two categories of fictional narratives.

4 Site-specific Narratives
Lovecraft’s fiction is quite addressing in terms of specific real-world
locations. As the quotation above implies and Lovecraft’s short stories
confirm, he focused on the state of Massachusetts, providing
landmarks and points of interest such as Boston and Newburyport,
though providing any other is quite rare.

Boston is mentioned in The Call of Cthulhu as the narrator’s residence

– in comparison with Providence, where the public interest in his
relative’s sudden death “was intensified by the obscurity of the cause of
death”157. Boston is presented as a place of focus and study of the main
character, who is not confronted with the supernatural evil until he
leaves the city.

Newburyport, too, only earned sporadic mentions, the most notable

being in The Shadow over Innsmouth. In Newburyport library, the
narrator learns of the existence of Innsmouth – the town of which
people speak with suspiciousness: “Clearly, in the eyes of the educated
[of Newburyport – author’s note], Innsmouth was merely an exaggerated
case of civic degeneration.”158

156 Derleth – Wandrei, 1971, p. 423

157 Lovecraft, 2011, p. 356
158 Ibid., p. 812

90
In contrast with these mentions, Lovecraft repeatedly reminds the
reader about the atmosphere of Massachusetts in its whole, e. g. in The
Picture in the House: “But the true epicure in the terrible […] esteems
most of all the ancient, lonely farmhouses of backwoods New England;
for there the dark elements of strength, solitude, grotesqueness, and
ignorance combine to form the perfection of the hideous.”159

As can be seen, in terms of creating a fantastic landscape or adding to

it, the aforementioned towns are of little significance – their brief and
realistic descriptions present a connection to the rational, to the “safe
place” and oppose the meaning of Lovecraft’s description of
Massachusetts as the carrier of mysterious and potentially horror
meanings. Their role is of an anchor connecting the real world with the
fictional, the safe places of knowledge and knowledgeable with the
mysterious places of the alien, dangerous and indescribable. In this
case, it is the region that carries the mythopoetic power.

This dichotomy of the urban, rational, and empirical on one hand and
the rural, mystical, “dark”, “grotesque” and “hideous” on the other
corresponds with Plesník’s expression of contrast which is used to
create tension in the artistic work160. As it is “realised in recipient’s
conscience in a form of a specific, otherwise untranslatable implicit
meaning with vivid impact on his (self-)perception”161, then, applied to
Lovecraft’s images, this expression of contrast can be interpreted as a
trigger to the sense of danger one can encounter in real world, when
moving from the safety of the real to the unknown, quasi-fantastic area
of rural Massachusetts.

5 Site-descriptive Narratives
While site-specific narratives implied above refer mostly to the real
world and constitute an opposition to the unknown and fantastic, the
imaginary towns Lovecraft invented, such as Arkham, Dunwich,
Innsmouth or Kingsport, can be considered the most significant
carriers of horror and fantastic meanings, and, thus, site-descriptive

159 Ibid., p. 124

160 Plesník et al., 2011
161 Ibid., p. 306

91
fictional narratives. The following analysis and interpretations will be
supported by various visual interpretations in fan art162.

Picture 1: Map of Massachusetts with fictional locations invented by H. P. Lovecraft

Source: Wellerbookworks online

Arkham, to start with, belongs to one of the most famous fictional

places in popular culture. Lovecraft’s town, gloomy environment and
his fear of psychiatric institutions reflected in creation of Arkham
Asylum – a fictional psychiatric hospital for Batman’s most feared
enemies in the comic book universe of DC.

162 Visual art made by fans of a popcultural artefact.

92
Picture 1: In-game footage of the Arkham Asylum from videogame Batman: Arkham
Asylum, 2009
Source: Medium online

Arkham holds a special position in Lovecraft’s fiction: it plays the role

of the vital centre of science, culture and occult studies but is an actual
setting of few of his stories. Despite its fictional character and
occasional shifts in location, it was no later than 1933 that “Arkham
was clearly identified with Salem”163. The change of narrative and
atmosphere in description of the town is apparent, as stated in short
story The Dreams in the Witch House:

“Behind everything crouched the brooding, festering horror of the ancient

town, and of the mouldy, unhallowed garret gable where he [the main
character – author’s note] wrote... At night the subtle stirring of the black city
outside, the sinister scurrying of rats in the wormy partitions, and the creaking
of hidden timbers in the centuried house, were enough to give him a sense of
strident pandemonium. […] He was in the changeless, legend-haunted city of
Arkham, with its clustering gambrel roofs that sway and sag over attics where
witches hid from the King’s men in the dark… […] Something in the air of the
hoary town worked obscurely on his imagination.”164

163 Joshi, In: Lovecraft, 2011, p. 859

164 Lovecraft, 2011, p. 859
93
Another description with similar elements appeared in Lovecraft’s
another short story The Thing on the Doorstep:

“What lay behind our joint love of shadows and marvels was, no doubt, the
ancient, mouldering, and subtly fearsome town in which we lived – witch-
cursed, legend-haunted Arkham, whose huddled, sagging gambrel roofs and
crumbling Georgian balustrades brood out the centuries beside the darkly
muttering Miskatonic.”165

The analysis of these excerpts provides us with several re-appearing

descriptions of Arkham as “ancient”, “legend-haunted”, “mouldering”,
“witch-cursed”, “black” place. These adjectives are of connotative
nature – as such, they create “an expression of anxiety and fear”166.
Lovecraft’s description of an old, mystical place with unpleasing
history and future of decadence is then able to arouse “gloomy,
smothering, sinister or eerie spectre of moods and shadowy, macabre
atmosphere of terror, lurking danger and deadly distress”167.

Picture 2: Town of Arkham, as depicted for tabletop game Arkham Horror by Tomasz
Jedruszek
Source: Artstation online

165
Ibid., p. 920
166
Plesník et al., 2011, p. 257
167
Ibid.
94
Another fictional town Lovecraft created is Dunwich; despite being a
setting of only one short story, The Dunwich Horror:

“One dreads to trust the tenebrous tunnel of the bridge, yet there is no way
to avoid it. Once across, it is hard to prevent the impression of a faint,
malign odour about the village street, as of the massed mould and decay
of centuries. […] Afterward one sometimes learns that one has been
through Dunwich.”168

Similar to Arkham, the description of Dunwich implies the same

atmosphere of decay and observer’s disgust towards the town.
Lovecraft adds to this impression with his description of the
surrounding area:

“When the road dips again there are stretches of marshland that one
instinctively dislikes, and indeed almost fears at evening when […] fireflies come
out in abnormal profusion… As hills draw nearer, one heeds their wooded sides
more than their stone-crowned tops. Those sides loom up so darkly and
precipitously that one wishes they would keep their distance, but there is no
road by which to escape them.”169

These descriptions of Dunwich share the style Lovecraft used in his

peak form – as mentioned above, the image of both cities is similar. The
description of the nature seems to be more personal, subjective – it
uses Plesník’s expression of experience, which is the ability of the
statement “to evocate the experience […] through images, feelings […] or
intuition”170 and the expression of ugliness describing “the repulsing,
disgusting, loathsome, barbaric”171. As a result, the reader is able to
experience the feeling of a threat.

168 Lovecraft, 2011, p. 634

169 Ibid.
170 Plesník et al., 2011 p. 152
171 Ibid., p. 356

95
Picture 3: Dunwich and surroundings by McCrassus (Mihail Bila)
Source: Mccrassus wordpress online

Similar qualities are expressed in the description of Innsmouth, the

town in which The Shadow over Innsmouth takes place. Despite being
based on Newburyport172, the location of Innsmouth is fictional;
however, as a place resembling gloomy atmosphere it provides an
interesting contrast between the “normal” reality and threatening
fiction. This is equally true for Arkham and its preimage Salem.

Picture 4: Town of Innsmouth.

Source: Lovecraft-stories online

172 Derleth – Turner, 1976

96
Finally, the town of Kingsport provides the third defining feature of
Lovecraft’s fictional world – the sea. According to Joshi173, the image of
the town was based on Marblehead, MA but, like Innsmouth, does not
share the location of its preimage and remains fictional. Lovecraft
describes it as follows:

“[…] ceaseless mazes of colonial houses piled and scattered at all angles and
levels […]; antiquity hovering on grey wings over winter-whitened gables and
gambrel roofs; fanlights and small-paned windows one by one gleaming out in
the cold dusk to join Orion and the archaic stars. And against the rotting
wharves the sea pounded; the secretive, immemorial sea out of which the people
had come in the elder time.”174

“In the morning mist comes up from the sea by the cliffs beyond Kingsport.
White and feathery it comes from the deep to its brothers the clouds, full of
dreams and dank pastures and caves of leviathan. And later, in still summer
rains on the steep roofs of poets, the clouds scatter bits of those dreams… […]
great eager mists flock to heaven laden with lore, and oceanward eyes on the
rocks see only a mystic whiteness […]”175

The descriptions of Kingsport from short story The Festival,

respectively The Strange High House in the Mist, seem to lack the
predominantly negative connotations of previous fictional places,
despite notions implying its old age and look (“the rotting wharves”).
The expression of mystery is here supported by the dominant
presence of the sea and mist which are given the “secretive”, “mystical”
character of old entities, referencing what “we anticipate, guess,
intuitively or subconsciously feel”176.

173 Joshi, In: Lovecraft, 2011, p. 262

174 Lovecraft, 2011, p. 263
175 Ibid., p. 401
176 Plesník et al., 2011 p. 264

97
Figure 5: Town of Kingsport by McCrassus (Mihail Bila).
Source: Mccrassus wordpress online

To conclude, Lovecraft’s rich style of descriptions he uses to evoke a

specific atmosphere, has a significant potential to contribute to the
creation of a fantastic landscape. Particular elements he uses are
repeated in specific patterns and are easily distinguishable.
Furthermore, his inclination to the fantastic and fictional is apparent
from the small number and brief descriptions of real places on one
hand, and from the richness of imagery connected with fictional places
on the other.

The real places like Boston and Newburyport are mentioned

sporadically, but always in connotation with the real, and are referred
to only as starting points, places of study and knowledge and as places
safe from the supernatural horrors.

On the contrary, in description of fictional places like Arkham,

Dunwich and others mentioned above, meanings such as “dark”,
“ancient”, “mouldering”, “secretive”, “decay” are cumulated and invoke
the atmosphere of implicit danger, hostile environment and threat. In
the frame of Plesník’s system of expressions, it is then possible to
experience these meanings as feelings of horror, tension, ugliness,
mystery, fear and anxiety and vivid experience. Hence, the meanings
created in literary fiction are transformed into real experience – they
98
are able to resemble the reality and, in this way, help to create the
character of the fantastic landscape.

6 (Post)modern Myths
The postmodern myth as a third type of fictional cultural narrative,
that is of symbolic nature, plays a vital role in this case. It involves the
understanding of the role of popular culture which is closely connected
to Lovecraft’s legacy. This role is one of acceptance; as culture is the
result of collective effort and mutual confirmation of meanings, the
creation of any type of cultural landscape is unconditionally
understood in the same manner. Popular culture, being a result of
collective confirmation of specific meanings in a global merit, has the
power to accept or decline a fictional narrative in its own ways.

In case of Lovecraft, it means that the area of Massachusetts, in which

he situated his fictional places and narrative, inspired, and was
transformed into a variety of pop cultural artefacts, the most
significant being the meta-narrative of mystical “Miskatonic region”177
named after the fictional Miskatonic River.

However, despite emerging from academic background, the term

never gained as much popularity as the name “Lovecraft country”
which is generally used among fans of Lovecraft’s legacy. In this case,
the layers of “general” cultural landscape and fantastic landscape
overlap. The term “country” signifies a specific landscape while usage
of Lovecraft’s name implies that fans possess the knowledge of his
works, they understand, and, most importantly, they accept the
meanings he imprinted in this particular landscape.

Furthermore, Lovecraft’s ideas on the atmosphere and nature of his

fictional places as well as his creatures inspired a series of tabletop
games published by Fantasy Flight Games since 2011, and include, e.
g.: Mansions of Madness, Arkham Horror, Eldritch Horror etc. These
imitate the sightings and encounters of humankind with the unnatural
entities in familiar places from Lovecraft’s fiction, ranging from one
mansion to a town (Arkham Horror) to the whole world (Eldritch
Horror). However, the process of creating the fantastic landscape is
reverted here: the “real” world of these games is the one identic with

177 Joshi, 1999

99
Lovecraft’s vision of a region complemented with fictional places and
the “fictional” element of this in-game world is represented by places
as Boston, London, Tokyo and so on. In these terms, the intention of
the game is to invoke (or re-create) the specific atmosphere and
character of the environment and to allow the players to experience it.

Finally, a recent addition that contributes to the fantastic landscape of

Lovecraft’s Massachusetts, is a novel by Matt Ruff called Lovecraft
Country178, which opens an intertextual field including Lovecraft’s
work, his problematic worldviews, and the pulp style of writing. And a
similar, no less popular effort has been made by Alan Moore, comic
book author, in his work Providence179. These works contribute to the
fantastic landscape by creating its meta-narrative. Not only do they
acknowledge Lovecraft’s intentions in terms of creating specific
fictional landscape with its unique recognizable character; moreover,
they verbalize and contextualize this knowledge as a layer of their own
narrative.

Moore chose a unifying approach: he let his character, a young

journalist writing a book, travel around Massachusetts in search for
information on strange cults and rituals, implying that these are only
symbolic elements of local culture. However, as the character soon
learns, the cults, rituals and their power are actually real. This allows
Moore to create a unified cultural landscape in which the real world,
Lovecraft’s fictional landscape, and Lovecraft himself overlap and are
considered true and existing.

Ruff uses intertextual play in a different way. He uses author’s

objective distance and irony when discussing Lovecraft’s work per se
but incorporates his literal style and tropes in his own narrative. This
method creates the narrative tension and is recognizable in various
scenes, e. g. when one of his characters, Atticus, receives a letter
implying that his father, missing at that time, might be in Arkham:

178 Ruff, 2016

179 Moore, 2015
100
“‘Arkham,’ Atticus said. ‘The letter says Mom’s ancestors come from
Arkham,
Massachusetts.’ Arkham: home of the corpse reanimator Herbert West,
and of Miskatonic University, which had sponsored the fossil-hunting
expedition to the mountains of madness. ‘It is made up, right? I mean—’
‘Oh, yeah,’ George said. ‘Lovecraft based it on Salem, I think, but it’s not a
real place . . . Let me see that letter.’
Atticus handed it to him and George studied it, squinting and tilting his
head side to side.
‘It’s a ‘d,’’ he said finally.
‘What?’
‘It’s not Arkham, with a ‘k,’ it’s Ardham, with a ‘d.’”180

7 Conclusion
The concept of cultural landscape is a complex and wide concept,
incorporating various aspects from physical landscape as a natural
environment to results of human cultural activity in it to a wide range
of abstract meanings humans assign this landscape. The fantastic
landscape as a specific type of cultural landscape, if understood in
connection with myths, legends, rituals, symbols, and works of art,
requires special attention. The fictional narratives it includes have to
be divided based on their connection to the landscape and approached
on their semiotic basis. That means, as meanings we decode through
impressions which are recalled via specific expressive qualities used
in artistic works.

In conclusion, the first two types of fictional narratives we analysed in

frame of Lovecraft’s work – site-specific and site-descriptive –
represent two contradictory approaches Lovecraft used to create and
describe his fictional world, thus contributing to the creation of a
fantastic landscape of Massachusetts. On one hand, the site-specific
narratives of cities Boston and Newsburyport resemble the real world
almost identically. They represent the real, rational, and safe
environment where nothing supernatural happens. On the other hand,
Lovecraft’s site-descriptive narratives of fictional towns Arkham,
Dunwich, Innsmouth and Kingsport as well as of rural inland nature
and coastal areas exhibit a specific atmosphere of antiquity, mystery,
gloominess, and decay. They remain unknown and, thus, threatening
and anxiety-inducing.

180 Ruff, 2016, p. 19

101
As these qualities can be approached through Miko’s and Plesník’s
expressive qualities, and, thus, given meaning and understood in our
consciousness, it is then possible to confirm their ability to constitute
the atmosphere of the fictional place in the process of reading and
imagining, and, consequently, to constitute the character of such place
as understood by Norberg-Schulz. To sum up the partial descriptions
through expressive qualities, these fictional places then create the
fictional local (resp. regional) character of fear, anxiety, (vivid
subjective) experience, ugliness, and mystery.

Finally, the third group of fictional narratives, postmodern myths as

understood by Barthes, adds another dimension to our reading of this
fantastic landscape. Its importance grows crucially when the aspect of
acceptance is considered. The creation of any type of cultural
landscape depends on willingness of people as a cultural group to
assign it meanings and then accept them as a cultural fact. Use of a
fantastic landscape according to Lovecraft in artefacts of popular
culture confirms this collective acceptance, since popular culture per
se is a product of a collective. In this case, it is also necessary to mention
the ability of critical approach of this group as the fantastic landscape
reflects not only popular elements of Lovecraft’s legacy, but the
negative ones – his ideologies – as well.

Bibliography
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COSGROVE, D. – JACKSON, P. 1987. New Directions in Cultural
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2021-04-15]. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20002425.
DERLETH, A. – TURNER, J. (eds.). 1976. Selected Letters V (1934-1937).
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0870540363.
DERLETH, A. – WANDREI, D. (eds). 1971. Selected Letters III: 1929 –
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JOSHI, S. T. – CANNON, P. (eds.). 1999. More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft.
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KLINGER, L. S. 2014. The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft. New York :
Liverlight, 2014. 928 p. ISBN 978-0871404534.

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KORR, J. 1997. A Proposed Model for Cultural Landscape Study. In:
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LOVECRAFT, H. P. 2011. H.P. Lovecraft (Barnes & Noble Collectible
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umeleckého textu 13: Zborník prác Ústavu jazykovej a literárnej
komunikácie Pedagogickej fakulty v Nitre. Nitra : Pedagogická fakulta,
1991. p. 7 – 38. ISBN 9788085183436.
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NORBERG-SCHULZ, C. 1979. Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of
Architecture. New York : Rizzoli, 1979. 210 p. ISBN 978-80-7363-303-
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PECNÍKOVÁ, J. 2020. Úvod do štúdia kultúr(y). Banská Bystrica : DALI-
BB, 2020. 79 p. ISBN 978-80-8141-241-7.
PLESNÍK, Ľ. 2011. Tezaurus estetických výrazových kvalít. 2. vyd. Nitra
: Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa v Nitre, 2011. 486 p. ISBN 976-80-
8094-924-2.
RUFF, M. 2016. Lovecraft Country. New York : HarperCollins, 2016. 400
p. ISBN 9780062292087.
WORLD HERITAGE CENTRE. 2012. Operational Guidelines for the
Implementation of theWorld Heritage Convention. [online]. [cit. 2021-
04-15]. Available at:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191127001018if_/http://whc.unesc
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Discover New England. [online]. [cit. 2020-04-15]. Available at:
https://discovernewengland.org/

Mgr. Jozefa Pevčíková

Institute of Literary and Artistic Communication
Faculty of Arts
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra
Nitra
jozefa.pevcikova@ukf.sk

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CHAPTER 6 - INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE AND SLOVAK
INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE, CASE OF FOREST RAILWAY IN
ČIERNY BALOG181

Viera Krešáková

Abstract
The paper deals with the most popular and widely used forms of
protection of industrial heritage today - transformation. Central
Slovakia is the region with the most industrial monuments and sites in
Slovakia and many of them are more or less aesthetic part of the
industrial landscape of this region since the Middle Age. In this article
we analyze several industrial monuments of Central Slovakia, their
form of protection and use. As a positive example of a conversion, we
analyze the Čiernohronská Forest Railway in Čierny Balog in more
details. We focus not only on its positive economic and aesthetic
impact on the surrounding landscape and people’s lives, but also on
building prestige and an important position of the rural and
unattractive tourist region in comparison with popular and
prestigious tourist destinations in Slovakia.

Key words: industrial landscape, industrial heritage, transformation

of industrial heritage, industrial tourism

1 Introduction
Under the cultural landscape we spontaneously imagine the human
impact on environment and its transformation. According to the
UNESCO Operational Guidelines182 cultural landscapes are cultural
properties and represent the “combined works of nature and of man”.
Undoubtedly, industrial buildings represent the results of the
interaction of nature and man, some are more visible and recognisable
on the landscape, some less, and the others are hidden underground.
The landforms and geological structure of individual regions of
Slovakia made them possible to use mineral resources as early as in

181 The paper ispart of the project Erasmus+ 2018-1-PL-01-KA203-050963: Cultural

Heritage in the Process of Constructing and Transmitting of the European Cultural
Heritage. International Curriculum for Undergraduate and Master.
182 Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention

UNESCO; online
104
the Bronze Age. Evidence of human industrial activity from this period
is mostly visible in the copper mines in Špania dolina and its
surroundings in Central Slovakia. Visible changes in the surrounding
landscape (Pictures 1, 2) dates back to the medieval period. The
Banská Bystrica Region (Central Slovakia) is the region with the
largest concentration of industrial monuments on a national scale. In
the region we can find mining monuments (Banská Štiavnica,
Kremnica, Špania dolina) and historically much younger industrial
monuments of metallurgy (Coburg iron complex in the villages
Pohorelská Maša, Vaľkovňa, and others). This, and many other
industrial monuments, represent an important source of information
for the research of the cultural landscape not only from a technical
point of view but also from a social, geographical, environmental,
economic and others. The further use and protection of industrial
monuments is undoubtedly an area of cultural landscape research that
needs attention.

Abandoned and unused industrial monuments represent a challenge

for their surroundings. They could’t be used in original use or purposes
when more efficient resources in the other regions of the world were
found (this can be the case of mines), production of factories and
companies was no longer economically viable and they were closed.
Probably the biggest challenge for often aesthetically unattractive
industrial buildings is their suitable and feasible further use. The most
standard use of the monument is to make it accessible as a museum. A
very popular way to protect industrial monuments is their conversion.
Monuments acquire a new function different from the one they were
originally used for.

The aim of this text is to present the cultural landscape of Central

Slovakia in the context of industrial monuments and the need to
preserve them for further research of the cultural landscape of this
region. On the example of the Čiernohronská railway in Čierny Balog,
we want to point out the successful use of a popular and creative form
of protection of industrial monuments in the region of Slovakia, which
according to statistics is not a popular tourist destination.

105
Picture 1: already almost buried entrance to the old shaft in Špania dolina
Source: Michal Žec, 2020

Picture 2: this landscape was created by mankind for centuries - traces of mining,
Piesky, near Špania dolina
Source: Michal Žec, 2012

1 Concepts of Heritage Protection

According to the definition of The International Committee for the
Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCHIC)183 “Industrial
heritage consists of remains of industrial culture that have historical,
technological, social, architectural or scientific value. These are various
structures and machinery, workshops, factories, mills, warehouses,
shops, mines, places where raw materials are processed and cleaned, and

183TICCIH is an organisation their goals are to promote international cooperation in

preserving, conserving, investigating, documenting, researching, interpreting, and
advancing education of the industrial heritage. It supports international cooperation
of people in safeguarding conserving investigating documenting and researching all
aspects of the industrial heritage in the world.
106
buildings where energy is produced, transmitted, and used. This includes
transport structures and all infrastructure, places related to industry,
including buildings used for housing, worship and education.”

With the number of abandoned and dilapidated or completely

destroyed unique industrial buildings (in Slovakia we choose two
important industrial buildings in Bratislava - Tobacco Factory and
Dynamitka - once part of the international company Alfred Nobel &
Co.,) the question is whether humanity is sufficiently aware of the
value of the industrial heritage and whether it is relevant, necessary
and desirable to protect and preserve industrial monuments that can
no longer compete with modern, more efficient and more attractive
facilities.

If we want to find a comprehensive answer to this question, we should

focus on several philosophical concepts of monument protection as
such, without categorizing them. D. Rodwell, Scotish consultant
architect-planner focusing on the achievement of best practise in the
management of historic cities and the conservation of historic
buildings, sees the sense of the architectural and urban conservation
in their broader environmental agenda of (ecological) sustainability.
According to Rodwell184 historical cities, especially the pre-industrial
cities, models of sustainable urban development, function in a balance
with ecological relationship within their sub-regions. It appeals to
humans, that this principle of balance should be recovery for
industrialised world at the age of globalisation.

Muñoz185 summarizes factors that can be determining for meaning or

value of monuments to be protected or conserved: 1. history of the
object; 2. artistry; 3. material components; 4. documentary efficiency;
5. material function. Furthermore, he adds another important factor
that are personal preferences such as personal matrix of training,
technical, aesthetic, cultural, political and metaphysical choices.

184 Rodwell, 2007, p. 205

185 Muñoz, 2002, p. 26
107
Two concepts of conservation of monuments are currently being
discussed in the field of conservation – scientific and functional
conservation. Scientific conservation is based on indispensable role of
the science for establishing truths and objectivity and effort to protect
authenticity of heritage (conservables) with minimum intervention. In
conservational practice science should establish how the restored
object should be, by determining precisely how it was at a given
moment, which conservation techniques and materials are most
efficient and it monitors the development of a conservation process.186
Changes in society in last decades have caused the new conception of
the conservation, so-called functional conservation also living
conservation and urban heritage. This theory of the conservation leans
on adding also the social dimension to decision-making about the
conservation subjects. Not only scientists should be involved in the
conservation decision proceses, but the negotiations concerning the
heritage (conservables) should consider recommendations from
professionals in tourism, economists and other communities as well as
users.

If we want to describe, in more details, the idea of living or functional

conservation, we have to mention Gustavo Giovannoni, a key figure in
the field of integrating modern planning requirements into historic
town centres. He has seen the historic area of a city as a vibrant, closely
interlinked component of its new, enlarged form, performing an
essential and distinctive socio-economic role in the daily life of its
citizens. He didn’t want to make a historic area of a city to a subject of
museological protection or to set it apart from contemporary life.
Model of a harmonious integrated modern-historic town could also be
a great contribution to a sustainable city. Muñoz187 calls it as
a sustainable conservation.

186 Muñoz, 2017, p. 27

187 Muñoz, 2002, p. 30
108
The Australian guidance document of the Conservation and
Restoration The Burra Charter188 considers protection of heritage to
be important because “places of cultural significance enrich people´s
lives, often providing a deep and inspirational sense of connection to
community and landscape, to the past and to lived experience.”

The values of industrial heritage is according to TICCHIC the evidence

of activities with profound historical consequences. In addition, the
reason and motivation for protecting the industrial heritage is its
universal value of its evidence, not the singularity of unique sites.
Technological and scientific value bases on the history of
manufacturing, engineering, construction, its social value is seen as
part of record of the lives of ordinary women and men providing
important sense of identity.

2 Transformation and Adaptive Reuse as a Good Solution for

Saving Industrial Heritage
Industrial heritage consists of machinery. In this case the main task of
the conservation of industrial heritage is to bring back its functionality
or functional integrity. Any interventions should be considered with
the aim to maintain it. Reduction of value and authenticity is foreseen
in case that the components, machinery or important elements are
destroyed or removed. The other part of industrial heritage are
buildings, factories, coal or metallurgy plants. They can’t be used in
original use or purposes. Transformation or adaptive reuse seems to
be a suitable solution for the preservation of monuments and at the
same time a tool for maintaining sustainability. An example of
transformation of heritage is the use of materials taken from ancient
buildings and uninhabited medieval castles for the construction of
Renaissance sacral or civilian buildings. Part of the building material
of the colosseum or pantheon was used in the construction of the
church of St. Peter in Rome. Also building material from a medieval city

188 The Burra Charter provides practical guidance for the conservation and
management of important cultural and historical sites. It is based on changes in
international charts and documents (eg. the Venice Charter) and on the experience
of members of the Australian ICOMOS. Its latest revision is from 2013. In the
introduction, it provides several arguments for the importance of conservation of
monuments. It summarizes the definitions of places, cultural significance and works
with the interpretation of conservation measures for conservation, maintenance,
restoration, reconstruction, adaptation, use and compatible use, etc.
109
walls was reused for new buildings. At the present time it represents
an efficient tool of circular economy. On a global scale, we can mention
well known objects, whose original use was replaced by a new one, e.g.
Louvre, former royal residence of French monarchs, today national
museum and art gallery of France. Reusing for new purposes has
become more popular as a very useful, ecological and sustainable
solution in cases of abandoned and out-of-use factories and industrial
heritage.

Adaptive reuse can bring a new meaning to an abandoned industrial

place and it has become more popular for many reasons. The heritage
site can be reused and at the same time we have a building or place for
our new activities. Aesthetic experience from the reused site or object
is more intensive, when we put our new activity into a nice old
industrial building, or a nice ruin forms a romantic and aesthetic image
of the landscape. Industrial monuments often represent aesthetically
unattractive objects, in the mind of the people it is often a synonym for
damaged environment and devastated landscape. As an appostile
example we can mention the former coal and steel production plant,
abandoned in 1985, significantly polluted Landschaftspark Duisburg
in Germany, which used to be located in an industrial area of the city.
From a polluted and aesthetically disturbing industrial site became an
interesting recreation area with green parks. Each space within the
main complex has been reused/designed for a specific new use -
concrete bunkers create a space for a series of intimate gardens, old
gas tanks have become pools for scuba divers, concrete walls are used
by rock climbers, and one of the most central places of the factory, the
former steel mill, had been made into a sort of main square. All
structures and elements were reused with respect to their historic,
social, aesthetic and ecologic potential. There is beautiful idea behind
the concept: a personal story of a grandfather, who might have worked
at the plant, could walk with his grandchildren, explaining what he
used to do and what the machinery had been used for. An important
moment and reason for saving heritage – to have the opportunity to
pass the memories to the next generation.189

189 Landschaftspark online

110
Speaking of reusing the old structures, the professionals often assert
that building the new is always more economical and renovating the
old is usually more expensive. Adaptive reuse projects often have an
uncertainty to their profitability and it is not always easy to recognize
the potential of abandoned industrial heritage. Financing the
conservation and adaptive reuse projects in Europe can be financed
from different EU sources, regional development funds but also from
the public or private sector, individually or jointly. Experience from
good adaptive reuse projects shows, that for the project to be
succesful, it should include representatives of all the key local interests
- experts with financial, legal, business and conservation skills. On our
example of a converted industrial monument, we would like to point
to a form of volunteering as a substantial concept in its restoration and
transformation into a tourist attraction.

3 Transformed Forest Railway in Čierny Balog, its Role in the

Local Economy and Research of the Cultural Landscape
The forest railway is located in the central part of Slovakia around 250
km away from the capital Bratislava. Central part of Slovakia is a
woody area. Logging and timber trade historically was and still is
important for making a living for the local people living here. For
transporting the logs, different transport ways – wooden rafts, log
flumes, water flumes or horses - were used at the beginning.

In the first half of 20thcentury more efficient railway (tramlines) with

steam-powered locomotives were built. In Slovakia 40 forest railways
in different parts of the country were built in this period. Forest
railway in Čierny Balog started to operate in 1909. Its final length was
almost 132 km and it transported logs from the forest down to
sawmills in the surrounding villages.

111
Picture 3: transforming the natural landscape - construction of a forest railway
Source: Čiernohorská železnica online

As the new and more efficient technology was developed, in 1980s all
forest railways in Slovakia were closed and disassembled. Thanks to
the initiative of an enthusiast, former employee of the forest railway,
in 1982 the railway was put on the list of national heritage of Slovakia.
In 1983 a group of architects started the reconstruction of the railway
on the volunteer base. This initiative started a popular tradition of
volunteer summer camps. Students as well as various enthusiasts from
other regions and local people take part in camps. Success of the camps
lays in its popular tourist attraction - transporting tourists in the open
air museum of foresty and wood technology. The number of
transported tourists grows every year (Table 1).

Picture 4: participants in summer camps

Source: Čiernohorská železnica online

Table 1: development of transported tourists by the forest railway in

Čierny Balog
2003 2006 2008 2012 2015 2018 2019
37 899 47 237 72 000 131 752 145 638 142 716 132 402
Source: own processing synthesized according to Čiernohorská železnica online
112
It is a non profit-organisation established for conservation, protection
and redevelopment of the industrial heritage using the original
narrow-gauge lines and original infrastructure, steam-and diesel
powered locomotives for transporting tourists. The old steam-
powered locomotives are maintained and kept functional partially in
the own workshop by old – locomotive - enthusiast, partially by
professional companies specializing in the restauration of old
machines. Money for more complex restauration and material needed
for maintaining and keeping the site in work comes also from Slovak
national trust for heritage or some other trusts and from the profit of
sold tickets. Every object in this railway is an industrial monument.
Different types of waggons are used. The original waggons are partially
modofied for transport of tourists, or for some other marketing
reasons (birthday train, Saint Nicolaus train).

Picture 5: wagons converted into restaurants

Source: Michal Žec, 2020

The oldest locomotive is from 1906, and thanks to volunteers and

enthusiasts it was rescued from a pile of rusted iron found abandoned
and in 2012, after a long story it could be brought back to its original
use. Locomotives, wagons and other elements for the infrastructure
have been collected from various museums and resources, also from
abroad. Currently, there are negotiations for the long-term loan of an
Alishan Forest Railway unique steam locomotive from Taiwan that
would be the only one of its kind working in Europe.

113
Picture 6: steam powered locomotive
Source: Michal Žec, 2009

This little forest railway museum shows and explains the history of
forest railway. The maintaining of locomotives, wagons and whole
infrastructure continues on the base of volunteer summer camps. The
locomotive drivers are also volunteers – professional drivers. They
spend their summer holiday fulfilling their nostalgic childhood dreams
as steam-powered locomotive drivers.

If we want to summarize the advantages of this particular adaptive

reuse project – on the first place there would be the revitalized and
saved historic and technical value in form of rescued unique narrow
gauges railway, steam powered locomotives and other machinery.

The region Banskobystrický kraj, according to the statistics of Slovak

Statistical Office, doesn’t belong to the top 10 areas attractive for
tourists, especially for foreign tourists.190 Bratislava and its
surroundings are popular and attractive for foreign tourist. There are
plenty of reasons, among them airport and Vienna.

Potential for the railway is represented by the domestic visitors. A

research in summer 2020 showed that tourists from the Bratislava
region are in second place in terms of visitors the forest railway.191 The
results of the research correspond with an official national statistics of
Slovak Statistical Office. They show that the Banská Bystrica region is
one of the three regions in which Slovak tourists like to spend the
190 Slovak Statistics online
191 Krešáková – Pecníková, 2020, p. 204
114
night, after the attractive destinations of Malá and Veľká Fatra and
Vysoké Tatry (the region Žilinský kraj). The fact shows the economic
potential and advantage for the village and whole region in form of the
guests accommodated in local hotels and bad and breakfast and also
as guests in local gastronomical facilities.

The forest railway used to be since 1909 a part of the social identity
for the local people and it used to be an important source for making a
living. For them it means an emotional stimulus that connects them
with their past. The romantic landscape crated by the natural
environment (forest and hills) and the steam coming from the old
locomotives is an advantage, which attracts tourists from bigger towns
longing for relax and popular retro attractions.

Picture 7: railway with steam powered locomotives – since 1906 part of the
landscape in Čierny Balog
Source: Michal Žec, 2009

115
Picture 8: railway with steam powered locomotives – since 1906 part of the
landscape in Čierny Balog
Source: Michal Žec, 2009

4 Conclusion
As already mentioned earlier in this paper the region of the
Banskobystrický kraj has the highest amount of industrial heritage
sites in Slovakia. With the transitional shock to a market economy,
many areas of Central and Eastern Europe are facing rapid
depopulation and abandonment.192 The same destiny is to be expected
for the industrial heritage. As we have seen in the example of forest
railway in Čierny Balog, many of them have a potential to be a
successful part of cultural or industrial tourism. The economic
inequalities between regions in Slovakia can be the reason for lack of
experts and young enthusiasts with energy and motivation to find a
solution for making abandoned industrial objects and sites attractive
for visitors. In this case can be the project of Čiernohronská forest
railway can be a great motivation and an example for the authorities
from the villages, small towns and whole region, to look for the ideas
how to use the heritage sites.

192 Cole – Švidroňová – Gubalová – Kožiak, 2020, s. 8

116
Picture 9: an example of a dilapidated technical monument from the region, part of
the natural landscape and lives of the people in village Bacúch since 1896
Source: Viera Krešáková, 2019

The preservation of the Čiernohronská railway also represents a great

benefit for the research of the cultural landscape in the context of industrial
monuments and buildings. The construction of the railway led to changes
in the surrounding natural landscape. The railway has not been restored in
its original length. Yet, thanks to the saved parts, it is much easier to
identify and describe traces of the railway track in its whole extent. The
Čiernohronská Railway, like most industrial production facilities, was an
organized cooperation process that effectively unified natural
resources and manpower. Thanks to it, various social relationships
have been developed. The preserved industrial monument enables the
study of the cultural landscape issue from the position of holistic
interpretations as it is in the research of cultural landscape required
and needed.

Bibligraphy
BARTOŠOVÁ, N. – HABERLANDOVÁ, K. 2016. Industrial Heritage in the
Eyes of Expertise/Experience. Bratislava: Slovak University of
Technology in Bratislava, STU Publishers, 2016. ISBN 978-80-227-
4658-8.
COLE, D. – MURRAY SVIDROŇOVÁ, M. – GUBALOVÁ, J. – KOŽIAK, R.
2020. Abandoned Slovakia: Abandoned Buildings as Part of the
Development Potential of Cities and Municipalities. Banská Bystrica :
Belianum, 2020. ISBN 978-80-557-1820-0.

117
The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial
Herigate (TICCHIC) [online]. [cit. 2020-04-09]. Available on:
https://ticcih.org
KREŠÁKOVÁ, V. – PECNÍKOVÁ, J. 2020. Akceptovateľná miera
komercializácie technickej pamiatky Čiernohronskej železnice
a Lesníckeho skanzenu vo Vydrovskej doline návštevníkmi. In:
Ekonomická revue cestovného ruchu. ISSN 0139-8660, 2000, roč. 53, č.
4, s. 200 – 208.
MUÑOZ, S. 2002. Contemporary Theory of Conservation. In: Reviews
conservation. [online]. [cit. 2021-01-04]. Available on:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283234670
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage
Convention. [online]. [cit. 2021-01-04]. Available on:
http://whc.unesco.org/archive/opguide12-en.pdf
RODWELL, D. 2007. Conservation and Sustainability in Historic Cities.
Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2007. ISBN 978-1-4051-2656-4.
Stopy priemyselného dedičstva na Slovensku. Publikácia je výstupom
grantu Ministerstva školstva SR na podporu výskumnej činnosti VEGA
č. 1/3300/06. Bratislava : Slovenská technická univerzita v Bratislave,
2020. ISBN 978-80-227-3308-3 / The publication is the output of a
grant from the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic to support
research activities VEGA Nr. 1/3300/06
The Burra Charter [online]. [cit. 2020-04-09]. Available on:
https://australia.icomos.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Burra-
Charter-2013-Adopted-31.10.2013.pdf
Landschaftspark. [online]. [cit. 2021-01-04]. Available on:
https://www.landschaftspark.de/
Čiernohorská želenzica. [online]. [cit. 2021-01-04]. Available on:
https://chz.sk
Štatistický úrad SR. [online]. [cit. 2021-01-04]. Available on:
https://slovak.statistics.sk/wps/portal/ext/products/informationme
ssages/inf_sprava_detail

Mgr. Viera Krešáková, PhD.

Department of language communication in business
Faculty of Economics
Matej Bel University
Banská Bystrica
viera.kresakova@umb.sk

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NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

PhDr. Jana Pecníková, PhD. is an assistant professor at the Faculty of

Arts of Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, where she is a member
of the Department of European Cultural Studies. Her professional
activities and research deal with the following topics: French language
and culture; interculturality and intercultural communication; cultural
and active citizenship in the EU; cultural and linguistic identity; and
cultural landscape. In the given topics, she has been a coordinator in
domestic and foreign projects. She is author of scientific monographs,
university textbooks and scientific papers. She participates regularly
in many Slovak and international workshops and conferences in
cooperation, e.g. with the Jagiellonian University, Poland; or University
of Rennes 2, France. She implements the modern and innovative
trends from cultural studies research into university educational
activities in Slovakia and abroad.

doc. PhDr. Tatiana Tökölyová, PhD. is an associate professor in

Political Science. She currently works at FSV UCM at the Department
of Political Science. Her academic research focuses mainly on issues of
interdisciplinarity, civic and national identity, democratization
processes and current forms of regionalism, with a priority for the
latter given to Polynesia and the South Pacific. In addition, she has a
long-term collaboration with several European universities and is the
author of several scientific studies and research articles, chapters of
domestic and foreign publications and monographs. She is a member
of several scientific councils of professional associations and journals
indexed in the SCOPUS and WoS databases, and works as a reviewer in
several scientific and professional journals. She is a researcher and co-
researcher of several national and international projects focused on
the processes of democratization, foreign policy of the Slovak Republic,
innovative teaching methods, and inclusion of marginalized groups
and education of community workers.

119
doc. Ruslan T. Saduov, PhD. is an Associate Professor at the
Department of English Language and Intercultural Communication at
Bashkir State University, Russia. Researcher and university teacher, he
is interested in political linguistics, multimodal texts, and landscape
studies. He is also a professional translator / interpreter, holder of
national and international scholarships, including Fulbright (2014-
2015).

Dr. Laia Anguix is an art historian and scholar specialised in museums

and visual culture. After holding different positions as an art critic,
assistant curator, History teacher, cultural manager and research
fellow for council-owned museums in Valencia (Spain), she obtained a
PhD funded by Northumbria University (Newcastle, UK). Her thesis
aimed to provide a better understanding of the origins of the
permanent collections of Newcastle’s flagship art gallery, the Laing. In
addition to her multiple articles and conference papers on this topic,
she has written five entries on historical 20th century art dealers for
the Art Market Dictionary (De Gruyter, 2021) and has received funding
from the Paul Mellon Centre to investigate the revival of the British
artist John Martin (1789-1854) during the post-war years. Besides her
current role in public engagement with research at the Gardens,
Libraries and Museums at the University of Oxford (UK), she is
studying the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in museums and urban
visual culture.

Mgr. Ivana Pondelíková (née Styková), PhD. works as an assistant

professor at the Department of European Cultural Studies, Matej Bel
University in Banská Bystrica. In her research, she focuses on
international cultural relations and cultural diplomacy, the
intercultural differences between the “East” and the “West”, which are
depicted in the literature written in English. In addition, she is engaged
in identity research, especially in its current forms, i.e. hybrid and
digital identity. Recently, she has been involved into innovative
teaching methods and their usage during the digital era. As a lecturer,
she provides teaching of British cultural studies at the bachelor and
master level of study.

120
Mgr. Jozefa Pevčíková is a PhD student of aesthetics in the Institute
of Literary and Artistic Communication at the Constantine the
Philosopher University in Nitra. Her research focuses on pop culture
in general, on fandom and fan activities. Her dissertation thesis aims
to map and analyse influence of H. P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Mythos on
pop culture. The research, based on intertextual theory and media
studies, is to be concluded in 2023. In her current research project, she
examines Cthulhu Mythos in terms of shared fictional universes and
fanfiction. Her publishing activity includes paper in Motus in verbo
journal and numerous book and comic book reviews on specialized
web portals.

Mgr. Viera Krešáková, PhD. is an assistant professor at Matej Bel

University, Faculty of Economics in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. She
works at the Department of Language Communication in Business and
teached the Russian cultural studies at Department of European
Cultural Studies, Faculty of Arts. Her research activities include the
terminology management, language teaching for specific purposes,
intercomperehension and cultural studies. She participated in many
EU projects e.g. Terminology Management, Management of EU Projects
and Innovative Teaching Methods at Universities as well as
Erasmus+ 2018-1-PL-01-KA203-050963: Cultural Heritage in the
Process of Constructing and Transmitting of the European Cultural
Heritage. International Curriculum for Undergraduate and Master.

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FACES OF URBAN CUTURAL LANDSCAPE
AN ANTHOLOGY
Edited by Jana Pecníková

Authors: ©Jana Pecníková, ©Tatiana Tökölyová,

©Ruslan Saduov, ©Laia Anguix, ©Ivana Pondelíková, ©Jozefa
Pevčíková, ©Viera Krešáková

Reviewers: Marta Lacková (University of Žilina, Slovakia), Eva

Reichwalderová (Matej Bel University of Banská Bystrica, Slovakia)

Cover design: PhDr. Jana Pecníková, PhD.

Technical editor: Mgr. Ivana Pondelíková, PhD.
Language editors: Mgr. Peter Ondra and Mgr. Roman Schwartz
Load: 100 pieces
Number of pages: 123
Format: A5
Place: Banská Bystrica
Year: 2021
Print: Koprint, s. r. o.
First edition

ISBN 978-80-969837-8-0
EAN 9788096983780
122
This publication was created with the support of the European Union
program: Erasmus+ KA203 NR REF. 2018-1-PL01-KA203-050963
European cities in the process of constructing and transmitting of the
European cultural heritage. International curriculum for
undergraduate and master students.

Implementation period: 01.09.2018-31.08.2021

Implemented by the Department of European Cultural Studies, Faculty

of Arts, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia.

All rights reserved.

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