The legacy of Erich Mendelsohn – expression and context in the architecture of Modern Movement.
The way to the UNESCO World Heritage List
Maria Jolanta Sołtysik
mjsol1@outlook.comGdańsk University of Technology (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0826-1734
Abstract
In 2021, the international community of architectural and art historians started the so called “Erich Mendelsohn Initiative”, with the goal of inscribing the architectural legacy of Erich Mendelsohn on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Despite some efforts, the final list of nominated buildings, along with the Statement of their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and the title of the nomination has not yet been established. This article presents a new, authorial look at Erich Mendelsohn’s legacy in view of the UNESCO World Heritage. It analyses the global significance of Erich Mendelsohn’s legacy in the opinions of leading architectural historians of the 20th century. The article puts forward the preliminary list of Mendelsohn’s realisations which should embody his legacy, the criteria for assessment their historical value and the proposed title of the nomination. The main part of the article is defining the first two sections of the “Statement of Outstanding Universal Value”, to be presented in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. According to the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention they are: the “Brief synthesis”, and the “Justification for Criteria”. In conclusion, the author argues, that the most significant qualities of Erich Mendelsohn’s architectural works are their strong expression and their dialog with the local context. Therefore, these features should be the main subjects of the Outstanding Universal Value Statement, the title and in the main narrative points of the nomination dossier for the inscription of Erich Mendelsohn’s legacy on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Keywords:
Erich Mendelsohn, UNESCO, Outstanding Universal ValueReferences
Banham, R. (1967). Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, second ed. New York – Washington: Praeger Publishers
Google Scholar
Benevolo, L. (1964). Geschichte der Architektur des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, vol. II, first ed. München: Verlag George D.W. Callwey
Google Scholar
Benton, Ch., Heinze-Greenberg, I., James, K., Mortgenhaler, H. R., & Stephan, R. (1998). Erich Mendelsohn. Dynamics and Function. Realized Visions of a Cosmopolitan Architect, first ed. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Verlag
Google Scholar
Beyer, O. (ed.) (1967). Eric Mendelsohn: Letter of an Architect, first ed. New York: Abelard-Schuman, Inc.
Google Scholar
Curtis, W., J., R. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900, third ed. London-New York: Phaidon
Google Scholar
Frampton, K. (1992). Modern Architecture. A Critical History, third ed. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd
Google Scholar
Hitchcock, H-R. (1977). Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, fourth ed. New Haven and London: Yale Univwersity Press
Google Scholar
James-Chakraborty, K., (1997). Erich Mendelsohn and the Architecture of German Modernism, first ed. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press
Google Scholar
Krohn, C. & Stawagna, M. (2022). Erich Mendelsohn. Buildings and Projects, first ed. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag GMBH
Google Scholar
Lampugnani, V.,M. (ed.) (1986). Encyclopaedia of 20th Century Architecture, first ed. London and New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1986
Google Scholar
Nay, E. (2024). Erich Mendelsohn: Place, Identity and Exile, in: Positioning: Erich Mendelsohn and the built Heritage of the 20th Century, ICOMOS Journals of the German Nation Committee, no. LXXXII (2024), p. 62-65
Google Scholar
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, World Heritage Centre (WHC) 19/01, 10 July 2019
Google Scholar
Pevsner, N. (1976). Historia architektury europejskiej/ An Outline of European Architecture (1943), first ed. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Artystyczne i Filmowe
Google Scholar
Positioning: Erich Mendelsohn and the built Heritage of the 20th Century, in: ICOMOS Journals of the German Nation Committee, no. LXXXII (2024)
Google Scholar
Stephan, R. (ed. (1999), Eric Mendelsohn: Architect, 1887–1953, New York: The Monacelli Press
Google Scholar
Von Eckardt, W. (1960). Eric Mendelsohn, first ed. New York: George Braziller, Inc.
Google Scholar
Watkin, D., (1992). A History of Western Architecture, first ed. London: Laurence King Publishing
Google Scholar
Whittick, A. (1940). Erich Mendelsohn, first ed. London: Faber and Faber Ltd
Google Scholar
Whittick, A. (1956). Erich Mendelsohn, second ed. New York: F.W. Dodge Corporation
Google Scholar
Whittick, A. (1950). European architecture in the twentieth century, vol. 1, first ed. London: C. Lockwood
Google Scholar
Whittick, A. (1974). European architecture in the twentieth century, first ed. New York: Abelard-Schuman
Google Scholar
Zevi, B. (1970). Erich Mendelsohn Opera Completa, Architetture E Immagini Archettoniche, first ed. Milano: Etas Kompass
Google Scholar
Zevi, B. (1997). Erich Mendelsohn Opera Completa, Architetture E Immagini Archettoniche, second ed. Milano: Testo & Immagine
Google Scholar
Authors
Maria Jolanta Sołtysikmjsol1@outlook.com
Gdańsk University of Technology Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0826-1734
Statistics
Abstract views: 25PDF downloads: 18
