Abstract

The architectural and urban structures of Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, which were constructed under the discourse of monumental post- war modernism, are turning into urban blind-spots as their spatial structure is fragmented and their former spatial program is mostly no longer understood by contemporary society. To better comprehend this phenomenon, it is in our view necessary to look at the history of these spaces in a long perspective. In this case study, we look into the history of modern architecture and urban planning practices which shaped the Námestie slobody Square in Bratislava, and which were significantly influenced by the cultural programs of authoritarian political regimes of the 20th century. Even though only some of them were executed, they subsequently added to the production of the Square in the sense of its physical environment as well as an imaginary place, and so they play instrumental roles in contemporary perceptions and usages of the Square’s landscape. Regarding this investigation, it is useful to look at the practices of architectural and urban planning as intellectual activities producing representations of space, understood in the sense of the theory of the production of space developed by Henri Lefebvre who interprets the space as ‘spatial triad’. From this perspective, the spaces of architectural plans are not scrutinized as the results of isolated processes of intellectual work, but rather they are theorized as a crucial players in negotiating the relations between various facets of space – perceived, conceived and lived space – which together constitute urban environments as a complex socio- spatial phenomena.

How to Cite:

Potočár, M., (2014) “A Monument and a Blindspot – On the Precarious State of Modernist Architecture in Bratislava”, field 6(1), 19–38.