Casa del Fascio: Turning a 'difficult heritage' into a museum
Paper published at the Proceedings of the Conference “Heritage 2020 - 7th International Conference on Heritage and Sustainable Development”
Εxtract from the publication of the Conference Proceedings
ABSTRACT
In the era of preservation of heritage towards the shape of a nation’s identity, the concept of ‘difficult heritage’ emerges as a meaningful legacy of buildings or traces of the past that have remained from traumatic periods. In this paper, we examine the Italian architectural work of Fascism, Casa del Fascio in Como, by Giuseppe Terragni, since it has been considered as a traumatic experience, but also as a reference for contemporary architecture. Through this case study, we seek to explore how architecture can deal with a difficult past and convert it into a museum. In order to examine this conversion, historical, social and architectural contexts are analysed. In the end, although it can create social divisions, the recognition of this heritage, its redefinition and turning into a museum can produce new meanings that lead to the formation of a new cultural identity.
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