Displaced square: the meanings reduction of the historical site

VACKOVÁ, Barbora. Displaced square: the meanings reduction of the historical site. In Fragments, Traces, Memories: Internationa Conference. 2023.

Basic information

• Original name: Displaced square: the meanings reduction of the historical site
• Authors: VACKOVÁ, Barbora.
• Edition: Fragments, Traces, Memories: Internationa Conference, 2023.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 50401 Sociology
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Education
• Keywords in English: visual representations; heritage; tourism; small town

Abstract

There is a square in a small city. The city is called Telč, one of the UNESCO sites in the Czech Republic. For many, the square is a synecdoche for the whole town. It became an icon of what is called the Renaissance pearl of Highlands or Moravian Venice. Neverminded that the historical structure of the place, the square equipment, the houses, its shape, and its street facades are influenced by a broader range of (more or less historical) styles and periods. The existing representations reduce the meaning of the place to one concentrated image of the “Renaissance”. This reductive understanding of the place affects how and by whom this square is used and cared for and how it is incorporated into the contemporary interpretations of the Telč itself and its position in the broader landscape context. The presentation will be based on the visual materials analysis and the participative observation in situ realised from summer 2019 till summer 2022. In my presentation, I want to focus on two aspects of the whole issue: on the visual representations of the city/square; for the purpose of this presentation, I will use materials not older than 50 years, representative photo books, movies and others. Second, I will analyse the visual and temporal experience of the place: how is this experience changing within year and day? How its usage refers to the historical identity of the pace?