Search Results (27)

The “hand-waving sacrifice” is a large-scale sacrificial ceremony with more than 2000 years of history. It was passed down from ancient times by the Tujia ethnic group living in the Wuling Corridor of China, and it integrates religion, sacrifice, dance, drama, and other cultural forms. It primarily consists of two parts: ritual content (inviting gods, offering sacrifices to gods, dancing a hand-waving dance, etc.) and the architectural space that hosts the ritual (hand-waving hall), which together constitute Tujia’s most sacred ritual space and the most representative art and culture symbol. Nonetheless, in existing studies, the hand-waving sacrifice ritual, hand-waving hall architectural space, and hand-waving dance art are often separated as independent research objects, and little attention is paid to the coupling mechanism of the mutual construction of space and ritual in the process of historical development. Moreover, with the acceleration of modernization, the current survival context of the hand-waving sacrifice has undergone drastic changes. On the one hand, the intangible cultural heritage protection policy and the wave of tourism development have pushed it into the public eye and the cultural consumption system. On the other hand, the changes in the social structure of traditional villages have led to the dissolution of the sacredness of ritual space. Therefore, using the interaction of “space-ritual” as a prompt, this research first uses GIS technology to visualize the spatial geographical distribution characteristics and diachronic evolution process of hand-waving halls in six historical periods and then specifically analyzes the sacred construction of hand-waving hall architecture for the hand-waving sacrifice ritual space throughout history, as well as the changing mechanism of the continuous secularization of the hand-waving sacrifice space in contemporary society. Overall, this study reveals a unique path for non-literate ethnic groups to achieve the intergenerational transmission of cultural memory through the collusion of material symbols and physical art practices, as well as the possibility of embedding the hand-waving sacrifice ritual into contemporary spatial practice through symbolic translation and functional extension in the context of social function inheritance and variation. Finally, this study has specific inspirational and reference value for exploring how the traditional culture and art of ethnic minorities can maintain resilience against the tide of modernization. Full article

In the wake of the Holocaust and the post-war reconstruction of Greece’s historic city centers, many Greek synagogues were demolished, abandoned, or appropriated, erasing centuries of Jewish architectural and communal presence. This study presents a thirty year-long research and documentation initiative aimed at preserving, recovering, and eventually digitally reconstructing these “lost” synagogues, both as individual buildings and within their urban context. Drawing on architectural surveys, archival research, oral histories, and previously unpublished materials, including the recently rediscovered Shemtov Samuel archive, the project grew through the use of technology. Beginning with in situ surveys in the early 1990s, it evolved into full-scale digitally enhanced architectural drawings that formed the basis for further digital exploration, 3D models, and virtual reality outputs. With the addition of these new tools to existing documentation, the project can restore architectural detail and cultural context with a high degree of fidelity, even in cases where only fragmentary evidence survives. These digital reconstructions have informed physical restoration efforts as well as public exhibitions, heritage education, and urban memory initiatives across Greece. By reintroducing “invisible” Jewish landmarks into contemporary consciousness, the study addresses the broader implications of post-war urban homogenization, the marginalization of minority heritage, and the ethical dimensions of digital preservation. This interdisciplinary approach, which bridges architectural history, digital humanities, urban studies, and cultural heritage, demonstrates the value of digital tools in reconstructing “lost” pasts and highlights the potential for similar projects in other regions facing comparable erasures. Full article

The site selection and spatial arrangement of rural settlements embody the ethnic characteristics and cultural heritage of ethnic minority groups. Investigating their spatial layout features and underlying determinants can provide both theoretical foundations and practical methodologies for the conservation and development planning of these settlements. This paper takes the representative ethnic minority villages in the first batch of key traditional villages in Liuzhou, Guangxi, as the example, and employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to study the spatial layout characteristics of ethnic minority villages in southern China. This study utilizes GIS-based analytical methods to calculate quantitative indicators based on planar graphs and digital elevation model (DEM) of ethnic minority settlements. The research results show that the spatial distribution of ethnic minority villages in southern China is closely correlated with natural geographical conditions. To be specific, ethnic minority villages in southern China generally distribute in accordance with the terrain and form specific spatial relationships with roads, topography, mountains, and water. Regardless of whether minority residents live on mountain tops or in valleys, they generally prefer gently sloping terrain. In addition, factors such as natural environment (sunshine and water sources, etc.) and traffic conditions are considered comprehensively in the settlement location. On this basis, the spatial layout features of rural settlement are extracted, and corresponding characteristic maps are constructed. The construction framework of the spatial characteristics map established based on “overall layout, architecture, roads and architecture-natural pattern” in this paper can be applied to general rural settlements. The findings can provide both theoretical foundations and practical references for the planning and development of rural settlements across different regions and ethnic groups. Full article

Rome, historically regarded as a monumental center of Catholic Christendom, now stands as a multi-layered environment shaped by diverse religious communities whose overlapping architectures, rites, and narratives expand the city’s cultural memory. This article employs Warburg’s Mnemosyne methodology to investigate how symbolic motifs, architectural forms, and intangible practices—from Eastern Orthodox iconography to the Great Mosque of Rome’s transnational design—migrate, adapt, and reconfigure within Rome’s urban fabric. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches from cultural memory studies, religious studies, and urban geography, it reveals how minority communities—Jewish, Muslim, Orthodox Christian, Protestant, Methodist, and Scientology—act as “memory agents”, negotiating visibility and introducing new heritage layers that challenge monolithic perceptions of Rome’s identity. The analysis underscores that intangible heritage, such as chanting, prayer, and interfaith festivals, is equally central to understanding how collective memory is produced and transmitted. Tensions arise when key stakeholders do not validate these emerging cultural forms or question their “authenticity”, reflecting the contested nature of heritage-making. Ultimately, Rome’s religious plurality, shaped by migration and historical transformations, emerges as a dynamic memoryscape. By recognizing the vital role of minority faiths in heritage-making, this study contributes to broader debates on cultural pluralism, super-diversity, and the evolving definitions of religious and cultural heritage in contemporary global cities. Full article

Religious places represent one of the most significant categories of protected heritage. In Italy, however, places of worship belonging to minority communities often remain inconspicuous and are not legally recognized as part of the nation’s cultural heritage. Consequently, the histories of these communities face challenges in securing a space within the collective memory. This contribution, through a spatial approach and an interdisciplinary methodology, highlights the richness of the hidden heritage—both tangible and intangible—of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in Turin. In particular, this research explores the role of the Greek language, which constitutes a significant element of intangible heritage for the community. Since the 1960s, regular celebrations in the Byzantine rite and the Greek language have been held in the Piedmontese capital. These biritual practices emerged in response to the demands of numerous Greek university students and families who revitalized the Orthodox presence in the territory during those years. In 2000, the Catholic Archdiocese granted the Greek Orthodox community the use of a church in the city’s historic center. This church is interpreted as a shared religious space, having undergone a transformation of identity over time: its Orthodox identity remains architecturally invisible, as the community continues to worship in a former Catholic church. Full article

The applied research presented here covers the topic of the reconstruction of architectural Cultural Heritage ruined after a catastrophic event and subsequently abandoned. This is a recurring problem in many Italian territories, inland and coastal, which have seen a progressive depopulation not only as a result of changed economic and social conditions but also—in the more distant past—of earthquake damage. The reconstruction of physical structures thus becomes the ‘picklock’ for tackling a wider problem, such as that of the revitalization and repopulation of minor villages of potential historical and cultural value but currently outside even the local tourism circuits. Taking into account the theoretical and methodological debate within protection and preservation of heritage, on the concepts of identity and authenticity, the research provided an operational contribution to the municipality of a small village on the Ligurian coast, Andora Borgo Castello, to draw up guidelines for the reconstruction of the medieval settlement, as part of a revitalization project financed by the Recovery Plan. Full article

This study aimed to identify the raw materials and characteristics of lime mortar samples recovered from three Joseon dynasty architectural heritage sites: the Munsusanseong Fortress in Gimpo, Namhansanseong Fortress, and Godeung-dong lime-barrier tomb in Seongnam. To achieve this, comprehensive analyses were conducted, including physical property assessments (specific gravity, water absorption, apparent porosity, hydrochloric acid aggregate test, and particle size distribution), material characterization using optical microscopy and SEM-EDS, as well as XRD, WD-XRF, and TGA analyses. The results revealed that the lime mortars from all three sites exhibit the characteristics of Sammulhoe, a traditional Joseon dynasty mixture of lime, sand, and clay minerals. While the binders primarily consisted of air-setting lime, minor hydraulic properties were observed in the samples from the Namhansanseong Fortress and the Godeung-dong lime-barrier tomb, possibly due to the inclusion of dolomite. Additionally, the presence of brick and tile particles (Waseol) in some samples corroborate historical records of lime mortar production techniques during the Joseon dynasty. This study provides scientific insights into the raw materials and characteristics of the Joseon dynasty lime mortar, contributing to a deeper understanding of traditional construction materials and techniques. Full article

This article explores two cases of architectural conversion within the TESEO project: the transformation of a Catholic church into an Orthodox church in Trento and the adaptation of a farmstead into a Buddhist temple in the Molin Valley, Trentino. These cases show how conversion involves a negotiation of visual and spatial markers, redefining what is considered “heritage”. The article situates these experiences within broader global trends of growing religious diversity and migration, exploring how such transformations respond to the need for worship spaces for religious minorities. It also reflects on the temporariness of these solutions, often pending the creation of more permanent spaces. In conclusion, the article proposes an open, non-deterministic view of heritage, embracing the fluidity and transformability of contemporary religious spaces. Full article

Traditional villages are irreplaceable cultural heritage sites, and studying their architectural spatial networks is key to preserving both the villages and their culture. This research focuses on four Bouyei villages in Central Guizhou, using social network analysis, spatial gene theory, and diversity analysis to explore their architectural spatial network characteristics. Findings include the following: (1) Zhenshan Village has the best network condition, while that or the others is average; (2) all the villages show low vulnerability Cp-1 genes; (3) Bouyei architectural networks are stable and continuous; and (4) the network is influenced by military culture, feng shui, agricultural culture, Buyi ethnic spiritual beliefs (Mo Belief Culture), topographical conditions, and modern planning interventions. The study aims to deepen the understanding of the cultural values and spatial layout characteristics of traditional villages, while preserving the cultural heritage of traditional settlements and ethnic minorities. Full article

Over the past few years, minor centers have attracted interest from the scientific community and beyond as places to be re-inhabited. They have started being regarded as places of healthy and wholesome living, places that have kept resilience to anthropic actions as well as a sensitive architectural and landscape heritage that can act as a driver for the socioeconomic regeneration of their territories if enhanced. Several initiatives network small neighboring municipalities and link them to various types of tourism (cultural, mountain, experiential, etc.), depending on the areas’ traditions and specific characteristics. However, minor centers are often still unprepared to welcome tourists and struggle to implement services, especially due to the economic deficit resulting from years of abandonment and depopulation. The research described here returns possible expeditious solutions for improving the condition of tourism-related services. Starting from the historical and urban analysis and knowledge acquisition of a specific case study—the Municipality of Naro, in Sicily—we reflected on solutions to be repeated in similar contexts to improve the accessibility and use of the historic center. The aim of the research is to outline a place-based design to improve mobility, water and waste management services, affecting places’ attractiveness. The proposed interventions are modular, increasable in small steps, with budgets suited to the economic possibilities of small centers such as the examined one. This method, due to its incremental and adaptive nature, is working ‘on’ places and ‘for’ places, as well as functions as a possible tool and stimulus for the self-construction of a ‘sustainable society’ that helps the governance of these centers toward a vision of urban valorization. Territories like Naro represent a large part of Italy. They are endowed with resources lacking in heavily urbanized areas yet involved in numerous revitalization policies, including international ones. Full article

Ethnic minority architecture is a vital carrier of the cultural heritage of ethnic minorities in China, and its quick and accurate extraction from remote sensing images is highly important for promoting the application of remote sensing information in urban management and architectural heritage protection. Taking Buyi architecture in China as an example, this paper proposes a minority architectural heritage identification method that combines low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing technology and an improved deep learning algorithm. First, UAV images are used as the data source to provide high-resolution images for research on ethnic architecture recognition and to solve the problems associated with the high costs, time consumption, and destructiveness of traditional methods for ethnic architecture recognition. Second, to address the lack of edge pixel features in the sample images and reduce repeated labeling of the same sample, the ethnic architecture in entire remote sensing images is labeled on the Arcgis platform, and the sliding window method is used to cut the image data and the corresponding label file with a 10% overlap rate. Finally, an attention mechanism SE module is introduced to improve the DeepLabV3+ network model structure and achieve superior ethnic building recognition results. The experimental data fully show that the model’s accuracy reaches as high as 0.9831, with an excellent recall rate of 0.9743. Moreover, the F1 score is stable at a high level of 0.9787, which highlights the excellent performance of the model in terms of comprehensive evaluation indicators. Additionally, the intersection/union ratio (IoU) of the model is 0.9582, which further verifies its high precision in pixel-level recognition tasks. According to an in-depth comparative analysis, the innovative method proposed in this paper solves the problem of insufficient feature extraction of sample edge pixels and substantially reduces interference from complex environmental factors such as roads, building shadows, and vegetation with the recognition results for ethnic architecture. This breakthrough greatly improves the accuracy and robustness of the identification of architecture in low-altitude remote sensing images and provides strong technical support for the protection and intelligent analysis of architectural heritage. Full article

Architectural color painting is one of the cultural heritages of the Tibetan people. To address the issues of “loss” and “variation” in architectural color paintings during the renovation of traditional Tibetan timber dwellings in Yunnan, it is essential to organize and categorize the forms and cultural content of ethnic minority timber architectural paintings. This approach will help supplement foundational research on the subject. This study, based on linguistic research findings, focuses on the Diqing South Locus Dialect Region as the research area, conducting field investigations in over 30 settlements (involving more than 80 dwellings). This study analyzes patterns, colors, and forms across various architectural elements to develop a detailed atlas of decorative painting patterns. A combined analysis of historical documentation reveals three primary folk causes behind the architectural color paintings of Tibetan timber buildings in Yunnan: (1) primitive worship under animism; (2) decorative norms guided by religious beliefs; and (3) cultural fusion resulting from ethnic heritage. This will help people understand the cultural essence behind architectural paintings, avoiding the cognitive limitation of knowing only their form but not their meaning. This paper aims to raise awareness of the cultural heritage of regional timber buildings, providing a basis for typological accumulation and model references for the protection and transmission of regional timber architectural color paintings. Full article

After an earthquake, legislation tends to permit the rapid demolition of damaged buildings, including the built heritage, for safety reasons, as was the case for many small historic centers after the 2016 earthquake in central Italy. A balance should, of course, be struck between safety and preservation. There must be a willingness to engage in continuous interaction with the various bodies involved in post-earthquake management, particularly in the preventive phase of the complex activities regarding the issues of the seismic vulnerability of historic built. The widespread historical built heritage in Italy requires fast and reliable assessment procedures that allow a large-scale evaluation of the vulnerability of historical buildings before a seismic event. To this end, a proposal is presented here for the inverse use of the protocol for the seismic vulnerability survey of historic centers by means of a system called CARTIS form, coordinated since 2015 by the Italian consortium of Seismic and Structural Engineering Laboratories (ReLUIS). This rapid assessment is compared with an equally fast method for constructing fragility curves, based only on the information available in the ReLUIS–CARTIS database, defining the relationship between the probability of reaching a level of loss of structural safety or a vulnerability index as a function of the seismic acceleration PGA and the ground orography. The methodology outlined could be considered to be progress in cultural heritage diagnostics on a large scale, considering cultural heritage to be the diffuse historical residential masonry buildings that form the historic centers. Full article

Preserving cultural heritage through monitoring, registering, and analyzing damage in historical architectural structures presents significant financial and logistical burdens. Developed approaches for monitoring and registering 4D (4-dimensional)-scanned range and raster images of damaged objects were investigated in a case study of historical Baron Palace in Egypt. In the methodology, we first prepared and observed the damaged historical models. The damaged historical models were scanned using a laser scanner at a predetermined date and time. Simultaneously, digital images of the models were captured (by a calibrated digital camera) and stored on a researcher’s tablet device. By observing and comparing the scanned models with the digital images, geometric defects and their extent are identified. Then, the observed data components were detected on the map. Then, damaged statue materials were investigated using system of energy dispersive (SEM; scanning electron microscope, Gemini Zeiss-Ultra 55) and XRF (X-ray fluorescence) spectroscopic analysis to identify the statue’s marble elements, and the results indicate that SEM-EDX and XRF analyses accurately identify major and minor compositions of the damaged statue. Then, the damaged models were registered in two stages. In the registration stages, the corresponding points were determined automatically by detecting the closest points in the clouds and ICP (iterative closest point) algorithm in RiSCAN. The point clouds (of the Palace and damaged statues) gave very detailed resolutions and more realistic images in RiSCAN, but it is a costly program. Finally, the accuracies of the registration tasks were assessed; the standard deviations are within acceptable limits and tend to increase irregularly as the number of polydata observations used in the registration calculations increase. Full article

This paper explores the opportunities for locals’ participation as a tool for the sustainable redevelopment of vacant heritage. It focuses on the Politiebureau Groningen Centrum (The Netherlands) as a case study to apply a novel approach to engage community participation in architectural redesign. It fills the academic gap on participation in heritage building redesign lacking diversity in stakeholder perspectives and overcomes some of the current participatory design tools’ downsides, identified in the previous literature: lack of transparent communication and high requirement for participants. This research employs a combination of methods structured by sets of divergent and convergent phases. Cognitive mapping, semi-structured interviewing, and a 2,5D model game were tested in the research for inquiry and redesign testing, the two key participatory stages. The research outcomes include participants’ perceptions and remembrance of the site for generating redesign scenarios, the common ground in their scenario preferences, and their contrasting attitudes toward the overall material and the specific elements. The 2,5D model game tool turns out effective in transparently delivering the redesign possibilities to participants and lowering the requirements of time, language skill, and learning capacity, thus being easily repeatable for other sites and participants to boost social and community values. Future research recommendations are given on applying the approach to larger samples covering all the minorities to get in-depth knowledge on the community’s collective perspectives in relation to their sociodemographic characteristics and validate the hypothesis on their preferences toward materials and elements. Full article