Enfilade

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From Penn’s Humanities+Urbanism+Design Initiative:

Basile Baudez | ‘The Décor of an Opera Built Yesterday’, Saint Petersburg’s Panorama
Penn School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 20 November 2014

Founded in 1703 on the Neva River Delta to provide Russia with a port to serve its Baltic ambitions, Saint Petersburg was aggressive in its bid to be read as a modern, European capital. The first prints representing the city adopted a panoramic format that focused on the Neva, its sublime width, and the magnificent new façades erected along its shores. Visitors understood the river landscape, however, as an insurmountable obstacle to proper urban development. For them, the Neva conveyed the hostility of nature, while the buildings—forever to be seen from too great a distance—appeared unreal, ready to vanish into the flat horizon.

Basile Baudez is Assistant Professor at the University Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV).

Thursday, 20th November 2014, 6:15pm
Meyerson Hall, Lower Level, B3
210 S. 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA