Romik, N;
(2025)
Architecture of Memory: Exploring (Post-) Jewish Spaces in Eastern Europe.
[Book].
DESIGN RESEARCH IN ARCHITECTURE.
UCL Press: London, UK.
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Abstract
Architecture of Memory explores architectural disappearance, urban remembrance and functional change amid social upheaval. Using archival, architectural and artistic methods, Natalia Romik investigates the spectral architecture of former shtetls – predominantly Jewish towns in Central and Eastern Europe before the Second World War. After the war, these towns were repopulated by people of other nationalities, who reused former Jewish properties. Today, traces of the Jewish populations have nearly vanished from urban reality and public discourse. Romik's work seeks to discover new ways to develop abandoned shtetl architecture, focusing on Jewish heritage sites like synagogue ruins and ritual baths. Through an interdisciplinary approach that merges architectural design, contemporary art and Jewish studies, Romik’s experimental research addresses the complex social issues of former shtetls by combining theoretical discussions with artistic performances and architectural interventions. The book documents projects ranging from subtle, mirror-clad interventions – such as the Nomadic Shtetl Archive, JAD, and Hurdy-Gurdy – to practical renovations that transform derelict synagogues and Jewish pre-burial houses into historical museums and cultural centres. These efforts confront the 'present absence' of these towns by merging theoretical discourse with archival research, artistic performances and architectural interventions, aimed at investigating the lost Jewish communities' spectral architecture.
| Type: | Book |
|---|---|
| Title: | Architecture of Memory: Exploring (Post-) Jewish Spaces in Eastern Europe |
| ISBN-13: | 9781800088979 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.14324/111.9781800088979 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800088979 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © Author, 2025 Any third-party material in this book is not covered by the book’s Creative Commons licence. Details of the copyright ownership and permitted use of third-party material is given in the image (or extract) credit lines. Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. If you would like to reuse any third-party material not covered by the book’s Creative Commons licence, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright owner. This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. This licence allows you to share and adapt the work for non-commercial use providing attribution is made to the author and publisher (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work) and any changes are indicated. Attribution should include the following information: Romik, N. 2025. Architecture of Memory: Exploring (post-)Jewish spaces in Eastern Europe London, UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800088979 Further details about Creative Commons licences are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ |
| Keywords: | shtetl, (Post-)Jewish, memory, architecture, Jewish architecture, Eastern Europe, nomadism, mirrors, archives, design |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10215481 |
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