About the Book
This book offers a new way of looking at the geographical spaces occupied by urban squares, proposing a different perspective on European urban squares. This might strike one as a bold statement, but it should first and foremost be taken literally. The photographs in this book, taken with a professional drone, show an aerial view of squares in a number of historical European cities. Famous squares in well-known cities across Europe, from Lisbon to Istanbul, are presented alongside lesser-known but no less interesting squares.
Drone photography offers a bird’s eye view. This is one of the few instances where technical and artistic languages successfully overlap. The bird’s eye view is, almost without exception, spectacular. This view reveals something we might have only intuited until now: a deeper structure, which points to a new perspective on squares in a figurative sense as well.
Table of Contents:
Contents: European Squares and their histories – Pienza, Italy: Piazza Pio II – Gubbio, Italy: Piazza Grande – Todi, Italy: Piazza del Popolo, Piazza Garibaldi – Vicenza, Italy: Piazza dei Signori, Piazza delle Biade, Piazza delle Erbe, Piazzetta Palladio – Brescia, Italy: Piazza Paolo VI, Piazza della Loggia – Pitigliano, Italy: Piazza San Gregorio VII – Arezzo, Italy: Piazza Grande – Città di Castello, Italy: Piazza Gabriotti, Piazza Matteotti – Lucca, Italy: Piazza dell’Anfiteatro – Bergamo, Italy: Piazza Vechia, Piazza Duomo – Orvieto, Italy: Piazza del Duomo – Assisi, Italy: Piazza del Comune – Marostica, Italy: Piazza Castello – Udine, Italy: Piazza della Libertà – Palmanova, Italy: Piazza Grande – Trieste, Italy: Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia – The Lives of European Squares – Venice, Italy: Piazza San Marco – Piran, Slovenia: Tartinijev trg – Ljubljana, Slovenia: Prešernov trg, Mestni trg – Rovinj, Croatia: Trg Svete Eufemije, Trg G. Matteottija – Split, Croatia: Trg Peristil – Dubrovnik, Croatia: Trg Luža, Gunduličeva poljana – Zadar, Croatia: Trg Rimskog Foruma – Motovun, Croatia: Trg Andrea Antico – Trogir, Croatia: Trg Ivana Pavla II – Poreč, Croatia: Trg Marafor, Trg Slobode – Šibenik, Croatia: Trg Republike Hrvatske – Kotor, Montenegro: Trg od Oružja, Trg od Brašna, Pjaca Svetog Tripuna, Trg Sveti Luke – Herceg Novi, Montenegro: Trg Herceg Stjepana – Perast, Montenegro: Trg Sveti Nikole – Kruševo, Republic of North Macedonia: Cearshia – Etymologies – Istanbul, Turkey: Sultanahmet Meydanı – Tbilisi, Georgia: Meidan Bazaar – Tbilisi, Georgia: Tavisuplebis Moedani – Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Baščaršija – Thessaloniki, Greece: Plateia Aristotelous – Kallarites, Greece: Plateia – Syrrako, Greece: Plateia – Vovousa, Greece: Plateia – The Squares of Aromanian Settlements from The Pindus Mountains, Greece – Sofia, Bulgaria: Ploshcead, Sveti Aleksandar Nevski – Tryavna, Bulgaria: Ploshchead, Kapitan Diado Nikola – Bucharest, Romania: Piața Universității – Brașov, Romania: Piața Sfatului – Sibiu, Romania: Piața Mare, Piața Mică – Alba Iulia, Romania: Piața Cetății – Timișoara, Romania: Piața Unirii, Piața Libertății, Piața Victoriei – Tarnów, Poland: Rynek – Krakow, Poland: Rynek Główny – Retz, Austria: Hauptplatz – Mikulov, Czech Republic: Náměstí – Znojmo, Czech Republic: Masarykovo náměstí, Horní náměstí – České Budějovice, Czech Republic: Náměstí Přemysla Otakara II – Slavonice, Czech Republic: Náměstí Míru, Horní náměstí – Český Krumlov, Czech Republic: Náměstí Svornosti – Tábor, Czech Republic: Žižkovo náměstí – Jindřichuv Hradec, Czech Republic: Náměstí Míru – Telč, Czech Republic: Náměstí Zachariáše z Hradce – Štramberk, Czech Republic: Náměstí – Pelhřimov, Czech Republic: Masarykovo náměstí – Nový Jičín, Czech Republic: Masarykovo náměstí – Kroměříž, Czech Republic: Velké náměstí – Třeboň, Czech Republic: Masarykovo náměstí – Synoecism – Košice, Slovakia: Hlavné námestie – Podolínec, Slovakia: Mariánske námestie – Bardejov, Slovakia: Radničné námestie – Levoča, Slovakia: Námestie Majstra Pavla – Prešov, Slovakia: Hlavná ulica – Passau, Germany: Domplatz – Wismar, Germany: Am Markt – Bremen, Germany: Marktplatz – Lüneburg, Germany: Platz Am Sande – Schwerin, Germany: Am Markt – Stralsund, Germany: Alter Markt, Neuer Markt – Wernigerode, Germany: Marktplatz – Short History of European Squares – Goslar, Germany: Marktplatz – Naarden, Netherlands: Markt – Elburg, Netherlands: Marktplatz – Bourtange, Netherlands: Marktplein – Amersfoort, Netherlands: Marktplein de Hof – Salamanca, Spain: Plaza Mayor – Valladolid, Spain: Plaza Mayor – Peñafiel, Spain: Plaza del Coso – Ávila, Spain: Plaza del Mercado Chico – Bilbao, Spain: Plaza Nueva – Chinchón, Spain: Plaza Mayor – Frías, Spain: Plaza Mayor – Plasencia, Spain: Plaza Mayor – Segovia, Spain: Plaza Mayor – Cáceres, Spain: Plaza Mayor – Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain: Plaza Mayor – Almeida, Portugal: Praça de São João – Tomar, Portugal: Praça da República – Óbidos, Portugal: Praça de Santa Maria – Lisbon, Portugal: Praça de D. Pedro IV – Lisbon, Portugal: Praça do Comércio – Lisbon, Portugal: Praça do Município – The Symbolic Square – Coimbra, Portugal: Praça 8 de Maio – Leiria, Portugal: Praça Francisco, Rodrigues Lobo – Elvas, Portugal: Praça da República.
About the Author :
Cătălin D. Constantin is a book publisher and anthropologist. He teaches Anthropology at the Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest. His first PhD thesis, published in 2013, focused on everyday life in Romanian cities at the beginning of the 20th century. His second PhD, completed in 2014, a cultural and anthropological reading of urban squares of European cities, was awarded by the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism. It was the first time that the University of Architecture in Bucharest gave a PhD with the maximum grade to a person who is not an architect by profession.
Cătălin has edited a number of literature collections and photography books dedicated to cultural heritage. For the books he edits, he often produces both text and graphics, considering the combination between these two components essential. Windows from Bucharest and their stories sold out in three weeks and reached 1st place in book sales in Romania.
He conducts anthropological field research in the Pindus Mountains of Greece, where he studies the communities of Vlachs, speakers of a neo-Latin idiom on the verge of extinction. For his research he received an honorary diploma from the Macedoromanian Cultural Association, on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of its founding.
He has received the medal of honor awarded by KulturForum Europa, a German Foundation founded by Vice-Chancellor Hans-Dietrich Genscher.
For over five years he has coordinated a series of weekly museum education conferences at the Suţu Palace in Bucharest, Bucharest City Museum.
He has also organized multiple photography exhibitions in Romania, Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal.
