The National Mall

For my final blog post, I will be exploring Washington D.C’s National Mall in relation to the expression of power through its monuments and buildings. “Each year, millions of people visit the National Mall and Memorial Parks to recreate, to commemorate presidential legacies, to honor our nation's veterans, to make their voices heard, and to celebrate our nation's commitment to freedom and equality.” (http://www.nps.gov/nacc/index.htm) 

Map of the National Mall
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/walkingtours/Washington_DC_Walking_Tour/dctmap.html

Lincoln Memorial
http://www.worldtourist.us/nationalmall/memorial.html

The park celebrates the American identity while exuding a sense of power of the military and government of the United States. Many of the monuments and buildings in the National Mall are dedicated to former presidents, military generals and American soldiers, which reveal the importance of the military and government to the nation. The expression of power through architecture is most evidently shown in the Lincoln Memorial, which stands west of the National Mall. Focusing of the statue of Lincoln, which sits inside, this larger than life monument represents the immense power that a political figure, like former president Lincoln, holds over the country. The building includes 36 Doric style columns symbolizing the states in confederation at the time of Lincoln’s death. 

Lincoln Memorial
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/walkingtours/
Washington_DC_Walking_Tour/dct01.html

The Lincoln Memorial is a perfect representation of the expression of power through an architectural structure. It has been a host to many important national and historical events that have changed the course of American history, including Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a dream…” speech. The style, reminiscent of Roman architecture along with the massive statue of president Lincoln, represents a sense of grandeur and would overpower any onlooker. In conclusion, the Lincoln Memorial, like any of the other monuments and buildings in the National Mall, portrays a powerful sense idealized American identity through its historical significance and reference to political and military power. 

The Laws of the Indies

The Laws of the Indies from 1573 were a complex set of urban rules created to guide Spanish colonialists who wished to colonize the Americas. Known today as the “Settlement Ordinances”, the laws provided information on how to properly colonize the Americas with regards to location, government, interaction with natives, and so on. Today I will be considering what one might actually learn about the urban form from these settlement laws and how the Spanish desired newly founded cities to look like.

The Laws of the Indies show us that the Spanish carefully considered the plans and organization of their American colonies. Consisting of 146 laws, these settlement ordinances were extremely precise with regards to planning every detail of the ideal colony.

The laws speak of how to govern the newly founded cities with specific emphasis on not causing any harm to the native populations. It is made a key point that the relationship with the natives remains civil. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the colonist to ensure the new town is populated with strong men “…of good complexion, natural fitness and colour, and without illness.” With regards to the land that the colonies shall be built upon, the laws states that it should be extremely fertile, of moderate elevation and have access to land and sea. The urban form that is strictly enforced in the Laws of the Indies is the gridiron plan, which features a central plaza. The plaza serves as a political and religious centre for the colonies, with the whole city planned around the plaza. With the four principal streets stemming from each side of the square or rectangular plaza, the rest of the city should be built in accordance to the grid organization around the plaza.

As a whole, what we can learn from these settlement ordinances is that the Spanish had a rigorous plan for the organization of new colonies in the Americas. It is obvious that there was a clear religious and political motivation for this organization of the urban from, specifically referring to the grid plan and central plaza. 

Santa Fe de Granada

Before the late 15^th century, Granada was an important medieval city under Islamic control for hundreds of years. In the late 1400’s, it was re-conquered by Catholics who decided to build Santa Fe de Granada to aid in Granada’s re-conquering.

The Surrender of Granada by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:La_rendición_de_Granada.jpg

grid plan of Santa Fe de Granada
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quadralectics/4361796627/

Located in a close proximity to Granada, Santa Fe de Granada contrasts the organic nature of the previous. As a military camp during the siege of Granada, Santa Fe de Granada shows the rigid grid plan of many military cities before. As I have spoken about in my previous posts about the Roman, Wari, and Spanish cultures, the grid plan seems to be an overarching architectural theme for organization of political and social purposes. The importance of the grid plan to a new city as Santa Fe de Granada would be the role it played in fortifying the city, organizing the flow of its inhabitants, controlling the social encounters of its people, and encouraging a social and political hierarchy with the important people living close to the centre of the city. The central plaza, an architectural form seen in Spanish grid planned cities like Santa Fe de Granada is particularly important for its power relations. The whole city was built around this main square where important political and religious figures would reside. It emphasized the importance that these people meant to each particular town or city and its culture.

Tenochtitlan: the city under Mexico City

The Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was founded in 1325 and became the most influential and powerful city in Mesoamerica by the 15^th century. As the most important Aztec centre, Tenochtitlan was an extremely beautiful and grand city with highly stylized architecture and a symmetrically organized feel to the cityscape. 

illustration of what Tenochtitlan was thought to have looked like
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/aztecs1.htm

current day Mexico City
http://mesolore.org/tutorials/learn/22/Life-Beside-the-Water/
70/Community-and-Household

When the colonization wars began in Mexico however, much of this grand city would be destroyed. Tenochtitlan was completely demolished by the Spanish colonialists for the purpose of establishing a new city on the site. This served as a literal symbol of defeat and power over the Aztecs and essentially crushed any chance of competition between the colonialists and the Aztecs. By building the new capital directly on top of the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the colonialists made a strong political statement that they were now the new governors of the region. A specific example of the extent of the destruction and reconstruction is in relation to Tenochtitlan’s central temple complex the Templo Mayor. The temple complex was completely destroyed during the construction of a catholic cathedral and the new central district of the colonial city was built on its ruins.

Chichen Itza vs. Tula

Pyramid B at Tula
http://www.worldarchitecturemap.org/buildings/pyramid-b-tula

Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Itza
http://archaeology.about.com/od/archaeologic7/ig/Chichen-Itza/
Temple-of-the-Warriors.htm

Today I will be virtually touring the Yucatecan site of Chichen Itza and the Toltec site of Tula in order to examine the similarities in architecture between Pyramid B at Tula and the Temple of the Warriors at Chichén Itzá. Located 800 miles apart, the striking similarities in the architecture of the sites has been an interesting topic of debate as to how they share so many similarities. It has long been argued that Chichen Itza’s Toltec building traits are a result of an invasion of the Toltecs of Tula. More recently, historians have pointed to trade as a possible factor in the influence of Toltec culture on the architecture of Chichen Itza.

The interesting fact about the similarities between Chichen Itza and Tula is that they are unique to the two sites and not seen widely throughout Mayan architecture in Mexico. Both Pyramid B at Tula and the Temple of the Warriors at Chichén Itzá are adorned with the Toltec symbol of the Feathered Serpent.  As well, the columns at both sites are adorned with images of Toltec Warriors. The structures consist of stacked platforms that decrease in size as they are stacked upon each other, a style that is reminiscent of Teotihuacan. Both structures are surrounded my numerous columns and feature a main processional stairway at the center of the front of the pyramids. While these similarities are abundant, the Chichen Itza Temple of Warriors is much larger and more elaborate than Pyramid B at Tula.

I would argue that the similarities in architectural style between the two sites are not a result of a Toltec invasion of Chichen Itza. I think it is far more plausible that the stylistic similarities could be attributed to trading practices between the cultures. It is likely that the Toltec style found at Chichen Itza is a result of cultural influence often a result of trade between cultures.