In\nthe last few blogs I explored sense of place, identity and belonging ~ between\nthe bodies we are and the spaces we move and make meaning in. It is often quite\ntraumatic when this delicate sense of place is teared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\nwhat happens when a building, a home, a place of meaning is destroyed or\ndisrupted? How do we grief for a building, a place that is lost? We experienced\nsomething of this as a collective when the Notre-Dame Gothic cathedral that\nstood guard over Paris for 850 years, was severely damaged and nearly destroyed\nby fire on Tuesday, 16 April. The BBC ran an article, The grief that comes from lost buildings, <\/em>relating how the\ndevastating fire has made Parisians think about identity, memory and shared\nculture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nwas similar to the 200-year-old former royal palace that housed Brazil’s\nnational museum in Rio de Janeiro that was gutted by fire in September last\nyear with flames tearing through rooms containing\nmore than 20 million artefacts. Very little survived. Here are some narratives of loss:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Watching it burn, there was a\nfeeling of impotence and revolt. It was so imposing and had been there so long,\nno-one expected that one day it would just end.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “It felt like a huge part of our\nbonding was being ripped away from us.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many\nof Syria\u2019s most precious cultural sites, among these the ancient city of\nPalmyra were destroyed during its civil war: <\/p>\n\n\n\n “One could think it is selfish to\nlook at the loss of ‘some stones’ and not the loss of people.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It is a kind of regret. It is not\nthe same grief as when people die,”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “It was a shocking event. Isis does\nnot give any value to civilisation and human history. The feeling of sadness is\neven greater when you realise the country has not been only losing its future,\nbut also a significant part of its past.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dresden’s\nFrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) was destroyed by bombing in World War II and\nleft in ruins for decades. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, its\nreconstruction became a metaphor for reconciliation. It was finished in the\nmid-2000s, mostly based on private donations. Some people moved back to the\ncity because of their emotional attachment to the Frauenkirche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were all very moved when the\nrenovation started,” she says. “It was based on so much goodwill.\nThere were workers from all over Europe, working all hours. It was beautiful to\nwatch.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was something no-one thought would\nbe possible and it created a profound sense of something being\n“missing”.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sense\nof place, belonging and identity are not merely abstract metaphysical concepts.\nIt is intimately connected to buildings, to physical places ~ and the memories\nof relationships with other living creatures and non-living structures, within\nthe spaces encapsulated in these buildings. Off course we can grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n