The expansion of colonies overseas and the growth of the colonial culture continued to shape the ego of Parisiens and the metropole of Paris to be a world centre and a global nexus in 1900[1]. As the last in the five most important[2] World’s Fairs held in Paris, the Paris exposition of 1900 presented a […]
A Glance at Belgium and the Misconstrued Perception of its Colonial Past The Royal Museum for Central Africa, currently referred to as the AfricaMuseum, located in Tervuren, Belgium is a colonial museum that was founded by King Leopold II at the very end of the 19th century.[1] The origin of the museum “dates back to […]
Shintō as a distinguished religious belief system from Buddhism, has no fixed dogmas or strict scriptures but more readily preserved and observed through the common social life. Shrine Shintō, Shintō meaning “the way of the kami,” are sacred spaces where people worship the Shintō gods. Shintō rituals stress the harmony between deities, man and nature, […]
While once commonplace in the American landscape, mental asylums are often seen as obsolete relics of an antiquated form of psychiatry. The typology of a stately, manicured hospital for the “insane” emerged in the latter half of the nineteenth century as representations of a newfangled, “moral” and romanticized view of treating mental illness.1 This relatively […]
Sir John Soane was a prominent neo-classical architect in Britain between the 18th and early 19th century. Possibly his most famed building was the London townhome he inhabited during the latter half of his career. Having begun its renovations in the early 1800’s, Soane lived and worked at Lincoln’s Inn Fields until his death in 1837. During […]
The Cuzco Cathedral, completed in 1654, is the most prominent display of colonial architecture in the City of Cuzco, Peru. Located in the heart of the city, the Spanish constructed the cathedral on top of a site that originally held an Inca palace, a palace that was demolished by an earthquake in the early 1650s1. […]
The weaponizing of architecture in Canada’s longest running residential school. In a report written to Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, providing advice on how to assimilate the native population to the culture of the colonisers, it was observed from the American government’s experience that when children are permitted to return home after school, “the influence […]
Julieta Alva The National Palace in Mexico City has served as the residence of the President of Mexico since 2018 and is located on the cities main square.[1] This is a historical site of importance, as it was the original location of the palace of the ruling class during the Aztec empire. Much of the […]
Le Château Frontenac, a Canadian pacific Railway hotel in Quebec City constructed in 1892, is often revered for being the heart of Old Quebec. Although the hotel nowadays is considered to be luxurious and picturesque, it has not always been thought of so highly throughout the past. What tends to be overlooked are the details […]
If you were to conjure an image of a Victorian colonial lifestyle, perhaps imagine yourself as a British officer stationed in rural India, you may picture this typical scene; a leisurely afternoon spent on a shaded verandah, surrounded by a lush garden dutifully tended by household staff. This idyllic domestic scene of colonial life within […]