TEOTIHUACAN

Located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of modern-day Mexico City, Teotihuacan was one of the largest urban centers in the ancient world. No one knows who built it. The city flourished between 2,100 years ago, when construction began, and about 1,400 years ago, when it went into a period of decline, including a fire that caused great damage. However, even with the decline, the city was never truly “lost” — the Aztecs made regular pilgrimages to the site in later periods. What the city’s own inhabitants called the city and its structures is unknown. The current name, Teotihuacan, was given to it by the Aztecs, and means “the place where the gods were created.”

Size and influence

At its zenith, Teotihuacan encompassed an urban core of about 8 square miles (20 square km) with a population estimated at more than 100,000 people. Its influence was felt throughout central Mexico and as far south as Guatemala.

The city was organized using a grid plan, many people living in what scholars refer to as “apartment compounds,” containing multiple families.  An archaeological mapping project identified about 2,200 of these structures within the city, with excavations showing that some compounds were richer than others, containing more stone and lime plaster in their construction.

Avenue of the Dead
Running on a north-south axis is the city’s main street known today as the Avenue of the Dead, from a later Aztec name. It runs for more than two miles and contains three major pyramid complexes.


Pyramid of the Moon
At the northern end of the avenue is the Pyramid of the Moon from an Aztec name. Recent research suggests it was built in stages between around 1 AD and 350 AD. It started off as a small platform and eventually became a 150-foot-high (46 meters) pyramid with a base 550 feet (168 meters) by 490 feet (149 meters). Its elevated platforms were likely used for rituals that could be witnessed by people on the ground. Tombs found associated with the structure contain both human and animal sacrifices along with grave goods such as obsidian and greenstone.


Pyramid of the Sun
Less than half a mile south of the Pyramid of the Moon is the Pyramid of Sun. At a height of more than 200 feet (63 meters) and a base more than 730 feet (225 meters) long on each side, this pyramid is one of the largest structures created in the pre-Columbian New World. It would have been completed around 200 AD.
In 1971, an archaeological team discovered a tunnel underneath the pyramid, its entrance located near the Avenue of the Dead. They dug out the fill in the tunnel finding that it terminated in a cloverleaf shaped chamber which, sadly, had been looted in antiquity. The cave was likely used for rituals of some kind.
Another discovery, announced late last year, was a small treasure trove of offerings that may date to when construction of the pyramid began. Among the items found was a green serpentine mask that may have been a portrait of an ancient individual.



Temple of the Feathered Serpent
Located south of the Pyramid of the Sun is the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, also known as “La Ciudadela,” a name Spanish conquistadors gave it. The focal point of this monument is a six-stepped pyramid, smaller than the other two examples on the Avenue of the Dead. Two apartment compounds located nearby may have been inhabited by local elites.
The pyramid is believed to have been completed sometime in the 3rd century AD. Cut in low relief on the structure are alternating heads showing Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent god, and a being that appears to be Tlaloc, an ancient storm god.  
Found near the pyramid are the burials of about 200 people. Many of them were young men and the grave offerings suggest that they were warriors, possibly Teotihuacan’s own. The fact that many of them were found with their wrists crossed behind their backs suggests that they had been tied up and, for some reason, sacrificed. Young women and a few older men were also found, with offerings. 



Mural art

Teotihuacan is well-known for its colorful murals painted on plastered walls. They can be found in the city’s many apartment compounds as well as on other buildings identified as palaces and temples. Among the motifs that can been seen are images of the storm god, Tlaloc, as well as a deity that scholars call the “Great Goddess,” likely associated with agricultural fertility. Other motifs include birds, jaguars, coyotes, owls and the feathered serpent.


Writing
Whether pictographic figures found at Teotihuacan constituted a proper writing system is a source of debate. Karl Taube, a professor at University of California Riverside, argues in a paper that the inhabitants “had a complex system of hieroglyphic writing,” one complementing the vast and ancient city.

TIMGAD vs PIKILLACTA

          The remains of a Roman city were discovered buried in the sands of Northern Algeria in 1881. The city known as Timgad was found just as it had been left 2,000 years ago. Numerous Roman structures were built to demonstrate the power and prosperity of the Empire at that time.

Stored rainwater and irrigated water was brought here. Along the walls of this open area are bench-like chairs. Each seat has a round hole. This in fact is a public lavatory. Rainwater flowed through the channel below and flushed the human waste away. The water and sewage systems are especially remarkable.

A notable feature of Timgad is that all the houses are the same size. Why was the town designed in a grid system? Dividing land equally among Romans and Africans and promoting equality would appeal to all citizens of the city. Timgad was the embodiment of Roman power but it also existed for another hidden political purpose. When Timgad was built, it was declared that only Roman citizens would be allowed to live there. Roman citizenship was granted to “any man completing 25 years of military service and his son”. People wanting to benefit from comfortable living conditions and for the sake of their children willingly joined the army. Timgad was a city built for soldiers who gained citizenship by fighting for Rome. The reward for enduring a harsh military life was the prospect of leading an elegant life in Timgad.

The Peruvian site of Pikillacta is an enormous set of ruins belonging to the Wari Empire. The site is located in the Lucre Basin of Peru at the east end of the valley of Cuzco, some thirty kilometers from the capital city of Cuzco.The word Pikillacta means "flea city" in Quechua; its original name is unknown (as mentioned by the author). The site covers an area of nearly 2 square kilometers, including an enormous rectangular enclosure with hundreds of separate rooms, some small and plain, some large enclosures and compounds, some richly decorated. Some of the rooms contained human remains, and based on that, Pikillacta is thought to represent a ritual facility for the practice of ancestor worship.One of the most interesting aspects of Pikillacta (and there are numerous) is the hydraulic works that connect the water resources of the site to terraces and cultivable fields in the Lucre Basin, including canals, reservoirs, causeways, and aqueducts. This complex set of features allowed intensive agriculture of maize,potatoes and other crops.The purpose of Pikillacta was pretty clearly not residential--in fact, it appears to have been used only sporadically. Excavator Gordon McEwan believes the primary function of the site was administrative. Pikillacta, says McEwan, was a device used by the Wari Empire to control its subjects by controlling the location and context of the Wari religious ceremonies. In my opinion the site as a whole was built to serve in an administrative capacity. No remains that would suggest storage in the compartmentalized structures exist. In the case of Pikillacta, the style of Wari architecture was simply used as a statement of administrative power, and occupied by an elite population. Though the imposing grided formation of structures is aesthetically obtrusive, the layout was, as was the placement of the city in the region itself, strategic and followed a plan.

The difference is that Timgad was structually built to house soldiers and to be “residential”. Pikillacta is built in a more “transparent” way. It was built to serve as an administrative center for the Wari Empire. The similarities on the other hand consist in that both these cities where colonial and they represented the power of each empire. 

Timgad as seen from above

Pikillacta. One can see the clear non-organic path surrounded by high walls.

  

Roman Imperial Architecture

As my guidebook I choose Lonely Planet. The Lonely Planet guide to Rome, “divides” Rome into 6 main important landmarks. The Vatican City, The Pantheon, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Museo e Galleria Borghese, Ancient Rome and Tivoli. For the purpose of this assignment I will be concentrating on the Ancient Rome section which is divided into Roman Forum, Palatine and the Colosseum. In the guidebook, a lot of important sites are mentioned. From the information from the guidebook the readers gets a lot of information around the history of the sites like what period they were built or which emperor was in power during those times but there is not a substantial knowledge on the architecture. The guidebook limits this kind of knowledge to the shape, size and the material used for each site. The features of the physicality, terrain and so on are not mentioned enough in the guidebook that I choose, although architecture is the most visible legacy of any culture, and often survives other elements of the culture that have sunk into oblivion. Throughout the classical world the Empire of the Romans was littered with enduring monuments to their gods and military leaders, even the ruins of which still possess the capacity to awe their observers. In an era where pagan deities are blasé and military triumph eschewed, those monuments have instead become hallowed testaments to the engineering skill of the architects who designed them. Indeed, the Roman legacy has dominated Western architecture until fairly recently.

I would like the reader to ponder the architectural achievements of other cultures. Consider the Taj Mahal, considered the most beautiful building in India, built by a prince as a tomb for his lost queen. Or consider the Pyramids, those structures meant to help a Pharaoh’s soul ascend to Ra. Magnificent? Certainly in their own ways. But does the average person really care about some Indian prince’s wife, or if some Egyptian ruler finds his way to his solar deity? Not likely. This is what makes Rome as an empire and an aesthetic ideal different than most powers before or since. The Romans were first and last a practical people, and their engineering feats were meant to actually run an empire. Sewers, aqueducts, temples, baths, markets, amphitheatres, (all these sites in the Forum Area) they were all meant for use by the people. Logistically, Roman architecture in the imperial era depended on the use of an amazing new building material: concrete or at least something very similar to that, that emerged again in the 18 century. Economically, Roman architecture owed to the empire’s ability to organize large labor groups with the same efficiency as they organized their legions (indeed, in the provinces it was often the legions responsible for construction. In Rome proper, however, colleges of skilled labor were employed). In my opinion these facts make the imperial architecture of Rome so special and unique. Below are some pictures of ancient Rome important sites.

In this Picture we can see, a lot of temple clustered together

This picture is a reconstruction of the Forum. We can see that is very dense, typical Roman Imperial Architecture. We can see the Statue of The Emperor in the middle and that is the influence of power in the imperial Roman architecture. The streets are paved with stones.

Architecture Of Power

Welcome

My name is Arlind Palluqi and I am a forth-year student in Urban Development.

This is my blog for VAH 3388G Histories of Architecture and Urbanism
The topic of this blog: The Architecture Of Power
Architecture reveals not only the aesthetic and formal preferences of an architect/client, but also the  aspirations, power struggles and  material culture of a society. The built environment becomes a text whose every word reveals a nation's vicissitudes.
In other words, a building may be said to  be a work of architectural art, then  insofar as it
serves as a visual  metaphor, declaring in its own form something about the size, permanence, strength,  protectiveness, and organizational structure of the institution it stands for. Below are some pictures of crazy space-age superstructures that signalled the downfall of the Soviet Union. They look like Hollywood sets that never quite made it onto the big screen. But these space-age buildings actually sprang up during the politically repressed era of Soviet Russia.While some wouldn't look out of place in Star Wars, their artistic flamboyance has come to symbolize the downfall of the mighty Soviet Union.