70
views
2
recommends
+1 Recommend
1 collections
    2
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found

      Wonder of the Ruin: Aesthetics of the Derelict Synagogue in Poland

      Journal of Contemporary Archaeology
      Equinox Publishing

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisher
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          The aesthetics of the abandoned synagogues are dynamic and interactive, being inextricably attached to how we encounter and sense their reality and materiality. This kind of affective and mercurial aesthetic experience of Poland’s deserted synagogues is being formed and transformed during our immediate encounters with material spaces and things. I argue that a re-enchantment of the synagogue takes place in the ruin, wherein non-human actors and activities (plants, animals, the weather, and so on) generate its wonderment, strangeness, and revived sacrality. I call this new form of the derelict synagogue a ruin temple – a space whose deeply flowing past and dynamism of decay and life create a present that allures and enchants, affording a mystical and sensuous immersion in its solitary realm of awe and wonder.

          Author and article information

          Journal
          Journal of Contemporary Archaeology
          JCA
          Equinox Publishing
          2051-3429
          2051-3437
          December 4 2017
          November 28 2017
          : 4
          : 1
          : 73-89
          Article
          10.1558/jca.32077
          2a92f7f7-c1e9-4f83-b6dd-0e8718b47c2a
          © 2017
          History

          Comments

          Comment on this article