תבניות נופים תרבותיים

abstracts

POSTERS AND STREET BANNERS AS MIRRORS OF CULTURAL

ENVIRONMENTS

Irit Amit-Cohen and Yosseph Shilhav

Department of Geography and Environment, Bar Ilan University

Posters and street banners are rhetorical means for modeling, disseminating and marketing

ideas. Their objective is to mould and influence public opinion among the people who observe

or look at them. Their presence turns them into cultural objects and characteristic features

of urban vernacular landscapes. Notwithstanding their popular appearance, they play an

influential role in disseminating and preserving the culture and mores of local communities

and their relationship with other neighborhoods.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of posters and street-banners in two different

environments: to analyze the signs and symbols employed for the purpose of influencing a

particular community or society, its culture and perceptions regarding the signs, and the

response to those representative elements as a reflection of communal tradition and ideology.

Keywords

: street banner, street poster, vernacular landscape, symbols and signs.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES: CONSERVATION (OR NON-

CONSERVATION) OF VERNACULAR HERITAGE IN TIBERIAS

Keren Levi

Ohalo College of Katzrin

The subject of this paper is the conservation of vernacular architecture (“architecture without

architects”) dating back to the Ottoman and Mandate periods in Tiberias, a peripheral tourist

town situated in northern Israel on the shores of the Lake of Galilee. The paper discusses three

examples that demonstrate the fact that vernacular architecture was not preserved in the past,

and is not protected in the present: (a) the destruction of the Ottoman compound during the

War of Independence and in the months following the war; (b) the “cleaning up” of areas for the

construction of hotels, a process which entailed demolishing buildings in the old city that still

stood erect in the late 60’s of the previous century; and (c) the gradual and ongoing deterioration

of buildings that were constructed beyond the walls of the old city, dating back to the Mandate

period. Among other features, the common denominator of all these structures is that they were

built of basalt stone, lending a unique characteristic to the townscape of Tiberias.

Despite the differences between these cases, there are three common causes that may explain

the lack of conservation: first, vernacular architecture, particularly from recent times, is not

considered worthy of conservation; second, the peripheral status of the town of Tiberias in

Israel, and its dependence on funds from exterior sources; and third, the so-called “western”

concept of tourism which was endorsed by the town’s leadership. The same causes continue to

pose a threat to the vernacular built heritage of Tiberias.

Keywords

: vernacular architecture, built heritage, Tiberias.