XX. századi műemlékek és védelmük (A 26. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1996 Eger, 1996)

Előadások: - Suzanne van Aerschot-van Haeverbeeck: Recording and protecting the architectural heritage of the twentieth century in Belgium and especially in Flanders

new social equipment; exceptionally one may find an Electricity Plant with housing (ca. 1928) in the Ghent suburbs, a Sport hall (1932) or an airport (1929—30), in the Antwerp city extension. The complexity of the interbellum architecture The overview-inventory shows that real modernistic works corresponding with the DOCOMOMO definitions, are rather exceptional. The typical design and the building structure and materials were often adapted in the traditional way, partly by whitewashing the façades as a substitute solution for concrete-building. It is quite fascinating to observe how the main international principles are represented in a minor, and often purely decorative way in an average modernistic architecture often influenced by the more popular Art Deco. Modernism and ,,would-be-modernism" represent almost a progressive, social and artistic attitude promoted by a socially and culturally motivated middle class and the socialist movement. On the other hand, more ,,bourgeois" and ,,conservative" attitudes found their extériorisation in more eclectic styles and ,,cottage" design connected with a friendly and wide-spread regionalism. Both directions with in-between-solutions can for example be observed in the new villa quarters and the so-called garden cities (of the suburbs) in the inventoried areas of Antwerp and Ghent; they are also represented in the seaside architecture and the new settlements of De Haan and De Panne for example, where again the modernistic works form a minority. The controversy carried on by modernistic architects, local authorities and the Royal Commission on the reconstruction after the First World War turned out in favour of the ,,regionalists" and the proponents of the ,,good old style restitution". In the inventoried area of Ypres' town and district, modernistic buildings and ensembles appeared as very exceptional; they were almost badly perceived by the locals who preferred the ,,old times images"; those exceptions were nevertheless protected during and after the inventory publication as significant historical testimonies together with representatives of the regionalist movement. Protecting the young architectural heritage Documentation collected on the twentieth century architectural heritage made it possible to protect gradually the most striking buildings and ensembles. The basic idea was to introduce the procedures after the publication of the onventoried area; but that was not always possible for different reasons, such as the refusal of the Minister in charge, the hesitation of the Royal Commission or the opposition of the local authorities and people. As pointed out previously, some selected items in the inventory had to wait a long time before being listed and protected officially. Nevertheless the mentality towards this

,,young architectural heritage" is developing positively; a lot of popularizing work has still to be done, reckoning with some urgencies, priorities and the technical and formal vulnerability of this architecture. One of life's ironies is the official protection in 1981 of Antwerp's first skyscraper (1929), also the first on the continent- which was awfully criticized by the Royal Commission at the time of its construction. More or less the same happened to the controversial University Library of Henry van de Velde in Ghent (1935...), its criticized ,,book-towere" becoming a ,,monument"