This study explores and reiterates the significance carried by the notions of place, multiplicity and experience in the approaches to the study of architecture, in the shaping of cultures, and in the construction of urban (hi)stories and topographies. The research aims to reveal the existence of a transcultural space constituting the cosmos of Nicosia, capital city of the late medieval and renaissance Kingdom of Cyprus. It is argued that the natural and built environment of the city simultaneously witnessed as well as constructed this highly obscure space, whose elusive nature has not been sufficiently or comprehensively researched thus far. The purpose of this study is to unearth numerous attempts at reconciliation by medieval civilizations, and to comprehend their repeated efforts at bringing in parallel existence and understanding adjacent, but seemingly oppositional or even confrontational, cultures and spaces. / The method used engages a re-interpretation of Nicosia's urban space by means of a scholarly narrative, defined as a comprehensively annotated telling of citizens' experiences through the city. While maintaining that it is this telling which better exposes the city's character, past findings on the architecture, topography, and urban experience of Nicosia are concurrently examined, some of them accepted and others re-proposed. Different architectural and ethical realities for the city, as well as varied urban and social identities, emerge as possibilities for pondering only after the superimposition of scientific findings on an interweaving web of experiences, on the remarkably phenomenal world of medieval urban space.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.84521 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Leventis, Panayiotis |
| Contributors | Castro, Ricardo. L. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (School of Architecture.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002083130, proquestno: AAINQ98302, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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