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During World War II, 80 percent of the buildings in Warsaw were destroyed and 60 percent of the city's prewar population killed. The Nazis had hoped to break Poland's will by deliberately destroying its cultural landmarks.
The architecture faculty of Warsaw Technical University, knowing that war must inevitably end, risked their lives and those of their students to record the designs and interplay of the city's historic structures. They hid their plans at an out-of-town monastery. When the war ended, Warsaw was reconstructed, brick-by-brick, more or less to the old plans. The job occupied one out of every six workers in the city and spawned a rebirth of hand craftsmanship.
Will something like this happen in New Orleans? I asked Anthony Tung, a former New York City landmarks commissioner. He's written a fascinating book (excerpts are here)about how the historic infrastructure of great cities such as Rome, London, Singapore--and Warsaw--were preserved or destroyed in times of calamity or rapid change.warsaw-new-1.jpg
Tung says that there have been numerous instances when people not only rebuilt but "created different standards for themselves and made remarkable things happen." He cites the restoration of the long-buried Athenian Acropolis (jazzed up with the stunning frieze now housed in the British Museum); the rebirth of Venice as a striking Renaissance city following plague; and the majestic buildings erected in Vienna following the destruction of the city's fortifications at the hands of Napoleon. "The list goes on and on forever," Tung says.
In other words, Tung is not one of those afraid that New Orleans will be abandoned--or remade on the cheap as a tourist and cargo center. (Ironically, Tung had just finalized plans to visit New Orleans to speak to politicians and civic groups about preservation ideas before Katrina struck.)
But Tung says it's premature to hazard any guess as to what a rebuilt New Orleans will look or feel like. "The city gets rebuilt by people, and the people aren't there to ask. Their whole psychology is going to change once they're back in a place that feels like a community."
Photos: www.scrapbookpages.com
