Ruins

This article is about ruins in architecture. For other uses of Ruin and Ruins, seeRuins (disambiguation).

"Ruined" redirects here. For the play by Lynn Nottage, seeRuined (play).For the EP by Ceremony, seeRuined (EP).For the 2023 film, seeRuined (film).

Ruins(fromLatinruina'a collapse') are the remains of acivilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate destruction by humans, or uncontrollable destruction bynatural phenomena.The most common root causes that yield ruins in their wake arenatural disasters,armed conflict,andpopulation decline,with many structures becoming progressively derelict over time due to long-termweatheringandscavenging.

Salamis,Ancient Greek ruins inCyprus.

There are famous ruins all over the world, with notable sites originating fromancient China,theIndus Valleyand other regions ofancient India,ancient Iran,ancient IsraelandJudea,ancient Iraq,ancient Greece,ancient Egypt,ancient Yemen,Roman,ancient Indiasites throughout theMediterranean Basin,andIncanandMayansites in theAmericas.Ruins are of great importance to historians,archaeologistsandanthropologists,whether they were once individualfortifications,places of worship,ancient universities,houses and utility buildings, or entire villages, towns, and cities. Many ruins have becomeUNESCO World Heritage Sitesin recent years, to identify and preserve them as areas of outstanding value to humanity.

Cities

TheHoly Saviour's ChurchinGyumriafter the1988 Armenian earthquake,the strongest earthquake in theUSSRin terms of the number of victims

1906 San Francisco earthquake:Ruins in vicinity of Post and Grant Avenue.

Ancient cities were often highly militarized and had fortified defensivesettlements.In times of war, they were the central focus ofarmed conflictand would besackedand ruined in defeat.Delhi,the capital ofIndia,has been destroyed and ransacked seven to ten times and subsequently rebuilt. Every ruler decided to build the city in their own way either overlapping the ruins or next to the ruins. Ruins of seven cities of Delhi can still be traced in the modern-day city.

Although less central to modern conflict, vast areas of 20th-century cities such asWarsaw,Dresden,Coventry,Stalingrad,Königsberg,andBerlinwere left in ruins followingWorld War II,and a number of major cities around the world – such asBeirut,Kabul,Sarajevo,Grozny,andBaghdad– have been partially or completely ruined in recent years as a result of more localized warfare.

Entire cities have also been ruined, and some occasionally lost completely, tonatural disasters.Theancient Romancity ofPompeiiin modern-dayItalywas completely destroyed during avolcanic eruptionin the 1st century CE, and its uncovered ruins are now preserved as aWorld Heritage Site.The city ofLisboninPortugalwas alsocompletely destroyed in 1755by a massiveearthquakeandtsunami;and the1906 San Francisco earthquakein theUnited Stateshad left the city in almost complete ruin.

Deliberate destruction

Ruins ofWhitby Abbey,England

The 7th-centuryCathedralinTalin

Ruins ofKızıl Kilise,"Red Church" inGüzelyurt

Ruins ofKajaani CastleinKajaani,Finland

Apart from acts of war, some important historic buildings have fallen victim to deliberate acts of destruction as a consequence of social, political and economic factors. The spoliation of public monuments in Rome was under way during the fourth century, when it was covered in protective legislation in theTheodosian Codeand in new legislation ofMajorian.The dismantling increased once popes were free of imperial restrictions.Marble was still being burned for agricultural lime in the Roman Campagna into the nineteenth century.

In Europe, many religious buildings suffered as a result of the politics of the day. In the 16th century, the English monarchHenry VIIIset about confiscating the property of monastic institutions in a campaign which became known as theDissolution of the Monasteries.Manyabbeysandmonasteriesfell into ruin when their assets, including lead roofs, were stripped.

Ury House,Aberdeenshireruined by removal of the roof after the Second World War to avoid taxation.

In the 20th century, a number of European historic buildings fell into ruin as a result of taxation policies, which required all structures with roofs to pay substantialproperty tax.The owners of these buildings, likeFetteresso Castle(now restored) andSlains CastleinScotland,deliberately destroyed their roofs in protest at, and defiance of, the new taxes. Other decrees of government have had a more direct result, such as the case ofBeverston Castle,in which the English parliament ordered significant destruction of the castle to prevent it being used by oppositionRoyalists.Ireland has encouraged the ruin of grand Georgian houses, seen as symbols of Britain.

Relics of steel and wooden towers

Rust Beltruins of former factory,Detroit,Michigan

As a rule, towers built of steel are dismantled, when not used any more, because their construction can be either rebuilt on a new site or if the state of construction does not allow a direct reuse, the metal can be recycled economically. However, sometimes tower basements remain, because their removal can be expensive. One example of such a basement is the basement of the former radio mast ofDeutschlandsender Herzberg/Elster.

The basements of large wooden towers such asTransmitter Ismaningmay also be left behind, because removing them would be difficult.

The contemplation of "rust belt"post-industrial ruins is in its infancy.

Aesthetics

In modern times ruins such as these are sought after for their aesthetics

In the Middle Ages Roman ruins were inconvenient impediments to modern life, quarries for pre-shaped blocks for building projects, or marble to be burnt for agricultural lime, and subjects for satisfying commentaries on the triumph of Christianity and the general sense of the world's decay, in what was assumed to be its last age, before theSecond Coming.With theRenaissance,ruins took on new roles among a cultural elite, as examples for a consciously revived and purified architectureall' antica,and for a new aesthetic appreciation of their innate beauty as objects of venerable decay.The chance discovery of Nero'sDomus Aureaat the turn of the sixteenth century, and the early excavations atHerculaneumandPompeiihad marked effects on current architectural styles, inRaphael's Roomsat the Vatican and inneoclassical interiors,respectively. The new sense ofhistoricismthat accompanied neoclassicism led some artists and designers to conceive of the modern classicising monuments of their own day as they would one day appear as ruins.

Ruins made-to-measure: the "Roman Ruin" in the park atSchönbrunn,c 1800

In the period ofRomanticismruins (mostly ofcastles) were frequent object for painters, place of meetings of romantic poets, nationalist students etc. (e.g.Bezděz CastleinBohemia,Hambach Castlein Germany,Devin Castlein Slovakia).

Ruin value(German:Ruinenwert) is the concept that a building be designed such that if it eventually collapsed, it would leave behind aesthetically pleasing ruins that would last far longer without any maintenance at all.Joseph Michael Gandycompleted forSir John Soanein 1832 an atmospheric watercolor of the architect's vastBank of Englandrotunda as a picturesquely overgrown ruin, that is an icon ofRomanticism.Ruinenwertwas popularized in the 20th century by Albert Speer while planning for the1936 Summer Olympicsand published asDie Ruinenwerttheorie( "The Theory of Ruin Value" ).

Ruins remain a popular subject for painting and creative photographyand are often romanticized in film and literature, providing scenic backdrops or used asmetaphorsfor other forms of decline or decay. For example, the ruins ofDunstanburgh Castlein England inspiredTurnerto create several paintings; in 1989 the ruinedDunnottar Castlein Scotland was used for filming ofHamlet.

See also

• Modern ruins
• Dissolution of the monasteries
• Ephemerality
• Folly,for garden ruins
• Ghost town
• Ozymandias,an English poem about ruins
• Romanticism
• Shipwreck
• Slighting

External links

• Robert Ginsberg, The Aesthetics of Ruins (New York/Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2004)
• Bibliography: Loss, Decay, Ending of Place
• Macaulay, Rose,The Pleasure of Ruins
• Ruin Memories Project