Time to embrace "ruin porn"

[rb336]

Ruins are the physical memories of bygone eras. I've said it before - no one calls pictures of the Parthenon ruin porn. Stabilize the most significant - the Packard, the train station, etc. - and do organized tours. They are significant pieces of history and should be treated as such

[Spartan]

There's a difference between 100-year old ruins and 1000-plus-year old ruins.

[p69rrh51]

There's a difference between 100-year old ruins and 1000-plus-year old ruins.

Its really a 20 ish year old ruin, the building was functioning as late as the early 90's if I remember correctly. Although I agree with the difference between the age of the Parthenon and the Packard mentioned by Spartan. Also when its all said and done the Parthenon has held up much better the the Packard.

[DetroitPlanner]

Is that you Camilo?
http://www.nbm.org/exhibitions-colle...dry-bones.html

[Honky Tonk]

Its really a 20 ish year old ruin, the building was functioning as late as the early 90's if I remember correctly. Although I agree with the difference between the age of the Parthenon and the Packard mentioned by Spartan. Also when its all said and done the Parthenon has held up much better the the Packard.

That's because people weren't spray-painting, scrapping, and setting the Parthenon on fire.

[p69rrh51]

That's because people weren't spray-painting, scrapping, and setting the Parthenon on fire.

The Parthenon has seen similar activity over 2,400 years.

From Wikipedia:
A major fire broke out in the Parthenon shortly after the middle of the third century AD which destroyed the Parthenon's roof and much of the sanctuary's interior. Repairs were made in the fourth century AD, possibly during the reign of Julian the Apostate. A new wooden roof overlaid with clay tiles was installed to cover the sanctuary. It sloped at a greater incline than the original roof and left the building's wings exposed.

In 1687, the Parthenon was extensively damaged in the greatest catastrophe to befall it in its long history.The Venetians sent an expedition led by Francesco Morosini to attack Athens and capture the Acropolis. The Ottoman Turks fortified the Acropolis and used the Parthenon as a gunpowder magazine – despite having been forewarned of the dangers of this use by the 1656 explosion that severely damaged the Propylaea – and as a shelter for members of the local Turkish community. On 26 September a Venetian mortar round, fired from the Hill of Philopappus, blew up the magazine, and the building was partly destroyed. The explosion blew out the building's central portion and caused the cella's walls to crumble into rubble.Greek architect and archaeologist Kornilia Chatziaslani writes that "...three of the sanctuary’s four walls nearly collapsed and three-fifths of the sculptures from the frieze fell. Nothing of the roof apparently remained in place. Six columns from the south side fell, eight from the north, as well as whatever remained from eastern porch, except for one column. The columns brought down with them the enormous marble architraves, triglyphs and metopes."^[52] About three hundred people were killed in the explosion, which showered marble fragments over nearby Turkish defenders and caused large fires that burned until the following day and consumed many homes. Accounts written at the time conflict over whether this destruction was deliberate or accidental; one such account, written by the German officer Sobievolski, states that a Turkish deserter revealed to Morosini the use to which the Turks had put the Parthenon expecting that the Venetians would not target a building of such historic importance. Morosini was said to have responded by directing his artillery to aim at the Parthenon. Subsequently Morosini sought to loot sculptures from the ruin and caused further damage in the process. Sculptures of Poseidon and Athena's horses fell to the ground and smashed as his soldiers tried to detach them from the building's west pediment. The following year, the Venetians abandoned Athens to avoid a confrontation with a large force the Turks had assembled at Chalcis; at that time, the Venetians had considered blowing up what remained of the Parthenon along with the rest of the Acropolis to deny its further use as a fortification to the Turks, but that idea was not pursued. After the Turks had recaptured the Acropolis they used some of the rubble produced by this explosion to erect a smaller mosque within the shell of the ruined Parthenon^. For the next century and a half, portions of the remaining structure were looted for building material and any remaining objects of value

[night-timer]

Who has the right to organize tours? In other words, who actually owns those buildings and can allow open/public access? What's the asbestos risk or other health/safety issues in those plants? Let's not forget that the photographers running busloads of camera-toting ghetto gawkers around the various abandoned and blighted "tourist attractions" of Detroit copped hell on this forum a couple of months ago. [[That company seems to have disappeared now anyway. Probably got busted or threatened by law enforcement to quit it.) Anyway, apart from all that, yes, I think tours are a good idea and there is genuine interest in pilgrimages of this sort by history lovers. I'm surprised Lowell has never done something along those lines.

[WaCoTS]

[[That company seems to have disappeared now anyway. Probably got busted or threatened by law enforcement to quit it.)

nope, looks like they have a few more tours scheduled this month and next...
http://www.meetup.com/Motor-City-Pho...ents/calendar/

[NoHeartAnthony]

The Parthenon is a symbol for the greatness of ancient Greece, the ingenuity of designing such a structure with grandiose statues [[more the Acropolis in general) and mathematical symmetry. Although Greece is in turmoil, the Parthenon's state has little to do with it, the eroding of its structure has little with the economic and social decline of the Greek/Athenic polis [[I just had to).

Ruin porn in Detroit is a different issue. Here we have a structure [[the city) with its components [[Packard, MCS, etc.) collapsed. The ruin of these buildings is tied in with the ruin of the city. So in turn, celebrating the existence of these photo-ops is celebrating the existence of a bottomed-out Detroit.

[night-timer]

There's a difference between 100-year old ruins and 1000-plus-year old ruins.

Agreed! Detroit's ruins are far better ;-) and while many will say demolish Detroit's bizarre skyscraper gravestones, I'm all for keeping them.

[dmike76]

I will never, NEVER, embrace ruin porn. When I travel, I cannot imagine saying to people, 'ya, Detroit's great. It's full of abandoned buildings'. It makes no sense whatsoever to keep the desolation if we want to revitalize this city. If I want to remember a bygone era, I'll look at the Penobscot or the Guardian building and think about the booming Detroit. THAT is a bygone era worth remembering and it is a reminder of the ultimate goal -- to make Detroit a safer, cleaner, and more successful city. The Parthenon does not house criminals and vandals. Our ruins do. Either clean them up or tear them down; don't let them continue to deteriorate.