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Covering a wide range of buildings--from national theaters to crematoria, apartment buildings to warehouses, and sanatoria to postal savings banks--Alofsin proposes a new way of interpreting this language. He calls on viewers to read buildings in two ways: through their formal elements, on the one hand; and through their political, social, and cultural contexts, on the other. By looking through Alofsin's eyes, readers can see how myriad nations sought to express their autonomy by tapping into the limitless possibilities of art and architectural styles. And such architecture can still speak very powerfully to us today about the contradictory issues affecting parts of the former Habsburg Empire. "When Buildings Speak" is essential reading not only for students and scholars, but also for any travelers to Central Europe who want to better understand the complex forces at play in the region. Lavishly illustrated with newly commissioned color photographs, it" "will become the standard introduction to the wide-ranging varieties of modern architecture in the Habsburg Empire and its aftermath. Zusammenfassung Explores the architecture of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire and its successor states. This work shows that several different styles emerged in this milieu during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It contends that each of these styles communicates to us in a manner resembling language and its particular means of expression....
