Monumental Europe: The National Years. On the Iconography of European Capital Cities

This is a study of the historical processes and the symbolic forms which made Berlin, Brussels, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg/Moscow, and Vienna, into national capital cities. The preceding historical background are ecclesiastical sees, trading centres, and dynastic residence cities. Paris of the French Revolution meant the launching of a capital of the nation, a process then gathering momentum in the 19th century, taking different expressions due to different national politics. Public buildings, the layout of public space, the character of monuments, and urban nomenclature are foci of analysis.