Contenu du sommaire

The vizir's gate: monumental programmes and control of the urban territory in Cairo (end of the 14th century) The recent rediscovery of portions of medieval Cairo's walls, buried for centuries under layers of rubble, has shed new light on their urban uses in the Mamluk sultans' capital. At the end of the 14th century, a high-ranking emir undertook an urbanization project enclosed within a quarter neighboring the walls, on either side of the Vizir's Gate. Around a small monument, intended to serve both as a madrasa and as the founder's mausoleum, he brought together income-generating buildings and communal facilities for the area's residents. Thus did a desire for social enframing echo what was both a status investment and a civic project, in a neighborhood dominated by the tutelary shadow of the vizir's palace. These preoccupations which draw their juridical coherence, their patrimonial impact and their documentary visibility from the procedure of waqf were combined with security concerns. In a partially demolished section of the walls, the monumental constructions that proliferated in the 1380s seem to have arisen in response to an implicit policy of reinforcement.

Festive Itineraries and Powers at Stake in the Towns of the Burgundian Low Countries during the XVth Century This article deals with Burgundian ceremonies organised in the towns of the Low Countries, during the XVth century and puts stress on the town landscape considered as a link between ritual and political communication. Unlike the urban processions which took the all town in account, the prince's itinerary picked only some key-places in the aim to strengthen the authority and the aura of the duke. Thus, a new urban geography is shaped by these ceremonies. But symbolic communication did not benefit to the only prince. Magistrates, tradesmen and city-dwellers used also their public space for the maintaining of their own identity.

Cidades and Episcopal Cities in the Portuguese Overseas Empire: the Case of Mariana (Minas Gerais) In 1745, following the creation of the diocese of Minas Gerais, the small town of Vila do Carmo became the episcopal city of Mariana. The physical and symbolic metamorphosis of this Brazilian mining town is the subject of this article. First, we examine the social and political importance of the institution of the episcopal seat and the special significance in the Portuguese world accorded to the founding of a cidade. Second, we explore the morphological changes to the urban setting where the cathedral was to be built by looking at the role of the municipal and metropolitan powers in the construction of a new urban space. By way of conclusion, we attempt to trace the evolution of the episcopal city in relation to the urban hierarchy of Minas Gerais so as to confirm the existence of a link between the city's religious function and its economic and demographic development.

Musicians scattered all over the town. Where musicians dwelt in Le Mans, in the 17th and 18th centuries? How did musicians occupy the urban area studied here, namely le Mans, from the 17th century to the 19th ? The «men of music» are not distributed exactly like the whole of the population: many of them live in the centre of the town, far fewer in the outlying parishes. During the 18th century, one can observe a shift of their numbers from the river banks to the «High Town», then, from the French Revolution onwards, a movement towards the modern districts. Various types of behaviour can be noticed, according to the different musical professions: on account of their many working hours, cantors and choir-masters dwell near the churches, whereas piano-teachers rather choose a fashionable address.

Versailles, the palace and the town. Two distinct patrimonies, two opposed memories in the 19th century? The town and the palace of Versailles are to be distinguished. The town is bent to assert its own identity facing the palace with its patrimony and memory of weight. The town-council has to get the town extant both in spite of and in terms of the palace. Only in may 1789 Versailles was given a town-council, just before being forsaken in October. It became a prefecture, which enables it to regain vitality, but there were two problems: the town had no properties and not enough people paying borough rates to provide enough money for the expenditures. Nevertheless the town managed to recover some buildings from the State domain and even rights of using some parts of the palace estate; in the same time the town was making money with tourists visiting the palace. The palace and the memory of the kings, then the events of 1871 would suggest that the inhabitants of Versailles might be royalists; on the contrary there always were steady liberals and republicans, but they failed to get their city so reputed. The palace overcame the town.

Modernizing the Eternal City. Political and institutional struggles for the control of urban space: Rome 1870-1900 When Rome becomes the new capital city of Italy, in 1870, a long-lasting struggle between State and Municipality begins, in the context of the complex relationship between Catholics and the Nation. The object of this paper is to use the controversy about the Tiber river embankment and the modernization of the sewing system to analyze the decision making processes at work. The aim is to implement an history of decision making processes in the field of public works, with a link with political stakes, in order to try and propose an urban history method that could bring together the study of the urban form and the study of political life, with an attention to the history of technical and bureaucratic apparels.

Demountable churches. Religious architecture faced with the urban transformations taking place between 1950 and 1960 The conception of the religious buildings dedicated to the catholic cult was, during years 50-60 in France, the object of a profound questioning contributing to the refusal of the conventional image of the monumental church, to the benefit of nomadic, demountable or multi-purpose churches.

Urban history in Africa: a West-Africa analysis History of cities in Africa is a recent field of research which interrogates – for now two decades – the ways in which Africans shaped the patterns of urbanisation and how urbanisation influenced African social and cultural practices. The development of numerous case studies – of unequal quality – testifies this new interest for African cities. However, an overview of the literature on West Africa is not totally satisfactory. On the one hand, urban history has accelerated the renewal of social, political and even cultural history focusing on urban actors, practises and institutions totally unknown thirty years ago. On the other hand, urban history has not really taken into consideration long term periods as well as contemporary topics of international consultancy agencies. A narrowed analysis centred on a specific city is still a major way to write urban history in Africa. Consequently, a West African urban history has not yet been produced despite evidence of remote traditions of urban settlement in this area unique in sub-Saharan Africa.