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Architectural conservation is conventionally associated with preservation of buildings or ensembles that were seats of religious or secular power marking great architectural, political, or scientific accomplishments.
Dark and difficult heritage concerns events of disasters, extermination, and war. But what happens to stories and their places that do not fit into any of these categories? They are neither grand or beautiful, nor explicitly traumatic but nonetheless they embed cultural values and norms, or perhaps even the opposite of them: the bordellos and the marginalised groups of society that are usually disregarded in heritage discourses.
The question of sex work in contemporary culture holds an important place, as it is connected to social and economic rights of women. Historic sex work, and the places associated with it, imbed in this sense a contention value, because still today it provokes debate among different interest groups.
This research work presents the first in-depth study into the location of Florentine bordellos and sex workers between 1860 and 1888. It was a central moment in the history of these women and their trade because a new regulation on sex work was introduced by the recently unified Italian state which spatially controlled the sex trade. Each bordello and the sex workers came under intense scrutiny of the law. What was a dramatic development in the life of these women at the time, has allowed for extensive historical analysis.
The research draws primarily from over 5,000 archived police files and examines the location of sex trade in relation to the legal framework provided by the regulation known as the Regolamento Cavour. It was to ensure that sex workers would not pass on any venereal disease, while, at the same time, strived to maintain moral order in a continuously growing city, faced with urban development. In addition, the historic spatial development of bordellos within the perimeter of the ancient city walls was studied as well as the economic and political factors which influenced the position of a bordello within the urban fabric. For that purpose, the study incorporated information from historic city and street directories as well as cadastre maps. These different layers of information are conveyed in numerous maps to visualise the spatial context of and relation between sex work and spaces.
Conservation of heritage sites is an integral part of history and culture through which new generations can learn about their forefathers education, professionalism, cultural characteristics as well as their civilization. Almost all countries of the world tend to conserve their historical sites for their own generations and travellers from abroad. Despite Bangladeshs economy is becoming stronger, it is not paying enough attention to the development of archaeology to conserve its heritage sites. Unlike many other developing countries, Bangladesh tends to considers it a luxury to preserve it’s heritage sites. It is mainly because of the scarcity of land. The tiny country has a huge population (about 180 million), the density of which is perhaps the highest in the world.
Apart from some very significant heritage sites, most others are awfully neglected. Lack of education and awareness among the respective local people and other stakeholders are also responsible for most of the heritage sites facing threats of demolition, vandalism, losing authenticity and integrity.
Panamnagar, the case study for this thesis paper, is not apart from the above scenario. It is the last surviving intake city of lost Bengal. The place witnessed Mughal emperor, British rule, the partition of Bengal, Liberation war of Bangladesh, Hindu-Muslim riot, illegal habitation of people, forced eviction and abundance. The historic city went through lots of historical events and is still standing as a testimony to the golden era of Bengal. Currently, this heritage site is facing multiple threats to its existence and authenticity. The city is vacated by the authority - the Department of Archaeology. But as the local people are not aware of the historic value of the site, they are not at all cooperating with the authority. Meanwhile, the authority is trying to incorporate adaptive reuse of the site to give life to it again and collect revenue for the maintenance. But they are doing it without assessing the cultural significance of the site properly, which could be a potential threat for the authenticity of the heritage site. Thus, this paper has focused on assessing the cultural significance of the heritage site, with a hope that it will help the authority to make policy decisions for the conservation of the site more cautiously. To assess the cultural significance properly, history and architectural significance are described briefly. A site analysis has been conducted to understand the current site condition properly. The paper concludes with statements in support of the cultural significance of Panamnagar site and recommends appropriate conservation tools to sustain its significance.