The Old with The New

Barcelona

Please excuse the unintentional travel blog feel of this post.

There are so many beautiful things to see in old cities. A lot of these “things” are of what physically makes up the city itself.  Old buildings, walls, and streets all show the city’s historical blueprint.  Nowadays, especially in our relatively young US cities, we tend to tear down the old to build the new. In more ancient cities, the methods of change and growth are far more incremental, leaving a beautiful layered history of the past intermingled with the present.

Mixing of the old and the new in Barcelona

I snapped these pictures during a recent research trip to Barcelona. It’s interesting to see how the modern masons built up and repaired the ancient wall of huge hand-cut stones by filling in and supporting the old with the new, allowing both to coexist. You have to love how the opportunistic pigeons have taken up residence in the perfect roosts!

Istanbul: One of the many turrets along the Old City wall

Istanbul: Cross Section of the Old City wall

The city of Istanbul has other fantastic examples of layered history. It’s ancient Roman wall around the Old City has fallen down, been torn down, blown up, and rebuilt many times during its 1500 years of life and is still being rebuilt today. You can see the differences in the above pictures of the stone and mortar color from the ancient to the newer construction. Through the years, some of the original stone has crumbled into powder, but the effort is always made to recycle the old into the new.

More on Istanbul in upcoming posts. Going way beyond the ancient wall’s blending of old and new, Istanbul is often a shining example of the beautiful balance that can be created in a city of diverse cultures.