From Czernowitz to Chernivtsi by Cernăuți. A multicultural townscape as heritage of a plural society

Czernowitz, former capital city of Bucovina in the Hapsburg Empire, changed “location” twice: from Austria to Romania in 1918, becoming Cernauți, then from Romania to Ukraine in 1945, becoming Chernivtsi. Today Chernivtsi is mainly an Ukrainian city, but its architecture shows this historical process thanks to a series of urban landmarks. This paper aims to focus on the interplay among architecture and nationalities, so evident and strong in this case-study. The multicultural society before 1918 is reflected in many heterogeneous religious e public buildings, the effort of “Romanization” after 1918 is mainly reflected – on the contrary - in the “ethnic” Romanian qualities of new buildings. From the second half of the nineteenth century the townscape was progressively enriched by temples of different religions and by specific building types: the “national houses”, seat of the cultural life of each community, all with their specific architectural features. The “Romanization” of the city was operated after 1920 building many new Orthodox churches and emphasizing the “ethnic” decorative details of new buildings. The spread of Modernism, in the 30’s stopped this process, but the huge new Romanian Culture Palace “landed” in the theatre square speaking clearly of Bucovina as a part of Greater Romania. After 1945 the multicultural society vanished, and the Soviet power promoted homologation. The independence of Ukraine (1991) allowed politicians to rethink about the national and local identity, mainly intended as Ukrainian: as usual monuments changed, but the new ones, despite new people to celebrate, followed old ways in representing heroes. On the other hand, but more recently, architectural heritage is considered by Municipality as an ADN of Czernowitz and a value to be restored, both on the Austrian and Romanian side. The website launched in 2008 for celebrating the 600 years of the town, speaks about Chernivtsi city of tolerance.