Transfer and Export in Architectural History — Three Case Studies from the Carpathian Basin

Transferring a building type from its original context (in the sense of genius loci) into a foreign environment for which it was not intended, is equivalent to transplantation. As the case studies show, the evoked response does not necessarily have to be negative. Rather, this phenomenon is to be understood as an external impulse that influences regional architectural development. This paper examines the principle of the architectural-historical process in the territory of the Carpathian Basin in three periods. The case studies of the article are derived from the architecture of the Roman era (1st–5th centuries CE), the Ottoman era (16th–17th centuries CE) and the historical industrial architecture of the era of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (19th–20th centuries CE), since the Carpathian Basin, the interference territory of Western and Eastern Europe, Northern Europe and the Balkans, was under the influence of states with centres in a different area. These being the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, all having a determinative influence on the following period’sarchitecture. Consequently, the influence of a relatively different culture with global dimensions can be examined within a regional context. This perspective leads to the actual question of architectural history: how the interaction of local and global architectural tendencies and features, the relationship between the centre, semi-periphery and periphery influence the examination of architectural processes and preservation of unique values. By examining the case studies, the paper establishes the categories of architectural transfer and architectural export. The aim of the paper is to stimulate discussions through further examples