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Genius Loci: The Spirit of Place

What is the spirit of place (Latin: Genius loci, in Ancient Rome – the guardian spirit of a place)? It is conveyed by artists in their novels, poems and works of art, photography and cinematography, and it has been enjoying an increasingly wide coverage from the scientific community as well. However, everybody can feel the spirit of place – one just needs to rise above the daily whirl, to stop and look through open eyes at the environment surrounding us... Let us open up and the spirit of place will start telling us about past mysteries – the people who lived, created, suffered, fought and left a tiny part of themselves, about the turbulent events and the amazing human ability to create special places from pieces of nature and bricks, stone and wood, which allow to feel, at least for a minute, the existence of Earth and man – the air of eternity, the flow of history, and the life of past generations. Such places do not necessarily have to be related to prominent architectural works. The spirit of place may settle in many different ways – in the ancient town, at the crossroad of small streets, in the churchyard, in a small square with the ancient tree, on the rural road or old hill... There were cultures that had perfectly mastered the art of place making. However, places are not created at once; they are patiently shaped from generation to generation even if they look as if they have been formed naturally. One of the first genius loci minstrels – John Ruskin, a famous thinker, art critic and heritage theoretician of the XIX century, wrote in his book " Seven Lamps of Architecture " (1849): " For, indeed the greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, nor gold. Its glory is in its Age, and in that deep sense of voicefulness, of stern watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval or condemnation, which we feel in walls that have been long washed by the passing waves of humanity. It is in their lasting witness against men, in their quiet contrast with the transitional character of all things, in the strength which, through the lapse of seasons and times, and the decline and birth of dynasties, and the changing of the face of the earth, and of the limits of the sea, maintains its sculptured shapeliness …