Career
Raimondo d’Aronco’s rise to fame in Italy began with design competition for a monument to King Vittorio Emmanuele II to be built in Rome. His design won the silver medal. Similar achievements at the competitions for the 1887 Venice Exhibition, the First Turin Exhibition of Architecture in 1890 and the Palermo National Exhibition in 1891 made him one of Italy’s most promising young architects.
In 1893, he was invited to Istanbul to prepare designs for the Istanbul Exhibition of Agriculture and Industry to be held in 1896. He arrived in August 1893, and had completed the project within a few months. Sultan Abdul Hamid II approved the designs, and the foundations were being laid when the great earthquake of July 10, 1894 devastated the city. One of its victims was the exhibition, which had to be scrapped.
But in the wake of the earthquake, the need for an architect of Raimondo d’Aronco’s standing became even more urgent, as a rebuilding program got underway. He was first charged with restoring damaged monuments in the old city, and went on to design scores of buildings for the government and individuals.
The Istanbul period in his professional career only came to an end with the deposition of Sultan Abdülhamid II in 1909. These 16 years were to be the most productive years of his life, and represented the height of his originality.
Read more about this topic: Raimondo Tommaso D'Aronco
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