From an Intelligence Tower to a Tower of Joy : The Story of Havran in the Former Iron Curtain Buffer Zone
Abstract
The article is a case study of Havran, a former military intelligence tower located in Western Bohemia in the former Iron Curtain buffer zone. It focuses especially on the process of Havran's transformation from a military installation to a ruin and finally into a lookout tower and Iron Curtain memorial.
The study tracks the changes in the tower's physical structures and exhibition content. The goals are to present an analysis of forming a special type of heritage and to review and discuss the processes of negotiating the meaning of the landscape, demonstrated on the site with the tower.
Methods used include historical archive research, review of internet fora and media articles as a specific data source for changes in the tower, and basic qualitative content analysis for the exhibition currently located at the lookout tower.