A Reading of Alexander von Humboldt’s Kosmos between Scientific Observation and Images of Nature

Rossella Salerno

doi:10.26375/disegno.15.2024.27

Authors

Rossella Salerno Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26375/disegno.15.2024.27

Abstract

Kosmos [1] by Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) –the geographer born in Berlin to whom we owe the modern concept of landscape– evokes a ‘doctoral passion’ in me: it was, in fact, during the years in which I was working on my thesis for the doctoral program in Survey and Representation of the Built Environment that, driven by a growing interest in the complex issues present in the concept of landscape, I came across this fundamental text. [read more]

References

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von Humboldt, A. (1861). Cosmos. Saggio di una descrizione fisica del mondo. Venezia 1861. Translated from the French by G. Vallini. Roma: presso Benigno Scalabrini. <https://www.google.it/books/edition/_/kulqKrWyWaAC?hl=it&kptab=publisherseries> (accessed 29 November 2024) [Original ed. (1845-1862). Kosmos. Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung. Stuttgard und Tübingen: Johann Georg Cotta].