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Enigma is not only a probable attribute of representation, it is also and above all a vehicle of analogical thought. Like modern art, architectural theory and practice have participated in the vast debate between poetic analogy and mimetic representation. Ever since the nineteenth century, analogy has permeated the realm of topographic views ( vedute) and architectural imagery. It has become part of the mental baggage of architects and urban planners, for it supplies model-images. Through analogy, enigmatic motifs (or elements) graft themselves onto commonplaces of representation and onto constructive typologies. This phenomenon also applies to the intersecting history of the arts and technology. Analogy links the interpretation of architectural forms to culture’s underlying movements.