The city has thousands of Art Deco, futurist, modernist, and rationalist buildings, constructed during the period of Italian Eritrea. Asmara, a small town in the nineteenth century, started to grow quickly during 1889. The city also became a place "to experiment with radical new designs", mainly futuristic and art deco inspired. Even though city planners, architects, and engineers were largely European, members of the indigenous population were largely used as construction workers, Asmarinos still identify with their city's legacy.