Central European Architecture

In Yerevan, as well as in a number of other Armenian cities, gardens were designed and constructed mainly during the Soviet era, and most of them were transformed, distorted and devastated in the first decade of the period of independence. In the last decade, a unique number of gardens/parks have been built or reconstructed in Yerevan. The city of Yerevan needs this kind of investigation. To observe and analyse the current state of gardens and parks, architectural and design structures as well as compositional design issues and problems concerning Yerevan's gardens and parks can be the first study in the Armenian history of design and architecture We still do not have any information about similar research efforts in the given sphere carried out in the countries neighbouring Armenia and other foreign countries. This article presents the right process of modernization and/or construction of gardens/parks based on the study of the best models envisions and requires application and implementation of different tools of compositional design and modification not only in the design proper of gardens/parks, but also in the external design and aesthetic nuances of the adjacent surrounding, leaving any compositional design setup unchanged.

Despite the fact that in the history of Croatian architecture of the interwar period Expressionism neither took firm hold nor had the significance and reception like it had in Germany, there exists a whole series of architectural designs which display a pronounced influence of this style. In Croatian architecture Expressionism appeared roughly from around 1922 until the end of the 1920s and in the work of some architects even later, in the course of the 1930s. It occurred mainly under the influence of German and partly Austrian architecture and as a reflection of the incursion of Modernism, not as a result of the chaotic post-war climate, inflation or other economic changes. Architects of Croatian Expressionism did not form a homogenous group – they neither shared the same formation or social convictions, nor belonged to the same political circles. What they had in common were aspirations for the accommodation of architecture to the new world, its new needs and technical possibilities. Two German architects had a profound influence on the emergence of Expressionism in Croatian architecture – Hans Poelzig and Peter Behrens. Hans Poelzig trained three Croatian architects who in the course of the 1920s produced designs influenced by Expressionism: Drago Ibler, Zdenko Strižić and Josip Pičman. Especially important is the oeuvre of Drago Ibler, who created a whole series of Expressionist projects, most of which remained unbuilt. Particularly significant are his designs for the Epidemiology Institute (1922), for the Central Workers’ Insurance Office (1923) and for the Trading High School (1928) in Zagreb. His most important executed work of the 1920s was the interior of the theatre section of the pavilion of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes at the 1925 Exposition internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in Paris. Between 1926 and 1943 Ibler was the head of the Department of Architecture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Some of the architects trained at the Department, like Stjepan Planić, embraced Expressionist aesthetics. Peter Behrens’s influence on the emergence of Expressionism in Croatian architecture occurred through the work of his disciples educated at the Viennese Akademie der bildenden Künste (his most important Croatian disciple was Juraj (Georg) Neidhardt), as well as through his participation in the construction of the Zagreb City slaughterhouse complex. Behrens was the representative of architect Walter Frese from Berlin, who in 1928 produced the design for the city’s slaughterhouse, constructed between 1929 and 1931. Stylistic features of the buildings of this complex display a combination of elements of Expressionist and Neue Sachlichkeit architecture. Besides Behrens’s and Poelzig’s disciples, a number of Zagreb architects of the older generation also designed under the influence of Expressionist aesthetics. Among the most important is Ignjat Fischer, designer of the interior of the City Café at the Ban Jelačić Square in the very centre of Zagreb. It was executed in the years 1929-31 and represents the most important example of Expressionist architecture in Croatia. The City Café was designed under the influence of Poelzig’s works, more precisely of his most important building, the Grosses Schauspielhaus in Berlin. Almost at the same time, in 1928-30, the same square was embellished by the hotel and department store building owned by Svetozar Milinov and designed by Dioniz Sunko, which originally included an advertising tower with elements of Backsteinexpressionismus. A number of designs related to Expressionist architecture can be associated with the so-called Foundation block planned in the centre of Zagreb in late 1920s and early 1930s (among which stand out designs by Stjepan Planić, and Josip Pičman and Josip Seissel). From that time on, the International Style started to become fully dominant in Croatian architecture.

The article is about the work of Joseph Hatzinger, son of builder Paul (Pál) Hatzinger from Székesfehérvár (Hungary), and Joseph’s sons Heinrich and Paul. Joseph worked in Osijek and in Slavonia in the second half of the 18th century. In the early 19th century, his older son Heinrich spent almost a decade as a professor at the Genie-Akademie (Military Academy of Engineering) in Vienna and designed two important Early Neoclassical churches at Terezin and Josefov fortresses in Bohemia. His younger son Paul, after a brief period as a lecturer at the Genie-Akademie, worked as an engineer in various parts of the Habsburg Monarchy during the first half of the 19th century, from Galicia, across Dalmatia, to Vienna and Lower Austria in the final phase of his career. Finally, his great-great-grandson Gusztáv Kasper, the grandson of Paul Hatzinger Jr, became a Hungarian railway engineer at the turn of the 20th century.

Članak govori o povijesti neobizantske arhitekture na području Hrvatske od sredine 19. stoljeća do početka Prvog svjetskog rata. Najveća pozornost posvećena je arhitektonskim rješenjima pravoslavnih crkava. Analiziraju se ostvarenja u neobizantskom stilu od romantičarskog perioda (pravoslavna crkva u Zagrebu arhitekta Franje Kleina) do djela visokog i kasnog historicizma na prijelazu iz 19. u 20. stoljeće (ostvarenja Hermana Bolléa, Janka Holjca i Vinka Rauschera). Djela nastala za pravoslavnu crkvu kontekstualiziraju se s političkim prilikama i nacionalnim ideologijama te s općim zbivanjima u tadašnjoj hrvatskoj arhitekturi, ponajprije s revivalom interesa za bizantski stil u prvim desetljećima 20. stoljeća u djelima Viktora Kovačića i Stjepana Podhorskog.

Architectural atlas of Zagreb contains overview of the history of Zagreb architecture and 900 entries on buildings from all parts of the city.
The buildings are grouped according to Zagreb’s neighborhoods: Upper Town, Kaptol, Lower Town - Centre, Lower Town - West, Lower Town - East, Savska street, Vukovarska street and Slavonska avenue, New Zagreb, etc. Each of these neighborhoods has been split into streets, and the buildings are organized according to their official street number. Along with each city area, a map showing the locations of all the marked buildings mentioned in the atlas is also attached.
The buildings in this atlas have been selected primarily according to their importance to the history of Zagreb’s architecture, while also bearing in mind their interest to the average visitor to Zagreb. The city center (Lower Town, Upper Town, and Kaptol) has been covered in most detail.

This article deals with the Neo-gothic architectural projects of Josip Vancaš in Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. Among the notable achievements of this segment of his entire production are: design for the church front in Buia, Italy, the chapel in Dragotin, and the parish churches in Krapina, Desinić, Oštarije, Bled, Prečna and Mirna Peč (partly restorations and partly new structures).

Đakovo Cathedral is one of the most significant buildings of historicism in Croatia. It replaced an earlier rather small cathedral, a Baroque adaptation of a the remains of a medieval church. (ealy 18th ct.). It is less known that before the plans made by Rösner and Schmidt for the present-day building (1866 – 1882), a whole series of stylistically interesting designs was proposed. Between the end of the 18th and the middle of the 19th century. Although none of then was carried out, they offer an interesting insight into the history of Central European religious architecture of the period.
The first attempt was made under the Bishop Franjo Matija Krtica (1773–1805), who commissioned a project which could be probably identified with the one in State Archives of Croatia (figs. 1–3). It was made around 1800, and it is typical of the late Central European Baroque with small touches of Classicism. Krtica’s successor, Bishop Antun Mandić (1805–1815) abandoned the project and commissioned a new one. The first one, from 1806, was provided by the Hungarian Court Chancery, but it did not seem to have met the Bishop’s wishes, so he ordered another project in 1814. This provided for a sumptuous baroque-classicist building. Mandić embarked on preparation of building material but he died in 1815. His successor, Mirko (Emerik) Karlo Raffay (1816.–1830.) followed the lead of his predecessors. He was determined to build the new cathedral, but he rejected the earlier projects, and ordered new ones.
He entrusted the project to the Zagreb architect, Bartol Felbinger. Felbinger’s first design for the cathedral dates from 1817, and provides for a representative two tower Wandpfeiler church with a crypt. Both in spatial conception and detail of composition this design closely follows the Cathedral of Temišvar (1736–1773) by Emanuel Fischer von Erlach. Only in some details of the architectural composition which bear a stronger classicist flavor did Felbinger depart from his model. Just two years later, in 1819, Felbinger offered another design, the reasons for which remain unclear. Possibly, the first project was too costly. It is interesting that the two proposals by the same architect are very different. In terms of space, it is still a Wandpfeiler church, but architectural organization of the 1819 design is truly classicist, and closer to the contemporary European developments.The project was, however, rejected by the Vienese Hofbaurat, the well-known architect Peter von Nobile, primarily because of an incomplete expense account. The Hungarian Court Chancery and the Vienese.Hofbaurath would try to impose their own new design on Bishop Raffay in 1821, but the latter would refuse it. Thus the building was postponed until the election of Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer.

While the Neo-Byzantine style was in 19th -century architecture in Croatia exclusively used for architectural projects funded by the Serbian Orthodox Church (such as parochial churches in Zagreb, Dubrovnik and many other towns and places), in the period shortly before the First World War, it also started to be used in the architecture of the Catholic Church. The crucial role in spreading the use of the style was played by the pioneer of Croatian modernist architecture Viktor Kovačić and his design for St Blasius' Church in Zagreb (built in 1910-13). Neo-Byzantine appeared primary due to ideological and political reasons, because it served as a reference to the period of Croatian political independence. Along with political reasons, the Neo-Byzantine style emerged also as a response to the extreme ornamentalism of the Vienna Secession. Early medieval architecture in Croatia, or more precisely Dalmatia, and Byzantine architecture in general, featured elements whose simplicity matched the sensibilities of increasingly permeating modernism. During the 1920s the Neo-Byzantine style became dominant in church architecture, primarily owing to architect Stjepan Podhorsky who applied the style in his numerous church building designs. The popularity of the style flourished especially in relation to the millennial celebration of the Croatian kingdom (925 – 1925), connected to which a large Neo-Byzantine church was built in Duvno (present Tomislavgrad in Bosnia and Herzegovina) sponsored by the Yugoslav Karađorđević dynasty. The Neo-Byzantine style at the same time turned into the main national style of Serbs in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. However, it appropriated motifs mostly from late medieval Serbian church architecture, which was characterized by much more lavish decoration than early medieval architecture in Croatia. The last Neo-Byzantine churches were built during the 1930s and in the early 1940s. Since modernism began pervading Croatian architecture, the majority of architects turned to designing modernist or some sort of mixed Neo-Romanesque, Art-déco and modernist church buildings.

Kapela Majke Božje Snježne na Tekijama kod Petrovaradina jedan je od povijesno najslojevitijih spomenika arhitekture Srijema. Istodobno radi se o ključnom spomeniku vezanom za prijelomni trenutak političke povijesti ne samo Habsburške Monarhije već i cijele Srednje i Jugoistočne Europe 18. stoljeća, bitke u kojoj je Eugen Savojski 1716. porazio osmanlijsku vojsku otvorivši time put prema austrijskom osvajanju cijeloga Srijema te Banata, a potom i sjeverne Srbije i Bosne.
U svoj se literaturi spominje da je u vrijeme osmanske vlasti (16.-17. stoljeće) na mjestu današnje kapele podignuta malena džamija, nedaleko prvotno dva (danas samo jednoga) izvora kvalitetne pitke vode. Nakon što je habsburška vojska osvojila 1687. Petrovaradin i obnovila katoličku hijerarhiju u mjestu župu preuzima isusovački red, koji nekadašnju džamiju, vjerojatno krajem 17. ili počekom 18. stoljeće, konvertira u katoličku kapelu. Nakon bitke 1716. kapela se pretvara, zahvaljujući ikoni Majke Božje Snježne, koju je svetištu poklonio Eugen Savojski, u najvažnije hodočasničko marijansko svetište ovoga dijela Habsburške Monarhije. U to je vrijeme građevina dograđena za dva hvata sredstvima obitelji u bici poginulog habsburškog časnika Siegmunda Breunera.
Kapeli na Tekijama izgled će ponovno biti promijenjen 1754. godine kada isusovci poduzimaju veliki građevinski zahvat s ciljem da osiguraju što više unutrašnjega prostora. Ispred džamije, koja je sada počela služiti kao sakristija, dograđeno je pravokutno svetište i dugi brod koji su u osi malo pomaknuti prema zapadu, u odnosu na prostor džamije, nesumnjivo zbog potrebe prilagođavanja zemljištu, odnosno padu terena prema močvarama uz Dunav. Novi dugi brod pokriven je masivnim baroknim svodovima sa susvodnicama, a zidovi su mu raščlanjeni parovima jonskih pilastara. Glavno pročelje bilo je skromno raščlanjeno pilastrima i nišama sa skulpturama. Ukinućem isusovačkog reda 1773. bitno se mijenja položaj kapele. Petrovaradin prelazi u ruke biskupijskog svećenstva, a potom 1776. godine ulazi u sastav Bosansko-srijemske i Đakovačke biskupije.
Kapela na Tekijama svoj današnji izgled dobila je 1880.-1881. godine obnovom provedenome za vrijeme agilnoga župnika Ilije Okrugića Srijemca (1827. – 1897.).  Dograđeno joj je dvotoranjsko pročelje, po uzoru na pročelje đakovačke katedrale, te sakristija, a na dijelu kapele koji je bio džamija dograđen je visoki tambur s kupolom koja je okrunjena simbolom pobjede kršćanstva nad islamom – križem postavljenim iznad polumjeseca. Prostor džamije povezan je s ranijim isusovačkim svetištem i pretvoren u novu apsidu crkve. Time je potpuno promijenjen izgled ovoga važnog povijesnog spomenika zbog čega je Odjel za bogoštovlje Zapovjedništva Vojne Krajine u Zagrebu (unutar koje se Petrovaradin u to vrijeme nalazio) ovaj zahvat nastojao zaustaviti. Iako se đakovački biskup Josip Juraj Strossmayer složio s mišljenjem Odjela, župnik Okrugić je ipak proveo restauraciju u cijelosti prema svojim nahođenjima, samo je, sukladno odredbama iz Zagreba, promijenio stil restauracije – umjesto neogotičkog odabran je naposljetku neoromanički stil.
Dio izvora projekte za restauraciju pripisuje najvažnijemu arhitektu historicizma u Hrvatskoj Hermanu Bolléu, a dio novosadskom graditelju Georgu Molnáru, no po svoj je prilici Bollé njihov autor.
Novo glavno pročelje znatno je šire od starijega dijela građevine, a i novi je glavni zabat nešto viši od krovišta broda što jasno upućuje na okolnost da je glavni razlog zahvata predstavljala težnja monumentalizaciji građevine te dobivanju reprezentativnijega pročelja koje istodobno estetski odgovara nazorima kraja 19. stoljeća.

Due to the importance of the works he realized at the turn of the century , XIX - XX  century, especially in Egypt the architect Antonio Lasciac (Gorizia 1856- Cairo 1946) plays a relevant role for the cross-border area of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, now divided by an administrative boundary between Italy and Slovenia, but compounding a whole territory during his professional experience.
Here in 1912, over the hills of Rafut, the architect Lasciac realized his house, which is particularly remarkable for the choice of its architectural language  influenced by the Mamluk tradition, rendered through the modern construction techniques within the revival of the neo-Islamic style. A a style that is marked by the references to the khedival Egypt that he brought back to his hometown, to testify his productive and fortunate Egyptian period, which is evidenced by his numerous works in Cairo, Alexandria and along the Bosphorus.

Među brojne teme o kojima je pisala Lelja Dobronić spada i prvi monografski tekst o svakako najvažnijemu graditelju romantizma u Zagrebu i Hrvatskoj Franji Kleinu. Zahvaljujući njezinim istraživanjima osnovne su konture Kleinove biografije postale poznate, no cjeloviti uvid u plodnu djelatnost ovoga arhitekta još nedostaje. U ovome će se izlaganju pozornost posvetiti do sada manje poznatim aspektima djelovanja te opusa Franje Kleina nakon preseljenja u Zagreb 1859. godine, ponajprije pitanju točne godine osnivanja zajedničkog ateljea s Jankom Nikolom Grahorom. Riječ je o jednoj od najplodnijih arhitektonskih tvrtki zagrebačke povijesti koja je izvela u 25 godina postojanja oko 120 građevina u tada još uvijek prilično malenome Zagrebu. U izlaganju će se pokazati kako datum osnivanja zajedničkoga ateljea, do sada obično definiran 1867. godinom, treba pomaknuti na znatno raniju 1861. godinu. Govorit će se i o kadrovskim promjenama u ateljeu 1886., te o pojedinim Kleinovim radovima.

Lecture by Diana Barillari, PhD in Preservation of the Architectural Heritage
Head Carolina Di Biase
“Methods and Themes of Historical Research”
Organized by Marica Forni
with Maria Antonietta Crippa and Ornella Selvafolta
“Babel Bibel” in Kakania, turn of the century
Central European Architecture and the Orient
Diana Barillari (Università degli Studi di Trieste)
For information:
Organization of the PhD activities
Laura Balboni laura.balboni@polimi.it
7th lecture
May 9th, 2.00 p.m.
Spazio Aperto, via Bonardi 9, floor -1

The Military Frontier, an administrative unit within the Habsburg Empire, was established during the sixteenth century to consolidate the border with the Ottoman Empire. In Building the Frontier of the Habsburg Empire: Viennese Authorities and the Architecture of Croatian-Slavonian Military Frontier Towns, 1780–1881, Dragan Damjanović considers architecture and urban planning there from the time Emperor Joseph II assumed the throne until the Frontier was abolished in 1881. Beginning with an overview of the region's architecture, urban design, and administrative organization, Damjanović proceeds to an examination of how modernization processes and the gradual demilitarization of the Frontier affected architecture and planning there. As they did for other provinces, Viennese authorities commissioned numerous new public and church buildings for the region—part of a larger effort toward modernization. Showing the influence of a variety of styles then fashionable elsewhere in Central Europe, these buildings were nonetheless well adapted to their local circumstances.

Due to the importance of the works he realized at the turn of the century , XIX - XX  century, especially in Egypt the architect Antonio Lasciac (Gorizia 1856- Cairo 1946) plays a relevant role for the cross-border area of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, now divided by an administrative boundary between Italy and Slovenia, but compounding a whole territory during his professional experience.
Here in 1912, over the hills of Rafut, the architect Lasciac realized his house, which is particularly remarkable for the choice of its architectural language  influenced by the Mamluk tradition, rendered through the modern construction techniques within the revival of the neo-Islamic style. A a style that is marked by the references to the khedival Egypt that he brought back to his hometown, to testify his productive and fortunate Egyptian period, which is evidenced by his numerous works in Cairo, Alexandria and along the Bosphorus.
The Rafut hills, where his villa is located, is a place that has recently changed nationalities: an Austrian territory in Lasciac’s lifetime, it later became Italian, and then was divided between the Italian and Yugoslavian Republics. And only recently, after the entrance of Slovenia in the European Community, it is officially part of the Europe.
In order to emphasize the role of this important, the PhD Program of the Integrated Design of Architecture and Civil Engineering of the School of Engineering Sciences of the University of Trieste, organizes a two days’ International Conference, 10 and 11 December, gathering scholars belonging to the different countries involved by Lasciac’s works, Mercedes Volait (Paris), Bogo Zupančič (Ljubljana), Breda Mihelič (Ljubljana), Marjana Lutman (Ljubljana), Ezio Godoli (Firenze), Bernard O’Kane (Cairo) Milva Giacomelli (Firenze) Edino Valcovich (Trieste), Diana Barillari (Trieste), Alberto Sdegno (Trieste), Alessandra Marin (Trieste), Diego Kuzmin (Gorizia), Andrea Nerozzi (Milano).
The conference is sponsored and organized by the PhD Program of Engineering and Architecture, in collaboration with the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste.  Patronage: the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Province of Gorizia, the Municipality of Gorizia, the Municipality of  Nova Gorica, the CaRiGo Foundation, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Superintendence of  the Archives, the State Archives of Gorizia, the Provincial Historical Archive and the Isontina State Library in Gorizia, the Professional Association of Architects of Gorizia, the Professional Association of Architects of Nova Gorica, the Institute for Central European Cultural Meetings, the International Institute of Sociology.

Među brojne teme o kojima je pisala Lelja Dobronić spada i prvi monografski tekst o svakako najvažnijemu graditelju romantizma u Zagrebu i Hrvatskoj Franji Kleinu. Zahvaljujući njezinim istraživanjima osnovne su konture Kleinove biografije postale poznate, no cjeloviti uvid u plodnu djelatnost ovoga arhitekta još nedostaje. U ovome se tekstu pozornost posvećuje do sada manje poznatim aspektima djelovanja te opusa Franje Kleina nakon preseljenja u Zagreb 1859. godine, ponajprije pitanju točne godine osnivanja zajedničkog poduzeća s Jankom Nikolom Grahorom. Riječ je o jednoj od najplodnijih arhitektonskih tvrtki zagrebačke povijesti koja je izvela u 25 godina postojanja oko 120 građevina u tada još uvijek prilično malenome Zagrebu. U članku će se pokazati kako datum osnivanja zajedničkoga ateljea, do sada obično definiran 1867. godinom, treba pomaknuti na znatno raniju 1861. godinu. Govorit će se i o kadrovskim promjenama u ateljeu 1886., te o pojedinim Kleinovim radovima.

The title of the essay that Heinrich Pudor wrote for "Der Architekt" (1904) Babel Bibel in der modernen Architektur (Babylon Bible in Modern architecture) focalized the influence which the Orient exercised upon Austrian and German architecture evolution at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the chief architects of the period were inspired by Mesopotamian and ancient Egyptian buildings, but it’s worth remembering that in Central Europe many nations got in contact with Islamic and Ottoman architecture because the Turks ruled over those territories for centuries. So that in Bosnia as in Hungary, or Kossovo and Bulgaria many buildings display their Turkish origin so that Ottoman architecture becomes a notable element of Central Europe architectural heritage. Domes, minarets, and oriental ornaments become part of the urban contest, sometimes they provoke scandals, but their only existence means that the horizon is expanding beyond  European cultural hegemony.

Riječ je o poglavlju u knjizi u publikaciji Put u vječnost objavljenoj u povodu istoimene izložbe u Klovićevim dvorima u Zagrebu (otvorena od 26. 8. do 6. 11. 2016.). U tekstu se govori o arhitekturi i prostornom uređenju groblja u Hrvatskoj u 19. i 20. stoljeću

"The article is devoted to the building of the National Casino (also called the Equine- or Noble-Casino) in Lwów, the seat of the prestigious Society of Breeding and Racing (Fr. Le Société d’Élevage et de Courses). The society gathered members of the Polish gentry from the Crown land of Galicia who jointly organized equestrian exhibitions and courses. Incepted in 1842, the Casino was not transferred to its own building until 1898; the construction was based on projects prepared by the famous Viennese architectural atelier of Ferdinand Fellner and Herman Helmer.

Of interest here is the Casino’s assembly in a highly decorated neo-baroque style with references to Austrian late-baroque architecture, the most in-vogue architectural style in Vienna at this time. Situated in the middle of a dynamically developing Lwów, the Casino quickly came to be regarded as one of the city’s most elegant buildings. It received a number of innovative architectural and structural solutions (e.g. a splendid glass-covered hall) that can be identified in many other palaces and villas constructed by Fellner and Helmer.

The National Casino was also one of the first neo-baroque style buildings constructed at the end of the 19th century in Galicia that has been praised by contemporaries for its “lightness and refinement”. It is highly likely that the construction of a highly ornamented neo-baroque palace by representatives of the Polish gentry might be witness not only to an appreciation of baroque architecture (which was through the 19th century considered an ugly, “wild form of renaissance”) but also of an attempt to correlate baroque architectural language as the proper form for club-building – suitable for a place of “dolce far niente” of the Polish aristocracy."