Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.17018/portal.2025.17
Roof of Zagreb Cathedral – Research Results and Reconstruction of the Lost ‘Fifth Façade’
Iskra Karniš Vidovič
orcid.org/0009-0005-1773-6692
; Hrvatski restauratorski zavod, Zajednička stručna služba
Sažetak
The cathedral in Zagreb stands as the most striking building of the newly unified city of Zagreb in the second half of the 19th century. Following the great earthquake of 1880, its massive roof rose on Kaptol Hill above the Archbishop’s Palace during a restoration led by Herman Bollé. Along with the churches of St Mark and St Catherine, and the Lotrščak Tower on Gradec Hill, it formed key focal points above the Lower Town, which was steadily expanding southwards towards the railway. The restored cathedral’s roof became a special symbol of the city, distinguished by its imposing size and steep incline, and especially its polychromy and shimmering quality, underscoring the cathedral’s unique status and importance.
From 1884, the roof covering of the cathedral’s new ‘fifth façade’ was made of colourful glazed tiles produced in Zagreb at the Nova kaptolska ciglana brickyard. This brickyard was established by Bollé in 1881 to facilitate the restoration of Kaptol and the cathedral following the damage caused by the 1880 earthquake. At the time, Bollé served as the Kaptol architect, overseeing the reconstruction of Kaptol buildings.
Research on the roof covering of the Zagreb cathedral was conducted by the Croatian Conservation Institute in 2023 as part of a conservation study. This study was prompted by the damage caused by the 2020 earthquakes. The research focused on two phases: the glazed-tile roof installed after 1884, and the copper-sheet roof installed after 1976 that completely replaced the glazed tiles.
Although there were no original plans and descriptions of the glazed-tile roof, archival sources, references, photographs, an old model, and fragments of glazed tiles allowed for the creation of a catalogue of glazed tiles. This enabled the reconstruction of the roof’s appearance after 1884, detailing the tile-laying scheme, current condition and damage, and proposals for a conservation and restoration project. The catalogue highlights rich polychromy and includes descriptions of a few intact glazed tiles preserved in the Office for Cultural Assets of the Archdiocese of Zagreb, as well as hundreds of fragments discovered within the cathedral, in the courtyard near the auxiliary buildings, and primarily among debris cleared from vault pockets during structural restoration interventions in 2023. These fragments are now stored in the technological collection of the Croatian Conservation Institute. The reconstruction of the roof above the nave illustrates a structure divided into several horizontal zones (viewed from below): the lowest part features three bands (brown, green, brown), followed by a pattern reminiscent of Croatian folk embroidery, then the main and largest zone composed of rows of green and reddish-brown diamonds, a Croatian tricolour (trobojnica), a white divider, and finally the roof’s peak below the ridge.
Before the cathedral, the first roof in Zagreb covered with glazed tiles was that of the newly restored church of St Mark, on Gradec. Its vibrant colours, resembling Croatian folk motifs (dominated by red, white and blue) featured the coats of arms of the Triune Kingdom and the unified City of Zagreb. That roof clearly reflected the political aspirations of the Croatian people for unification within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In contrast, the new roof of Zagreb Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the holy kings Stephen and Ladislaus, was less ostentatious. It did not feature coats of arms, but the significant presence of the colour green was associated with Hungarian influence.
After the cathedral, several other roofs in Zagreb were covered with colourful glazed tiles on the basis of Bollé’s designs (the Evangelical Church complex, the Greek Catholic church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, and the church of St Catherine). However, none of these has survived to the present day. Thanks to the results of this research and the reconstruction of the cathedral’s roof covering, there is now an opportunity, as part of the comprehensive restoration of the cathedral, to restore the polychromy and brilliance of the late-19th-century ‘fifth façade’ of the Zagreb Cathedral.
Ključne riječi
Zagreb cathedral; 1880 earthquake; 2020 earthquakes; Friedrich Schmidt; Herman Bollé; roof; glazed tile; roof reconstruction; tile catalogue
Hrčak ID:
342564
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2025.
Posjeta: 499 *