Original scientific paper
Projects for Đakovo Cathedral from the End of tje 18th and the beginning of the 19th Century
Dragan Damjanović
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Odsjek za povijest umjetnosti
Abstract
Đakovo Cathedral is one of the most signifi cant 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 identifi ed with the one in State Archives of Croatia (fi gs. 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 fi rst 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 fi rst design for the cathedral dates from 1817, and provides for a representative two tower Wandpfeiler crkve 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 fl avor did Felbinger depart from his model. Just two years later, in 1819, Felbinger offered another design, the reasons for which remain unclear. Possibly, the fi rst 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.
Keywords
Đakovo Cathedral; Bartol Felbinger; Baroque classicism; Classicism; 19th century
Hrčak ID:
147943
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2007.
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