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THE BEGINNINGS OF CRITICISM AND THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM IN CROATIA
Žarko Domljan
Abstract
The first competent criticisms of architecture and urbanism,
appeared in Croatia in the 1880's, and this was related to
the starting of the Journal »The News of t h e Society of
Engineers and Architectsc (»Viesti društva inžinira i a r hitekata
«), (since 1880) and to the big sway in civil engineering
which came os a consequence aer the general regulating
scheme for Zagreb in 1887. The authors of the earliest retrospections
like that of Ivan Doljak and Fran Vrbanić remain
on the level of plain descriptions of the buildings or
sociological analysis of the circumstances of the habitat in the
town. Iso Krsnjavi initiated criticism in architecture and urbanism,
which was written from clear theoretical positions,
and he was fcllowed by engineers and architects Albert švarc,
Martin Pilar, Janko Holjac and others. Writing mainly from
historicism stand, they indubitably showed the values of their
own civil engineering heritage, searching for a synthesis in
the idea of a national construction style.
Upon the appearance of new generations of architects
educated in the spirit of retormatory ideas of J. Ruskin and O. Wagner, brought a confrontation even i n architectural
criticism. The breaking role occurred with the programed
text of Viktor Kovačić in»Moderna architecturec (»Moderna
arhitekturama) 1900, in which he gave a theoretical modem
position and for his attitudes he won over not only younger
architects but even progressive writers and l iterature critics
as A. G. Matoš and Vladimir Lunaček. A significant impulse to
t he urbanistic criticism was given during the stay o f C .
Gurlitt in Zagreb and his lectures which were published in
1903 in a special brochure, and about the building of cities
wrote competently as connossers engineers Valentin Lapaine,
Adolf Ehrlich, Gjuro Ehrlich, and a geometer Milan Kreković
published in 1904 a pamphlet »Founding of Towns«(»Osnivanje
gradova«) in which a utopian-literary way exposes the
first complete theory of a town. Professional architectonic
and urbanistic criticism, would eventually appear only some
time before the end of the interval in the person of Kosta
Strajnić who connects the periods of »Moderna«wit h that
of the one between the two wars.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
148587
URI
Publication date:
15.12.1978.
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