Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 78 No. 1, 2008.
Original scientific paper
A Portrait of Antun Kržan (1835 - 1888), Rector of the University of Zagreb. On the Occasion of the 120th Anniversary of His Death
Ivan Golub
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The article presents a portrait of Antun Kržan as a diptych. The first wing is spiritual and the second a physical portrait. The spiritual portrait outlines Kržan's historical figure with emphasis on his public speeches as the Rector of the University of Zagreb. The physical portrait of Kržan as the University Rector is fateful and is presented scientifically. Antun Kržan was born in Oplaznik, in the parish of Marija Gorica, on 8 June 1835. In high school he was taught by Vjekoslav Babukić, a renown Croatian linguist. He studied at the Germanicum College and Gregoriana University in Rome (1856-1863) where his professor was J. Kleutgen, a future theologian at the Ist Vatican Council while his colleague during studies was M. J. Scheeben, later a leading German theologian. Kržan gained his doctorate in philosophy in 1859 and then in theology in 1863 obtaining the highest marks possible - »summa cum laude«. He was ordained in Rome on 15 March 1862. Upon returning to his homeland and Zagreb he conducted academic and pastoral services. He was appointed as the first professor of Dogmatic Theology at the newly founded university in Zagreb in 1874. During the 1876/1877 academic year he was elected as the third Rector of the University of Zagreb and the first Rector from the Catholic Theological Faculty. He gained fame with his public speaking which represents his academic credo: the absence of violence in science, the presence of free research, dialogue with natural sciences. These were values that Rector Kržan fervently supported. He published his life work »O postanku čovjeka po posljedcih mudroslovnih i naravoslovnih znanosti« (I - Zagreb, 1874; II - Zagreb, 1877), where he scientifically and frequently opposed the still living Darwin and his theory of evolution. He was appointed to the canon of the Zagreb Archdiocese and canon adjunct to Cardinal J. Mihalović. In 1880 Kržan departed from the Catholic Theological Faculty and took leave of his scientific work. On 6 November he died suddenly in his home at Kaptol 6, in Zagreb. He was buried in Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery.
Portraits of each of the Rectors of the University of Zagreb from Matija Mesić on, hang in Aula Magna of the University. However, there isn't a portrait of its third Rector, Antun Kržan. Inexplicable! There is a portrait of him however in the Zagreb City Museum that came from an entrepreneur. Until its proper identification it was entitled a portrait of an unknown priest. It is registered under no: MG 4670; oil on canvas; dimensions, without gold-leaf frame: 89x68; painter's signature: A. Zuccaro; period: 1876/1877 Zuccaro, was a painter from Trieste, and was commissioned by the University of Zagreb to paint the portraits of the first four rectors including A. Kržan. His portrait was painted live »ad visum«, with a paleface, blue eyes, collected, standing with crossed arms in his priests' habit and chancellor's chain. Kržan was the first rector to receive the chain that was given to him by Emperor Franz Joseph I. The portrait was never published.
This is the first time the portrait of Antun Kržan, Rector of the University of Zagreb 1876/1877 has been published and in colour too.
Keywords
Antun Kržan; University of Zagreb; Catholic Theological Faculty in Zagreb; Department of Dogmatic Theology; Antonio Zuccaro, Zagreb City Museum
Hrčak ID:
25579
URI
Publication date:
7.5.2008.
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