Art bulletin, No. 61, 2011.
Original scientific paper
Arts Hall by Ivan Meštrović: Construction, Deconstruction and Renewal
Andrija Mutnjaković
; Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The Arts Hall [Dom hrvatskih likovnih umjetnika] was constructed in 1938, based on the 1933 concept design of sculptor Ivan Meštrović, collaborated with - on conception and relalization - then-well-known architects (Ivan Zemljak, Harold Bilinić, Lavoslav Horvat, Zvonimir Kavurić and others). In 1941, the Arts Hall was converted into a mosque, and according to the project of Zvonimir Požgaj the internal architecture was changed through the covering of all walls with Islamic ornamentation and the addition of a reinforced-concrete dome above the central hall and a recession along the circumferential walls. Also - according to a project by Stjepan Planić - three minarets were added to the building, and in front of the main entrance a square with a pool was added. After 1945, the Arts Hall was used as a museum of partisan battles in Croatia during the Second World War: the minarets were demolished and the internal decorations were removed. According to the museum's program, in 1951 a new gallery and steelconstructed stairs were added to the central hall, based upon a project by Vjenceslav Richter. All of these layers of reconstruction served to destroy the original conception and quality of the Arts Hall, and were removed in the period from 2001-2003 through the organization of the curatorship of the Croatian Association of Artists, composed of Radovan Ivančević, Robert Šimrak, Zlatan Vrkljan, Feđa Vukić, and based upon a renewal project by Andrija Mutnjaković.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
78571
URI
Publication date:
23.12.2011.
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