Preliminary communication
Development Phases and Intervention Concepts of the Imperial and Royal Central Commission in Case-Studies from Croatian Lands
Franko Ćorić
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Odsjek za povijest umjetnosti
Abstract
The administrative history of the Imperial and Royal Central Commission, the predecessor of the Bundesdenkmalamt active in the period in which Croatia formed a part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, can be divided as follows: the first period from its foundation in 1850 until the statute of 1873; the second period from 1873 until the appointment of Alois Riegl as Commission member in 1903; the third period from 1903 until the 1911 statute; and the fourth period lasting until the dissolution of the Monarchy in 1918.
However, the periodization of the theoretical concepts and methods is somewhat different, since administrative changes came as a result of new ideas, theories and methods.
Due to inexperience and lack of funds, interventions of the first period (1853–1873) were limited to consolidation, preventive protection and conservation (Split Cathedral, 1854), and rarely included restoration (Ransberg’s project for the Šibenik Cathedral, 1854). In the second period of historicist technicist artistic theory (1873–1903), the intervention-related decisions were made by artists, while interventions were marked by archaeological and aesthetic approach. An eloquent example of the collision of these two approaches is represented by two projects for the matroneum of the Zadar Cathedral. G. Smirich’s project of 1886 took in consideration the in situ findings, while E. Förster’s 1898 project drew on historicist abstract norm of Romanesque architecture. Interventions conducted in the course of the 1890s started to distinguish authentic sections and additions, a tendency evident in the introduction of a red dividing line between original and reconstructed parts of the mosaic in the triumphal arch of the Euphrasian Basilica (1892–1894).
The third period (1903–1911) was marked by the intensification of the conservation concept of cultural heritage protection and its eventual prevalence. Interventions conducted in the course of the 1890s started to distinguish authentic sections and additions, a tendency evident in the introduction of a red dividing line between original and reconstructed parts of the mosaic in the triumphal arch of the Euphrasian Basilica (1892–1894). The implementation of the idea of preserving age value as conceived by Alois Riegl caused disagreements with members of the Commission raised in the spirit of stylistic restoration. Two Split’s monuments marked the prevalence of new concepts: the preservation of the old Episcopal Palace and the 1908 restoration of the doors of Andrija Buvina according to the guidelines of Max Dvořák.
In the fourth period (1911–1918) priority was given to coalescing the aims of cultural heritage protection and the Germanophone movement of the so-called “homeland protection” (Heimatschutz) directed at protecting the object of cultural heritage, but also its surroundings, environment and scenery. Using his crown prince authority as the protector of the Commission, Archduke Franz Ferdinand participated in the efforts of preventing the construction of a hotel in the city of Rab at the ridge of the peninsula (1911–1912); he also influenced the decision to change the construction site and redesign the tobacco monopoly building in Trogir with the idea of its adjustment to local building traditions and more harmonious blending with the existing environment (1910–1912).
Historical conservation-restoration interventions on examples of Croatian cultural heritage testify to their early inclusion in the Central European cult of monuments.
Keywords
Central Commission; Croatia and Slavonia; Istria; Dalmatia; theories and methodologies of cultural heritage protection
Hrčak ID:
136376
URI
Publication date:
17.3.2015.
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