Izvorni znanstveni članak
Bishop Strossmayer, Iso Kršnjavi, Herman Bollé, and the Construction of the Greater Royal Gymnasium in Osijek
Dragan Damjanović
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Sažetak
The building of the Greater Royal Gymnasium in Osijek (1880—1882) is an interesting episode in the Croatian 19th century architecture. Its main protagonists were Joisp Juraj Strssmayer, Bishop of Djakovo, Iso Kršnjavi, the first professionally trained Croatian art historian, and Herman Bollé, one of the most important historicist architects. The old building, too small, unhealthy and dilapidated, had to be replaced as soon as possible by the order of the Department for Religious Affairs and Education of the Croatian National Government of 1877. Due to the conflict between the Upper and the Lower Town, the Gymnasium had to be in the middle, i.e., in the Fortress, built in the 18th century. There, however, the only unoccupied building site was the property of Bishop Strossmayer, so the City Council decided to request him to donate his land of the City. After initial hesitation, Strossmayer decided to do so, under the condition that the building be constructed by a quality architect, such as Schmidt, Hansen or Forster — all from Vienna; as the city did not have enough money to engage any of the three, the bishop consented to a public competition, announced both at home and abroad. The jury received 21 projects from all corners of the Monarchy — Vienna, Zagreb, Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, and Osijek. After the expiration of the competition deadline, the works were exhibited in the Osijak City Hall. According to the official version, the jury decided, within a month, to award the first prize to Herman Bollé from Zagreb, whose project carried the code "Bramante", and the second to Max Zucker (code "Max Zucker"). There was however a fierce struggle behind the scene between Strossmayer and his associates, and the Osijek City Council supported by the newspaper, Die Drau. The correspondence between Strossmayer and Kršnjavi discloses that the competition was indeed fictitious. Even before the competition was announced, in December 1879, Kršnjavi informed Strossmayer about Bollé's participation suggesting that he should receive the first prize. Bollé had moved to Zagreb from Vienna only in 1873, where he worked in the atelier of Friedrich von Schmidt on Croatian commissions. Kršnjavi wanted to keep him in Zagreb, hoping to improve Croatian architectural practice. In order to do so, it was necessary to provide commissions, in which Kršnjavi was helped by Strossmayer who agreed that, if for financial reasons Osijek cannot afford Schmidt, the city should at least commission his assistant. At the exhibition, Strossmayer openly voiced his preference for Bollé, putting a pressure on the City Council members, while provoking Die Drau which supported the local architect and city engineer, Max Zucker. Strossmayer won the upper hand by threatening to withdraw his donation of the land, so Bollé received the first prize; problems, however, soon arose, as Bollé conceived the building as a Rohbau with a facade in brick and stone, which the City considered too expensive, forcing Bollé to make significant changes to his competition design. After the necessary preparation works, the construction started in April 1881, to be completed only by October 1, 1882, when the building was dedicated.
Both the original project and the final design represent a typical Neo-Renaissance solution in public architecture of High Historicism, with a clear and legible facade distinguished by low moldings. The new building made an excellent use of Strossmayer's site, an irregular rectangle, but by its height it considerably clashed with its context — the Main Square of the Fortress featuring much lower residential and public Baroque buildings of mostly 18th century date. The main model for the Gymnasium was Schmidt's architecture, primarily the building of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Science; Bollé, while still in Schmidt's atelier, participated in its design and construction, thus he was quite familiar with its construction and decor.
Ključne riječi
bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer; Iso Kršnjavi; Herman Bollé; Osijek; gymnasium building; historicism; neorennesance
Hrčak ID:
167844
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2006.
Posjeta: 1.396 *