Ancient treasures
Pharos (today's Stari Grad) was a powerful Greek colony from which Hellenic town-planning techniques spread. Traces of the Greek cadastre can still be seen in the surrounding plain, which has been a World Heritage site since 2008. However, Croatia owes its urbanization mainly to Roman know-how. From the Illyricum, a rich Roman province, one can still admire superb witnesses, as in Pula, which is full of perfectly preserved monuments, such as its triumphal arch of Sergius (which inspired the masters Michelangelo and Andrea Palladio), its temple of Augustus and above all its amphitheatre, which is among the six largest in the world. Many Croatian settlements, starting with Poreč and Zadar, were established on the Roman checkerboard plan and their decumanus often remained their main artery. Roads, bridges, large farms, aqueducts and thermal baths are among the treasures left by the Romans that can be admired for example in the archaeological site of Salona (Solin). But the most impressive witness of this Roman presence is of course Diocletian's palace in Split, which, with its 38,000 m2, is the largest ancient building in the country. City within city, it included imperial apartments, military and religious buildings, shops, and its peristyle was the nerve centre of the city.
From the 4th century onwards, and despite the persecutions launched by Diocletian, Christian worship spread, especially on the coast, which was covered with hundreds of churches. Basilicas and cathedrals are also built in most major Roman cities. At that time, the Western Roman Empire was supplanted by the Eastern Roman Empire, whose influence had a profound effect on Croatian religious architecture at that time. The most beautiful Byzantine masterpiece is undoubtedly the Euphrasian Basilica at Poreč, whose harmony and simplicity is admired. This vast episcopal complex consists of a baptistery and a basilica with three naves arranged around an elegant atrium with marble colonnades. Another astonishing witness to this evolution towards Christianity is the Cathedral of St. Domnius in Split erected on the former mausoleum of Diocletian, in the very heart of his palace!From the High Middle Ages to the Romanesque period
At the crossroads of the great powers, Croatia is coveted by the two great Carolingian and Byzantine empires. The Franks and their monumental churches with triple apse were mainly established in Istria and inland, as evidenced by the remains of the Church of the Holy Saviour at the source of Cetina. The Byzantines, on the other hand, are more present on the coast and in the islands. Their religious buildings are characterized by their rotundas as in the Holy Trinity of Split. Sometimes these two influences come together as in the church of St. Donatus in Zadar. Its ambulatory and three apses are in Carolingian style, while its rotunda giving access to lateral annexes is of Byzantine inspiration. At this time, monastic orders also developed and endowed the country with numerous monasteries and oratories.
The transition to Romanesque art is made through a style that could be described as "Old Croatian", based on the reuse of ancient materials and techniques and on local know-how, which is reflected in superb chiselled stone and mosaic decorations with interlacing and scrolls. During the Romanesque period, the early Christian basilicas were rebuilt and decorated in Lombard, Tuscan and Venetian colours. The Church of St. Chrysogon of Zadar, with its superb crypt and nave with its rhythmic columns and beamed pillars, bears the Tuscan mark; while the bell tower of St. Mary, with its capitals supporting warhead vaults, is Lombard. The St. Lawrence Cathedral in Trogir is one of the most beautiful masterpieces of Romanesque art, thanks in particular to the portal sculpted by the great sculptor Radovan. Strategically located, the Adriatic coast is highly coveted, especially by the powerful Venice, which will make its mark in many cities that are experiencing a real boom. The Saint Mark's lion then decorated the facades of municipal buildings and other loggias built around public squares.From the Gothic to the Renaissance
The first Gothic appears as early as the 13th century and finds its most beautiful realization in the cathedral of Zagreb, rebuilt on a plan reminiscent of that of the cathedral of Troyes. The monastic orders - Cistercian and Franciscan in particular - contributed to the development of this style, which can be seen especially in the portal of the cathedral of Zadar and in the altar of the cathedral of St. Domnius in Split. In Porec, civil Gothic architecture is developing. Among the most beautiful witnesses are the Goticka Kuca, a house with columned windows, the House of the Two Saints, and above all the Nation Square with its town hall standing on an elegant Gothic lodge.
The Renaissance was marked by the advent of a Dalmatian school of architecture which advocated the integrity of the material (no colours, same stone used inside and outside) and unity between architecture and decoration (which must be sculpted on the very elements of the building), while at the same time devising an innovative new method of assembly without mortar. The construction of the Šibenik Cathedral, which began in the Gothic period, was continued according to its principles by George the Dalmatian (whose incredible string of 72 carved heads can also be admired) and completed by Nicholas the Florentine (who was already the originator of the superb Lion Gate in the flowery Gothic style). It is to the latter that we also owe the Chapel of Blessed John of Trogir and its incredible sculptural ensemble. This Gothic-Renaissance mixture is very visible in Dubrovnik's Sponza Palace with its Renaissance arcades and pediment and its flamboyant Gothic first floor. In Dubrovnik, however, the ideals of the Renaissance are most evident in the elegant villas built by nobles and merchants. Far from the tumult of the city, the cultivated man withdraws there to commune with the very present nature. Indeed, a true art of gardening is developing. Enclosed by walls, they are home to a variety of species and are true oases of calm.
The Renaissance was also a period marked by the constant pressure of the Ottoman Empire, which coveted the Croatian lands. Many fortresses were built according to well-defined principles: square plan with cylindrical towers, thicker and lower walls to resist artillery, presence of platforms to support the cannons. Ston has one of the longest fortifications in Europe (forty towers, five fortresses). But one of the most remarkable defensive architectures is above all to be seen at the Veliki-Tabor Castle, which has five monumental semicircular towers and three floors of Tuscan arcades, opening onto an oval courtyard.Baroque Croatia
Total art, the Baroque intervenes as much on architecture as on urbanism. It was at this time that the fortified city of Osijek was created from scratch, in the image of the great strongholds of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under whose influence Croatia now finds itself. Dubrovnik also bears the mark of the baroque. Affected by an earthquake in 1667, its Gothic and Renaissance palaces were replaced by Baroque creations, such as on the Stradun ("main street" in Venetian), whose architectural unity can be admired with its white limestone facades. The Baroque was to be widely disseminated by the Jesuits, then in the midst of the battle of the Counter-Reformation. To build their buildings, they call upon Italian or Austrian artists who put their mark on them, as in the Cathedral of St Catherine in Zagreb or the Cathedral of the Assumption in Varaždin, a city considered the capital of the Baroque period. Stuccoes, gilded carvings and twisted columns are used in abundance. In Dubrovnik, the Italian Andrea Pozzo erected the Church of St. Ignatius, one of the most beautiful Baroque complexes on the coast. Pilgrimage churches also develop, such as the Church of St. Mary of Jerusalem in Trški Vrh. Its bell tower, with its numerous offsets and its bulb in full motion, as well as its monumental nave and domes make it a masterpiece of the Baroque. The clever interplay of convex and concave lines is one of the great characteristics of this style.
From neoclassicism to modernism
The 19th century marked an urban renewal in Croatia. Numerous fortifications are dismantled and replaced by promenades and gardens, while the hearts of the cities are equipped with new municipal and cultural buildings. This is particularly the case in Zagreb, where the lower city is being built around Milan Lenuci's "horseshoe", a series of U-shaped green spaces lined with imposing public buildings such as the National Theatre and the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences. This urban transformation is accompanied by a powerful historicist current which is reflected in the appearance of "neo" styles. The neoclassical style is led by the architect Bartol Felbinger, to whom we owe many mansions and the palace of Baron Vrkljan in Janusevec, near Zagreb, whose facade decorated with Atlanteans and the vast loggia on columns can be admired. As for Herman Bollé, he will develop an eclectic style, of which the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb is the masterpiece. The result of modern town planning and a neo-Renaissance style, it impresses by its monumental dimensions, its enclosure designed like a rampart and its interior populated with arched arches and columns that stretch out to infinity.
The beginning of the 20th century will be marked by the Vienna Secession. The Austrian version of Art Nouveau, this style is marked by a more systematic use of geometric forms. Among the great achievements in the Secession style are the buildings on the Avenue of Europe in Osijek, including the Urania cinema with its geometric floral motifs, and above all the functional but richly decorated building of the National Archives in Zagreb, designed by Rudolf Lubynski. Viktor Kovačić, a disciple of the Viennese Otto Wagner (famous for his use of pure lines and geometric volumes), close to the Secession style, will gradually slide towards modernism. Breaking with the historicism of the previous century, it advocates functional architecture and is interested in new building materials such as reinforced concrete, as evidenced by the pure forms of the Zagreb Stock Exchange. But the most striking witnesses of this modernist trend are the Pferferrmann and Krauss villas, built in the 1930s. The first with its smooth surfaces and straight roof is characteristic of radical functionalism. The second, largely influenced by the work of Le Corbusier, placed on its narrow pillars, seems to be levitating.Since 1945
At the end of the war, the architects of the Zagreb school tried to synthesize functionalist and organic currents, creating Croatian architecture based on strong personal expression. But it is difficult to get out of the heavy formal and collectivist codes of socialism. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, by the architect Igor Franić (1954), was one of the few major public projects completed during this period. In the 1960s, Novi Zagreb came out of the ground. The creation of this new city was largely influenced by Le Corbusier's modernist principles.
Today, a new Croatian architectural scene is taking shape. While seeking to break the formal straitjacket of previous decades, she nonetheless retains a deep attachment to the past, which she reinvents through innovative and often very minimalist works. The leader of this new scene is Nikola Bašić from Zadar. All his work is linked to the memory of the nation and respect for heritage and the environment. Its key words: continuity, contextuality and communication. In all his creations, he thus uses white stone, so inseparable from the history of the country (the famous white limestone quarries of Brač have been used since Antiquity). It is to him that we owe the Notre-Dame-du-Carmel chapel in Okit, whose minimalism makes direct reference to early Christian churches. He is also responsible for the Field of the Cross on the island of Kornat, a tribute to the soldiers of fire who perished in the "Kornati tragedy" in 2007. These crosses, 25 m long and 15 m wide, were built by hand, without machinery, using traditional dry-stone walling techniques. But its most beautiful realization remains the development of the port of Zadar. There he designed two urban facilities that are unique in the world. On the one hand, Les Orgues maritimes operate thanks to tubes housed under the monumental steps, which produce music that varies according to the changing intensity of the sea's movements. On the other, Salute to the Sun uses solar energy to animate a circle on the ground, 22 m in diameter. At nightfall, the circle reflects a play of light beams of many colours. A beautiful chromatic and ecological work! The Zagreb-based architectural firm 3HLD is also very prolific. He was responsible for the Rijek Memorial Bridge, a pedestrian walkway symbolizing the nation's path to independence; but also for the V2 House, a superb villa designed to maximize openings to the ocean, the Karlovac freshwater aquarium almost buried in the grass, and the elegant seaside layout in Rovinj. Another amazing villa not to be missed is Villa Gumno in Krk. Geometrical and minimalist, it impresses in particular by its astonishing terrace all in angles overhanging the entrance of the house. We can also mention the Issa Megaron villa of the PROARH agency for its originality. This concrete residence literally melts into the hills of the island of Vis, embedded in the old stone walls. Its roofs and terraces have been covered with stones and plants to perfect the camouflage. A house not unlike some primitive habitats.
Contemporary architecture that underlines the richness of the past and also opens the country resolutely towards the future!
