SAINT-BONAVENTURE CATHEDRAL

Stunningly modern, this Catholic cathedral (Katedrala Svetog Bonaventure/Катедрала Светог Бонавентуре) is one of the best examples of religious architecture inherited from the socialist period in Bosnia and Herzegovina along with the White Mosque in Visoko. Seat of the Catholic diocese of Banja Luka, it is dedicated to the Italian saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, minister general of the Franciscans, who died in Lyon in 1274. It was built on the site of the former cathedral of the same name (1887), which was destroyed in the 1969 earthquake. Completed in 1973, it is the major work of the Zagreb architect Ljubo Matasović (1928-1997). Damaged during the last war, it was restored in 2001. The huge roof of the church is reminiscent of a pagoda. In fact, it was designed as a tent. The reference is double. First, it is an evocation of the suffering endured by the population of Banja Luka, who for months after the 1969 earthquake were forced to live in tents. It is also an allusion to the tabernacle that housed the Ark of the Covenant. Very bright, the interior was painted by the great Dubrovnik artist Ivo Dulčić (1916-1975), shortly before his death. Added in 1991, the belfry is the most surprising part. This rough concrete tower stands 42 m high and houses 5 bells, one of which weighs over a ton. Often compared to a "television tower", it has a remarkable spiral staircase that perfects its futuristic look. The top still bears the traces of the damage caused by the Bosnian-Serbian army in 1992.

Nearby. In the courtyard of the cathedral, a series of buildings of various styles house the premises of the Catholic diocese of Banja Luka. It was here that Pope John Paul II was received in 2003. Opposite, in the former House of the Yugoslav Army (1953), sits the National Assembly of the Bosnian Serb Republic. Behind the north wall of the cathedral are the empty workshops of Fabrika Duvana ("tobacco factory"), founded in 1888 and closed in 2018. On the east side, the Catholic complex adjoins the Serbian Orthodox eparchy of Banja Luka with the Church of the Holy Trinity (1969), which served as a model for the current Cathedral of Christ the Savior. On the way back to the city center, we pass the archives of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia, housed since 1992 in a pastel yellow Austro-Hungarian building from 1883, nicknamed the "imperial house".