engleski

Regulating Zagreb City Center in the Long 19th Century – Politics of Monumentalization at the Bor-ders of Austro-Hungarian Empire

One of the main challenges in 19th-century urban planning in (Central) European cities was how to create a connection between old and new urban districts. In most cases, problems arose with the wish to preserve, at least partially, old monuments while trying to adapt old neighbourhoods to a new way of life, to bring them into accord with new aesthetic principles and connect them as suitably as possible to new city districts. Similar problems are discernible in 19th-century Zagreb. This paper will focus on attempts to regulate Ban Jelačić Square, Zagreb’s most central area, whose urban plans, from the first one created in 1865 to those dating from the early 20th century will be contextualised with similar projects in Vienna, Budapest, Prague and other Central European Cities. The present appearance of Ban Jelačić Square dates almost entirely from the 19th and early 20th century. It is situated at the juncture of Zagreb’s historical centre (Kaptol and Vlaška Street) and the new city district built in the 19th century (Lower Town). On the one hand, Zagreb’s urban planners tried to monumentalize this part of the city as much as possible, while on the other, they wanted to establish the best possible connection between the square and the older, northern parts of the city (Kaptol and Vlaška Street). Since parts of Kaptol and Vlaška Street adjoining Ban Jelačić Square were highly derelict, almost all urban plans envisaged tear-ing down the largest number of residential buildings and creating open squares and broad streets. In addition to traffic and hygiene, the main reason of these demolitions was to emphasize the monumentality of the key historical monuments in Kaptol, namely the cathedral and the archbishop’s residence, by “freeing” them from the neighbouring, modest structures. However, a shortage of funds allowed only a limited number of plans to be realised and the regulatory issues in connection to Ban Jelačić Square have remained in part unresolved to the present day.

Zagreb, Ban Jelačić Square, Historicism, Urban Development, State and Architecture

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