engleski

“RICORDO PER L’INAUGURAZIONE DELLA PUBLICA MONUMENTALE FONTANA FRANCESCO GIUSEPPINA”: THE FOUNTAIN OF EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEF I IN RIJEKA

After the revolutionary year of 1848, Emperor Franz Josef I quickly established his power and, through the abolition of the Habsburg Constitution, enabled the introduction of imperial absolutism in December 1851. Accordingly, in 1852 he undertook a great tour throughout the Empire to secure stronger affection from his subjects. In November he visited Croatia and Slavonia, as well as a part of Lombardy. After his stay in Varaždin and Zagreb, the Emperor arrived to Rijeka on 7 November, where he was welcomed with the highest honours. To commemorate this imperial visit to Rijeka, the representatives of the newly established Chamber of Commerce and Industry sent a proposal to the city authorities to raise a monumental fountain with a marble statue of Emperor Franz Josef I. Shortly thereafter, the councillors accepted this idea, and after they received the approval from Vienna, it was decided that the task of erecting the fountain, as well as of carving the marble sculpture of the emperor, would be assigned to the trained sculptor Pietro Stefanutti (1819– 1858) from Rijeka. e Francesco-Giuseppine fountain was completed during the first months of 1857 and on 24 April, the ceremony of its unveiling was held. Unfortunately, the fountain was removed in 1874 due to new traffic regulations. Of the original monument, only the marble statue of the Emperor has been preserved, and it is now kept in the State Archives in Rijeka. The aim of this paper is to retrace the circumstances of the construction of the Fountain of Emperor Franz Josef I, as well as to present the protocol of its unveiling on grounds of archival documents. e paper will also try to assess the importance of the forgotten Venetian- trained sculptor Pietro Stefanutti in the context of Rijeka’s sculptural production during the first half of the 19th century through hitherto unknown documents and newly attributed works.

Franz Joseph I, Pietro Stefanutti, Rijeka, fountain

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