De Piennes Family Mausoleum

architects Hugo Ehrilch, Viktor Kovačić
project Marquis de Piennes Mausoleum, Vrbovec, Croatia
written by Alan Kostrenčić

 

All memories fade away in the end.
Then, only dreams are left.
And because they are all we have,
We confide our life’s worries to them...

Philippe Forest

 

 

Thanatos[1] is a demon in Greek mythology who personified death. He was the son of Nyx[2] (Night) and Erebus[3] (Darkness) and twin brother of Hypnos (Dream). Fear of death, of the demon Thanatos, created the need to defeat this death. Much, much later, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, Sigmund Freud contrasted Eros[4] to Thanatos. Eros represents the will for life, and Thanatos the opposite desire for death. Nevertheless, these two passions (one towards life and the other towards everything that is destructive) have always gone hand in hand through the history of man. 



[1] Θάνατος – (Ancient Greek) – death

[2] Νύξ – (Ancient Greek) Night – the goddess of night

[3] Ἔρεβος – (Ancient Greek) – deep darkness or shadow, the god of darkness, the son of Chaos, married to his sister Nyx

[4] Eρως – (Ancient Greek) – Eros – the god of love, but also perceived as ‘life force’