The Votive Temple at Kozala - Dialogical Eclecticism of the Thirties

architect Bruno Angheben 
project The St. Romualdo's an the All Saints' Church, Rijeka, Croatia
written by Berislav Valušek

 

The St. Romualdo’s and the All Saints’ Church (or the Votive Temple) at Kozala in Rijeka, by the Rijeka architect Bruno Angheben, have been the main issue of the dispute between the art and architecture historians over several years. Whereas some (mainly Zagreb colleagues) totally deny its value, calling it a misunderstanding of the modern architecture, the others (mainly art historians from Rijeka) regard it as a small masterpiece which has written one of the missing but significant pages of the Croatian architectural history.

 

A lot has been written about the Votive Temple  and discussed even more, but it has almost always been considered in the context of modern architecture, mainly within that section which is related to Italian Rationalism at the end of the twenties and the thirties. This type of misunderstanding on the level of theoretical deliberations has resulted in negating any form-creating qualities of this building.