Byzantine revival as national style in Croatian architecture 1910–1945

Abstract

While the Neo-Byzantine style was in 19th-century architecture in Croatia exclusively used for architectural projects funded by the Serbian Orthodox Church, in the period shortly before the WWI, it also started to be used in the architecture of the Catholic Church. The crucial role in spreading the use of the style was played by the pioneer of Croatian modernist architecture Viktor Kovačić and his design for St Blasius’ Church in Zagreb (1910–1913). Neo-Byzantine appeared primary due to ideological and political reasons, because it served as a reference to the period of Croatian political independence in the early Middle Ages. Croatia was then a province within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy that was striving for greater autonomy or even independence. During the 1920s the Neo-Byzantine style emerged again in Croatian church architecture, primarily owing to architect Stjepan Podhorsky who applied the style in his numerous church building designs, including the large memorial church in Duvno (present Tomislavgrad in Bosnia-Herzegovina). The church was built in relation to the millennial celebration of the Croatian kingdom (925–1925), sponsored by the Karađorđević dynasty of the newly formed state of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes/Kingdom of Yugoslavia, that Croatia became part of in 1918.