Revitalization of a City’s Core: Visually Marking National and Orthodox Christian Identity Through the Institutional Buildings in Novi Sad

Abstract

AbstractThis paper is about the reconstruction of three historical buildings in Novi Sad at the beginning of the twentieth century. The town was founded by the Orthodox people, mostly Serbs, who fled from the Ottoman-ruled Balkans to the Habsburg territories in 1690 and throughout the eighteenth century. After gaining national and religious autonomy, the Serbian people raised a cathedral church dedicated to Saint George in the center of Novi Sad. A Bishop’s Palace was built next to the church, as well as the first elementary school, which later became The First Orthodox Gymnasium. These three buildings represented a core of the Orthodox part of the city, and since the Church dignitaries were the main representatives of the Orthodox people before the Emperor and other state authorities, Novi Sad soon became the religious, political, cultural, and educational nucleus of the Serbian people in this Catholic country. It was called Serbian Athens. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the new Hungarian government began a process of Hungarization—a forced assimilation of non-Hungarian people—in order to preserve the unity of the Hungarian nation and territory. The authorities ordered the demolition of the Serbian Gymnasium in Novi Sad because the building was old, which Serbian people viewed as an attack on their religion, national identity, culture, and education. As the Cathedral church building was also old, the Serbs decided to rebuild these two important buildings, and to build a new, magnificent Bishop’s Palace. Since these three buildings were among the most important buildings for Serbian people in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, their representative rebuilding was a matter of freedom, reputation, and honor. The great importance that reflected in these buildings led to their representative architectural appearance influenced by official political ideology. This paper explains why the Church administration intentionally invited two famous architects, Vladimir Nikolić and Herman Bolle, already proven in designing in Neoclassical and Neo-Byzantine styles. The façade of a building designed in Neo-Byzantine style had to have the recognizable elements of medieval Serbian churches, since it was believed the Middle Ages were the Golden age of the Serbian nation. National and religious identity was also expressed in icons, wall paintings, and stained-glass windows inside the temple. The national significance of the architectural and the artistic ensemble is recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, which is now financing the research and the digitization of its treasures, through the project The artistic and archive treasure of Cathedral of Saint George in Novi Sad (kultura.rs).KeywordsNovi SadSaint George’s CathedralBishop’s PalaceGymnasiumOrthodox churchSerbian identityHistorical architectureSerbian saintsHistory paintingsNeo-Byzantine architectureNeoclassical architecture