XX. századi műemlékek és védelmük (A 26. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1996 Eger, 1996)

Előadások: - Damjan Prelovšek: Joze (Josip, Jusep) Plečnik (Ljubljana, 1892. jan. 23-1957. jan.7)

DAMJAN PRELOVSEK Joze (Josip, Josef) PLECNIK (Ljubljana, January 23,1872—January 7,1957) was born in the family of a cabinet-maker Andrej Plecnik at Gradisce, a suburb of Ljubljana. Although he was fond of painting, his father intended him to take over his trade, while his two brothers continued their studies: the elder, Andrej, became a priest, the younger, Janez, a physician. After leaving grammar school before graduation, in 1888 — supported by a state scholarship — Plecnik entered the joiners' department at the School of Applied Arts in Graz; in his free time he helped Prof. L. Theyer by drawing plans for the renovation of the Graz ,,

Ringstrasse". When Plecnik's father died, L. Müller took the young man to Vienna in 1892, where the latter then designed furniture and supervised the production in Müller's big furniture factory until 1894. He decided to study architecture only after he had been rejected by the School of Applied Arts at the Austrian Museum of Arts and Industry. Although he lacked any proper education, he was accepted by 0. Wagner into the latter's master class at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, on the basis of his extraordinary talent as a draughtsman. To make up for his poor education, he practised drawing in his teacher's private studio in 1894/95, and he graduated from the school in the spring of 1898 with a diploma project that won him the so-called ,,Rome prize". From November 1898 to June 1899 he travelled through Italy and France. After his return, he worked for a few months with Wagner on the project of the metropolitan underground before he set up his own practice. In 1901 he joined the Secession Association where he was an active member until he resigned in 1909. His collaboration with the factory owner J. E. Zacherl brought Plecnik even closer to the ideas of Christian Socialism, and after the split in the Secession in 1905 he organized in the rooms of the Association an exhibition of modern sacred art to which he also invited Benedictine artists from Beuron in Germany. Lacking any business sense, he was forced to accept a professorship at the Prague School of Applied Arts, where he was invited by his Czech colleague J. Kotëra. His departure to Prague at the beginning of 1911 also spared him from the increasing German nationalistic pressure in the Monarchy's capital. For the next ten years Plecnik was focused almost entirely on his school activities and made no projects. He also turned down two offers for professorship, one from Berlin and another from Belgrade. Meanwhile, the successor to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, whose artistic views were conservative, prevented Plecnik in 1912 and 1913, respectively, from succeeding 0. Wagner at the Vienna Academy of Arts. Plecnik managed to awaken his students' interest in traditional and folk architecture. After World War I his school won general recognition; its pinnacle was reached in the competition for the parish church in the Prague suburb, Vinohrady, in 1919, when two of Plecnik's students won the top places. When a new international style gained ground, Plecnik moved to Ljubljana in 1921 where he had accepted a professorship the year before at the newly established Technical High School. He organized the teaching of architecture in the form of a ,,master school", such as he himself attended with 0. Wagner and also later in Prague. To attach his students even more firmly to the