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THE HISTORY OF THE COMPLEX
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The Most Holy Redeemer Church is Ivan Mestrovic’s family
vault and, informally, Mestrovic’s mausoleum. It is
situated on a hill above Petar’s field near Otavice
in Dalmatinska Zagora, Ivan Mestrovic’s home region
where his parents’ family house is still standing. The
basic guidelines and the concept of the building were
set by Ivan Mestrovic himself, who was also the investor
(the Drnis Municipality gave him the land as a present).
Mestrovic, who had already had the experience of building
the Racic Mausoleum in Cavtat, successfully integrated
in the project his wishes, intimate needs, creative
potential, and experience. He intended the complex to
combine memorial, artistic, and sacral qualities. The
construction is formally and architectonically marked
by certain elements of the antique tradition (it is
a kind of central tomb construction – mausoleum) and
secession (gesamtkunstwerk), but it shows a clear tendency
towards modern, formally and functionally clear architecture.
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The
building works lasted from 1926 to 1931 and the equipping
of the construction (door, bell, reliefs, interior and
exterior design, the church inventory) continued until
1937. The chapel has remained unfinished (the ichnographic
and visual design of the dome have not been created
yet). The building works and the proposed plan were
carried out by the architects Harold Bilinic and Lavoslav
Horvat and the builder Marin Marasovic. The material
used for the building of the Church was Croatian stone,
mostly limestone and siltstone, both sorts taken from
the local mountain of Svilaja. The chapel floor with
a multicoloured geometric pattern was set in 1935 and
is also made of Croatian stones: the black stone of
Lika and the red and yellow stone of Kotor. However,
drab green stone from Belgium was also used for the
floor, while the window holes were closed with onyx
boards. |
The basic layout is octagonal with an inscribed cross and topped
with a dome. The entrance is in the northwest and the windows
are placed on the north and south protrusions. Outer height
and width with protrusions both amount to 13.30 m and the main
inner axes are 9 metres long. The inner height from the floor
to the cornice is 6.90 m and 4.70 m from the cornice till the
dome crown. Two important elements determining the function
of the whole object, the altar and the crypt (a special place
where the remains of the dead are stored), are arranged in such
a way that the central area is left empty, emphasised only by
the illumination system - the side windows and openings in the
dome. |
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The altar is placed in a niche and the crypt is below
the chapel floor. The sepulchral slab on the floor
is without any inscription. Inside the building, there
are alternating rectangular and semicircular niches
with stone reliefs depicting Biblical themes. Mestrovic
decorated the outer side of the entrance door with
bronze
reliefs - portraits of the family members.
As stated in the contract of donation, concluded
in 1952 between Ivan Mestrovic and the People’s Republic
of Croatia, The Most Holy Redeemer Church - the Mestrovic
family vault became a part of Ivan Mestrovic’s legacy
(and so did the buildings in Zagreb and Split). According
to the definition stated in the contract, the building
was supposed to function as a church destined for
the service (in the Old Slavic), the burial place
of the Mestrovic family members, and a public place
open to visitors. The Church and the surrounding land
were declared a memorial natural monument and in 1967
they were protected by the Cultural Heritage Protection
Law as an immovable cultural monument. The building
was under the jurisdiction of the Muzej Drniske Krajine
(the Drnis Region Museum) until 1991. The Ivan Mestrovic
Foundation was founded in 1991 by the Ivan Mestrovic
Foundation Law. The same Law made The Most Holy
Redeemer Church an integral part of the Foundation.
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During the Croatian Independence War (1991-1995), the Church
was on the occupied territory and it served as a military base
to the occupation army, which damaged it severely. Apart from
mechanical damage to the reliefs, walls, and alabaster boards
on the windows, all movable inventories disappeared (including
the bronze reliefs), the surrounding land was mined, and the
forest was set on fire and destroyed. Testimonies of destruction
were presented to the public through the photo-documentary exhibition
Traces of Violence (Split, 1996). By 1998, the land
was cleared of mines, the surrounding area was cleaned, and
the damaged parts of the monument were cleaned and restored. |
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