architects Dino Krizmanić, Leonid Zuban
project Church of st. Anne, Rijeka, Croatia
written by Ana Ćurić

 

Recently completed Church of Saint Anne in Rijeka's neighbourhood of Gornja Vežica—a project designed by Urbis d.o.o., an architectural office from Pula (Dino Krizmanić and Leonid Zuban)—is a part of the urban unit of the neighbourhood's centre: the church is harboured in between the multifunctional Croatian Centre Vežica, which also functioned as the parish gathering prior to the construction of the church, and a city park adjunct to the local school. Both in its dimensions and in its formal ambitions, Saint Anne occupies an important place not just in the panoramic fabric of the city, but in the recent history of Croatian sacred architecture, which is marked by hiatuses, ideological and professional misunderstandings, formal and stylistic delays, and also many successful realisations. It is a contextually bold abstraction in the times of a renewed ascent of Neo-Classicist tendencies and general ecclesial discussions about the proper architectural understanding and interpretation of the liturgical reforms in the 20th century.