Description

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The publication is about the outstanding architectural masterpiece which is the crematorium in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It was built a half of century ago (in 1968) under extremely favorable circumstances. Before that, there was a long battle that started back in 1889 to establish the institution of the crematory. The book presents the history of a modern cremation movement in Europe with the consideration of the long battle of Bratislava City to establish a crematorium, it focuses on international, but also local architectural stimulations, that influenced the architecture of the object. Besides the story of the building itself and the funeral garden, the public will find out about the creative work of the author of the building, architect Ferdinand Milucký, who was a member of the first Slovak postwar architectural generation. The texts of Matúš Dulla in English and Slovak are accompanied by the art photographs of Olja Triaška Stefanovic, that gently capture the changes of crematorium and it's surroundings during different seasons. The book is published on the 50th anniversary of the first Slovak crematory.

About the Author

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Prof. Ing. arch. Matúš Dulla, DrSc. was born in 1950 in Žilina, Slovakia. He is leading historian of the 20th century Slovak architecture. Dulla studied architecture at the Slovak technical university in Bratislava (1974) and received the degree of a professor (2000). He also worked at Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava focusing on the history of architecture of the 20th century and he was Editor-in-Chief of a magazine Architecture & Urbanism. His famous books are Architecture of Slovakia in the 20th Century (2002 with H. Moravcíková) and Architect Emil Belluš (2010) – about the founder of modern architecture in Slovakia. He is the Head of the Department of Architectural Theory and History Faculty of Architecture Czech technical university in Prague. He was awarded many times in Slovakia for his theoretic work.

Praise For…

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„A Ferdinand Milucký´s crematory in Bratislava-Lamac has been perfectly woven into the landscape. Today this ,Gesamtkunstwerk‘ that discreetly accompanies the path of the mourner is considered one of the icons of modernism in Slovakia.“ Benjamin Konrad and Maik Novotny (Austrian architects) „One of the most outstanding buildings of Slovakian post-war architecture is influenced by the ... Scandinavian clarity and open structure of design.“ Benjamin Konrad and Maik Novotny „The great cemetery (and crematory) of Bratislava, inspired by Scandinavian forest cemeteries, stands as one of the most important architectural contributions of Communist-era Eastern Europe.“ Pierre von Meiss, Swiss theoretist of architecture „one of the most important architectural contributions of Communist-era Eastern Europe“. Pierre von Meiss „Covered by a carpet of fallen, crumbling red leaves, the grounds of this winter forest of beech trees are not unlike those of any other beech forest in the world. Here, howewer, they are transformed into a distinct place thanks to the delicate insertion of this snaking bench hosting the urns of departed notables and punctuated by a rostrum awaiting one last homage to the deceased. In he background we can make out the plain, identical tombstones of the common people carefully following the curves of the terrain´s level.“ Pierre von Meiss „specific combination of totalitarian organization and artistic freedom indeed permitted architects to expand their limits and create an individual and conceptionally perfected body works“ Henrieta Moravcíková (Slovak theoretist of architecture) „It is not only a masterpiece of Slovak architecture but of Modernism as a whole.“ Wolfgang Jean Stock, German historian of sacral architecture