St. Nicholas Croatian Church is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in

Millvale, Pennsylvania Millvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Allegheny River, opposite Pittsburgh. The borough is located off Pennsylvania Route 28. The population was 3,376 at the 2020 census. Current estimates place the ...

, US within the Diocese of Pittsburgh. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. It is noted for its

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s by

Maxo Vanka Maksimilijan "Maxo" Vanka (May 11, 1889 – February 2, 1963) was a Croatian-American artist. He is best known for the series of murals he completed in 1937 and 1941 at St. Nicholas Croatian Church in Millvale, Pennsylvania. Biography Early ...

, painted in 1937 and 1941, such as ''Immigrant Mother Raises Her Sons for American Industry'' and ''The Capitalist''. ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' in 1937 described the murals as "one of the few distinguished sets of church murals in the U. S." St. Nicholas remains an active

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the Diocese of Pittsburgh as of 2023. In 2019 it was reorganized as a personal (non-territorial) parish within the Shrines of Pittsburgh, a grouping of six churches with unique histories which the diocese hoped to promote as pilgrimage and visitor destinations.

History

The church was established in 1900 following a bitter split from the similarly named St. Nicholas Croatian Church about downriver on East Ohio Street in Troy Hill. The cornerstone was laid for the new church in July 1900 and it was completed in November of the same year. The building was designed in the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

style by Pittsburgh architect

Frederick C. Sauer Frederick C. Sauer (1860,''Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County'' by James D. Van Trump and Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr., page 161 (1967, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ) Heidelberg, Grand Duchy of Baden � ...

and cost about $34,000 in total.

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

donated a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

which was installed in 1902. In 1921, the church burned down, believed to be the result of

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

. Sauer was again contracted to prepare plans for a replacement church, which was basically a pared-down version of his original design. This current church building was dedicated on May 30, 1922. After the rebuilding of the church, the parish had a debt of almost $100,000. The pastor of the other St. Nicholas parish in Troy Hill, Albert Zagar, had been successful in clearing the debt there, so in 1931 he was transferred to St. Nicholas in Millvale. By 1937, he had paid off most of the debt and decided to put some money toward decorating the church. Seeking an artist who would understand the cultural background of the parish, he approached the well connected Slovene-American writer

Louis Adamic Louis Adamic (; March 23, 1898 – September 4, 1951) was a Slovene American, Slovene-American author and translator, mostly known for writing about and advocating for ethnic diversity of the United States. Background Louis Adamic wa ...

, who recommended his friend Maksimilijan "Maxo" Vanka. Vanka, a former professor at the

Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb The Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb ( or ALU) is a Croatian art school based in Zagreb. It is one of the three art academies affiliated with the University of Zagreb, along with the Academy of Dramatic Art (ADU) and the Academy of Music (MUZA). T ...

, had struggled to find work since immigrating to the United States and happily accepted the commission to create murals for the church. Vanka painted the first set of murals from April to June, 1937, working every day until 2 or 3 in the morning. During this time, he became convinced that the church was haunted by a ghostly, black-robed figure, which Adamic later wrote about in a piece for ''

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'' titled ''The Millvale Apparition''. Nevertheless, he completed the murals on schedule. Although Vanka had "upset tradition in his introduction of labor scenes... within the sacred precincts of a church", the murals were met with acclaim from the press as well as church officials. As a result, Vanka was invited back to complete a second set of murals in 1941. The later murals were dedicated on November 16, 1941. With

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

then raging in Europe, these murals featured much more overtly anti-war subject matter than the earlier ones. With the completion of the full set of murals, the ''

Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'', formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'', was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for over a century, from 1884 to 1992. At the height of its popul ...

'' wrote that the artwork would "put

he church He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

near the top of the 'must list' of places to see in the Pittsburgh district", while the '' Sun-Telegraph'' wrote that Vanka and Zagar were "tossing the dogmas of religious art into the ash-can". Vanka himself described the murals as "my contribution to America".

Murals

A total of 25

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

murals by

are painted on the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

, walls, and ceiling of the church, covering a total area of approximately . Vanka painted the first set of murals in 1937 and added the rest in 1941. The subject matter of the murals includes a combination of traditional religious imagery and social themes related to the

Croatian American Croatian Americans or Croat Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Croatian ancestry. In 2012, there were 414,714 American citizens of Croat or Croatian descent living in the United States as per revised 2010 United States Census ...

experience, such as war, injustice, and exploitation of workers. The apse and ceiling vaults are decorated in the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

tradition, with an image of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

Queen of Heaven Queen of Heaven () is a title given by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy, to Mary, mother of Jesus, and, to a lesser extent, in Anglicanism and Lutheranism. The title has long been a tradition, included in prayers and devotional literat ...

, above the altar and depictions of the

Ascension of Jesus The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate ) is the Christianity, Christian and Islamic belief that Jesus entering heaven alive, ascended to Heaven. Christian doctrine, as reflected in the major Christian creeds and confessional stateme ...

and the

Four Evangelists In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...

on the ceiling. Elsewhere, Vanka included scenes from the Old and

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

s, images of saints, and scenes depicting the Croatian immigrant experience such as ''Immigrant Mother Raises Her Sons for American Industry'', in which a group of Croatian women mourn over a young man killed in a mining accident. Other murals include allegorical depictions of injustice and inequality in America, such as ''The American Capitalist'', in which a wealthy businessman sits before an elaborate meal while ignoring a beggar, and ''Injustice'', which depicts a hooded figure wearing a gas mask and holding a scale in which a loaf of bread is outweighed by gold. Vanka also included strong anti-war imagery, such as a crucified

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

being pierced by a

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

soldier's bayonet, and the Virgin Mary breaking a soldier's rifle. An additional mural behind the altar was created by a different artist, Joko Knezevich, in 1970. The Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka conducts guided tours of the murals on a regular basis. A 2022

Save America’s Treasures Save America's Treasures is a United States federal government initiative to preserve and protect historic buildings, arts, and published works. It is a public–private partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and the National Trust ...

grant to restore the murals was terminated in April 2025 as a result of the Trump administration's elimination of the

Institute of Museum and Library Services The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States federal government established in 1996. It is the main source of federal support for librar ...

, The grant was restored a few weeks later, following lobbying by the Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka and Rep.

Chris Deluzio Christopher Raphael Deluzio (born July 13, 1984) is an American politician, attorney, and former U.S. Navy officer serving as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, ...

.Fallon, Helen. "Federal agency restores grant enabling conservation work on Millvale church’s Maxo Vanka murals." Pittsburgh Union Progress. May 11, 2025.

References

External links

*
St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Parish
Official site
The Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka
Official site, Vanka Murals {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Nicholas Croatian Church Roman Catholic churches in Pennsylvania Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks History of labor relations in the United States Churches in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Croatian-American culture in Pennsylvania Croatian-American history Roman Catholic churches completed in 1922 National Register of Historic Places in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States

History

Murals

See also

References

External links