Viktor Axmann (given name: Vladoje Aksmanović; 29 August 1878,

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

– 3 March 1946,

Valpovo Valpovo is a town in Slavonia, Croatia. It is close to the Drava river, northwest of Osijek. As of 2021, the population of Valpovo is 7,406, with a total of 11,563 in the municipality. Name In Hungarian the town is known as ''Valpó'' and in ...

, Croatia) was a Croatian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He spent most of his life in Osijek, but he died in 1946 in a

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

labor camp in Valpovo. He finished the

Technical College An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Afterwards, he specialized in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, where he got in touch with contemporary ideas of urban architecture of

Josef Hoffman Josef Hoffmann (15 December 1870 – 7 May 1956) was an Austrian- Moravian architect and designer. He was among the founders of Vienna Secession and co-establisher of the Wiener Werkstätte. His most famous architectural work is the Stoclet Pa ...

Otto Wagner Otto Koloman Wagner (; 13 July 1841 – 11 April 1918) was an Austrian architect, furniture designer and urban planner. He was a leading member of the Vienna Secession movement of architecture, founded in 1897, and the broader Art Nouveau mo ...

, and

Camillo Sitte Camillo Sitte (17 April 1843 – 16 November 1903) was an Austrian architect, painter and urban theorist whose work influenced urban planning and land use regulation. Today, Sitte is best remembered for his 1889 book, ''City Planning According to ...

. In 1905, he became a construction entrepreneur in Osijek, where he built numerous

secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

-style buildings. His most important work of that period was the Urania Cinema (built-in 1912),Anne Teffo ''Croatie'' 2009 - Page 325 "Construit en 1912 sur les plans de l'architecte Viktor Axmann, il a toujours conservé sa vocation placée devant la Chambre des communes à Londres) et qui a réalisé à Osijek le Monument aux victimes du fascisme, sur la place Ljudevit Gaj." for which he received a prestigious award at the 1st International Cinema Exhibition in Vienna. After

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 ...

he gradually abandoned the secession in favor of

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. In that period, he built numerous architecturally important buildings in Osijek, such as the Apprentices' Dormitory (, built in 1923), Workers' Insurance Office (''Ispostava urea za osiguranje radnika'', also 1923), two pavilions of the Osijek Hospital (''Osječka bolnica'', 1925), House of Falcons (''Sokolski dom'', 1928), Boarding School (''Đački dom'', 1929), the palace of the County Office of Workers' Insurance (''Okružni ured za osiguranje radnika'', 1936, co-projected with D. Špiller and J. Kastl) and Office of the Matches' Factory "Drava" Pension Fund (''Dom mirovinske zaklade tvornice žigica "Drava"'', 1940). Axmann was also involved in

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

. He tried to add modern ideas of spatial planning to organize the Osijek metropolitan area. In that spirit, he created a series of plans. In 1906, he projected new streets in the heart of Osijek. Under Wagner's influence, in 1908, he projected Osijek's main square and

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

. The same year he attended the 8th International Congress of Architects in Vienna. Aside from Axmann, the Club of Croatian Architects sent his representatives to the congress. However, Axmann's application to join the club had been denied two years before. In 1910, he projected the Sakuntala Park. Aside from urban planning and architecture, Axmann also wrote about the urban problems of Osijek in the Gazette of the Croatia Society of Engineers and Architects.

References

Sources

* Ambruš, Viktor: ''Osijek na prijelazu u 20. stoljeće'' (''Transition of Osijek into the 20th century''). ''Peristil'', № 31/32, DPU,

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, 1988/89 * Ambruš, Viktor: ''Razvoj grada Osijeka na prijelazu iz 19. stoljeća u 20. stoljeće'' (''The evolution of the city of Osijek during the period between 19th and 20th century''). ''Secesija slobodnog i kraljevskog grada Osijeka'',

HAZU The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

, Osijek, 2001 * Ivanković M., Grgur: ''Secesijska arhitektura u Slavoniji i sjevernoj Hrvatskoj'' (''Secession architecture in Slavonia and northern Croatia''). ''Secesija u Hrvatskoj'' (exhibition in

Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb The Museum of Arts and Crafts () in Zagreb, Croatia, was established in 1880, by the initiative of the Arts Society and its former President Izidor Kršnjavi. Drawing on the theoretical precepts of England's Arts and Crafts movement and the intel ...

), 2003

Bibliography

ESSEKERI http://essekeri.hr/bio/59-viktor-axmann * {{DEFAULTSORT:Axmann, Viktor 1878 births 1946 deaths People from Osijek Croatian Jews Jews from Austria-Hungary Croatian Austro-Hungarians Croatian architects Technical University of Munich alumni Burials at Saint Anne Cemetery Architects from Austria-Hungary Yugoslav architects