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Jesus' Heart

Djamila

Bosnjakinja
SARAJEVSKA KATEDRALA - SARAJEVO'S CATHEDRAL
Katedralna Crkva Srca Isusova - Cathedral Church of Jesus' Heart

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The Christian community was growing fast, becoming the main concern of Archbishop Josip Stadler.

On the 5th of June, 1881, he introduced his bill (Ex hac augusta) for renovating regular the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy in Bosnia, in the name of Pope Leon XII. The main offer was to build sufficient numbers of large and impressive cathedrals.

The Sarajevska Katedrala was one of the most ambitious projects, conducted by the newly established Vrhbosanski Archdiocese and Archbishop Stadler himself.

The Archbishop, with government support, managed to obtain assistance from Minister Kallaj. In 1883, the Minister sent to Sarajevo a young architect Josip Vanchas, according to the recommendations of Professor Schmidt from the architecture department at the University of Vienna. It was a second attempt to conduct a sufficient project for the cathedral construction, which was intended initially to dominate the city panorama of Sarajevo.

The first attempt was cancelled due to location and sensitivity to the city's Muslim majority residents. Those were the reasons Vanchas had to choose another location for the project. One of his first offers was to conduct the project in the location where currently the Zemalski Bank is built, however Minister Kallaj denied this officer and came to Sarajevo to choose a more suitable location with Vanchas.

Construction started on the 28th of August in 1884. The project was conducted in compliance with Gothic standards, also bearing some resemblence to contre-forim style. At the same time, the gently curved arches, dimensions and proportions of the cathedral give it a very close to Romanesque look other than to Gothic origins. Edges of the decoration, made of Visoko sandstone, together with rustic limestone walls, contributed more to the churches Bosnian identity.

Church steeples on the south fascade dominate the architectural composition of the cathedral. However, they are somewhat lower in comparrison to the original project, made lower so as to not be taller than the mosque minarets in the city.

The look of the Sarajevo Cathedral interior is similar to the Dame of Dijon Cathedral. The Cathedral is an intergrated monument for which construction went along with decorative works, sculpture and interior design. According the Vanchas' project, the stained glass windows were produced in Innsbruck and carried all the way to Sarajevo on horse-drawn cart.

Viennese sculptor Hausman created statues of Jesus' Heart which are now located on the front fascade. Relief of the House of Trinity in the portal gabl was designed by a Zagreb sculptor Dragan Morak and carved by Ivan Novotni. The inspiration for the wall design came from Djakovo Cathedral, ornaments which were partially copied by artists from Split Josip Volhini and Ivan Betizza.

Alexander Maximillian Seitz used two replicas of the Djakovo Cathedral for the design of the altar. "Preaching on the Mountain" and "Moses accepts commandments" were the designs. These two replicas were created by Alberto de Rohden according to Sietz's sketches.

The cathedral was finished in 1889. Archbishop Stadler, for whom the street behind the Cathedral is named, was burried in the Cathedral in 1918. His portrait, located above the tomb, was created by Marin Sbdin. During the Cathedral's renovations of 1932, another ornamental decorum appeared in the interior. It was completed to resemble Buren's style and created by "Art Workshop of Christian Kammeter, Stuttgart".

In 2005, the Commission for Preserving National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina included the Sarajevska Katedrala on the list of protected national monuments which cannot be modified or changed in any way.​
 
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