Max Fabiani
Encyclopedia
Max Fabiani, was a Slovene-Italian
architect
from the Gorizia region. Together with Ciril Metod Koch
, he introduced the Vienna Secession
style of architecture (a type of Art Nouveau
) in the Slovene Lands
.
origin in the village of Kobdilj
near Štanjel
on the Kras
plateau, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian province of Gorizia and Gradisca
(now in Slovenia
). His father was a farmer and his mother was of an aristocratic family of Tyrolean
origin from Trieste
. His was a wealthy family which could afford to provide a good education for the children. He grew up in a cosmopolitan trilingual environment: besides Italian
, the language of his family, and Slovene, the language of his social environment, he learned German
at a very young age.
He attended elementary school in Kobdilj in his father's house, and the German language Realschule
in Ljubljana
, then moved to Vienna
, where he attended architecture courses at the Vienna University of Technology
. After earning his diploma in 1889, a scholarship enabled him to travel for three years (1892–1894) to Asia Minor
and through most of Europe. When he returned to Vienna, he joined the studio of the architect Otto Wagner
on Wagner's personal invitation, and stayed there until the end of the century. During this period he did not only concentrate his interests on design, but also cultivated his vocation as town planner and passionately devoted himself to teaching.
Fabiani's first large-scale architectural project was the urban plan for the Carniola
n capital Ljubljana
, which was badly damaged by an earthquake in 1895. Fabiani won a competition against the historicist architect Camillo Sitte
, and was chosen by the Ljubljana Town Council as the main urban planner. One of the reasons for this choice was Fabiani was considered by the Slovene Liberal Nationalists
as a Slovene. With the personal sponsorship of the Liberal nationalist mayor of Laibach Ivan Hribar
, Fabiani designed several important buildings in the Carniolan capital, including the Mladika
palace, which is now the seat of the Slovenian Foreign Ministry. His work in Ljubljana helped him to become well-known in the Slovene Lands
, convincing Slovene nationalists in the Austrian Littoral
to entrust him with the design for the National Halls in Gorizia
(1903) and in Trieste
(1904).
In 1917, he was named professor at the University of Vienna
, and in 1919 one of his pupils, Ivan Vurnik
, offered him a teaching position at the newly established University of Ljubljana
, Fabiani however refused the offer, quit the teaching position in Vienna, and decided to settle in Gorizia, which had been annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, thus becoming an Italian citizen. During the 1920s, he coordinated a large scale reconstruction of historical monuments in the areas in the Julian March
that had been devastated by the Battles of the Isonzo
during World War I
.
In late 1935, he accepted the nomination for mayor (podestà) of his native Štanjel by the Fascist regime, for the National Fascist Party
. He remained mayor during World War II
, using his knowledge of German language and his cultural acquaintances to convince the German troops to spare the village from destruction. He also maintained communication with local Yugoslav partisans. Nevertheless, the monumental fortifications part of the village, which he himself had renovated during the 1930s, were eventually destroyed in the fight between the Wehrmacht
and the Slovene partisans.
In 1944, Fabiani relocated back to Gorizia where he lived until his death.
Palace (Ljubljana, 1896), Palace Portois & Fix (Vienna
, 1898), Palace Artaria (Vienna
, 1900), Palace Urania (Vienna)
, the Revenue Office building (Gorizia
, 1903), the Narodni dom in Trieste (1904), the urban development plan for Ljubljana
(1895), the plan for the reconstruction of Gorizia
(1921) and the general urban development plan for Venice
(1952).
- Roma
September 10, 1951.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
from the Gorizia region. Together with Ciril Metod Koch
Ciril Metod Koch
Ciril Metod Koch was a Slovene architect. Together with Max Fabiani, he introduced the Vienna Secession style in the Slovene Lands....
, he introduced the Vienna Secession
Vienna Secession
The Vienna Secession was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian artists who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists, housed in the Vienna Künstlerhaus. This movement included painters, sculptors, and architects...
style of architecture (a type of Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
) in the Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe. It more or less corresponds to modern Slovenia and the adjacent territories in Italy, Austria and Hungary in which autochthonous Slovene minorities live.-...
.
Life
He was born as Maximilian Fabiani in a family of FurlanFriulians
Friulians or Furlans are a linguistic minority living in Italy and elsewhere. About 530,000 of them live in the provinces of Udine and Pordenone and in parts of Gorizia and Venice. Their language, the Friulian language, is the second largest minority language in Italy. About 170,000 Friulians live...
origin in the village of Kobdilj
Kobdilj
Kobdilj is a village south of Štanjel in the Komen Municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia next to the border with Italy....
near Štanjel
Štanjel
Štanjel is a village in the Komen Municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia. It is located on the Kras plateau overlooking the Vipava Valley. In the 17th century it was fortificated to defend it against Ottoman raids...
on the Kras
Kras
Karst ; also known as the Karst Plateau, is a limestone borderline plateau region extending in southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the valley, the westernmost part of the Brkini Hills, northern Istria, and the Gulf of Trieste...
plateau, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian province of Gorizia and Gradisca
Gorizia and Gradisca
The County of Gorizia and Gradisca was a Habsburg county in Central Europe, in what is now a multilingual border area of Italy and Slovenia. It was named for its two major urban centers, Gorizia and Gradisca d'Isonzo.-Province of the Habsburg Empire:...
(now in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
). His father was a farmer and his mother was of an aristocratic family of Tyrolean
County of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
origin from Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
. His was a wealthy family which could afford to provide a good education for the children. He grew up in a cosmopolitan trilingual environment: besides Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, the language of his family, and Slovene, the language of his social environment, he learned German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
at a very young age.
He attended elementary school in Kobdilj in his father's house, and the German language Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, then moved to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, where he attended architecture courses at the Vienna University of Technology
Technische Hochschule
Technische Hochschule is what an Institute of Technology used to be called in German-speaking countries, as well as in the Netherlands, before most of them changed their name to Technische Universität or Technische Universiteit in the 1970s and in the...
. After earning his diploma in 1889, a scholarship enabled him to travel for three years (1892–1894) to Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
and through most of Europe. When he returned to Vienna, he joined the studio of the architect Otto Wagner
Otto Wagner
Otto Koloman Wagner was an Austrian architect and urban planner, known for his lasting impact on the appearance of his home town Vienna, to which he contributed many landmarks.-Life:...
on Wagner's personal invitation, and stayed there until the end of the century. During this period he did not only concentrate his interests on design, but also cultivated his vocation as town planner and passionately devoted himself to teaching.
Fabiani's first large-scale architectural project was the urban plan for the Carniola
Carniola
Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...
n capital Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, which was badly damaged by an earthquake in 1895. Fabiani won a competition against the historicist architect Camillo Sitte
Camillo Sitte
Camillo Sitte was a noted Austrian architect, painter and city planning theoretician with great influence and authority of the development of urban construction planning and regulation in Europe.- Life :...
, and was chosen by the Ljubljana Town Council as the main urban planner. One of the reasons for this choice was Fabiani was considered by the Slovene Liberal Nationalists
National Progressive Party (Slovenia)
The National Progressive Party was a political party in the Carniola region of Austria-Hungary. It was established in 1894 by Ivan Tavčar as the National Party of Carniola and renamed in 1905 to The National Progressive Party...
as a Slovene. With the personal sponsorship of the Liberal nationalist mayor of Laibach Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. At the turn of the century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the most important figures of Slovene liberal nationalism...
, Fabiani designed several important buildings in the Carniolan capital, including the Mladika
Mladika
The Mladika building is the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia , located in the country's capital Ljubljana....
palace, which is now the seat of the Slovenian Foreign Ministry. His work in Ljubljana helped him to become well-known in the Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe. It more or less corresponds to modern Slovenia and the adjacent territories in Italy, Austria and Hungary in which autochthonous Slovene minorities live.-...
, convincing Slovene nationalists in the Austrian Littoral
Austrian Littoral
The Austrian Littoral was established as a crown land of the Austrian Empire in 1849. In 1861 it was divided into the three crown lands of the Imperial Free City of Trieste and its suburbs, the Margraviate of Istria, and the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca, which each had separate...
to entrust him with the design for the National Halls in Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...
(1903) and in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
(1904).
In 1917, he was named professor at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
, and in 1919 one of his pupils, Ivan Vurnik
Ivan Vurnik
Ivan Vurnik, was a Slovene architect. Together with, Ciril Metod Koch and Jože Plečnik, Vurnik is considered one of the initiators of Slovenian modernist architecture.-Early years:...
, offered him a teaching position at the newly established University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
, Fabiani however refused the offer, quit the teaching position in Vienna, and decided to settle in Gorizia, which had been annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, thus becoming an Italian citizen. During the 1920s, he coordinated a large scale reconstruction of historical monuments in the areas in the Julian March
Julian March
The Julian March is a former political region of southeastern Europe on what are now the borders between Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy...
that had been devastated by the Battles of the Isonzo
Battles of the Isonzo
The Battles of the Isonzo were a series of 12 battles between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I. They were fought along the Soča River on the eastern sector of the Italian Front between June 1915 and November 1917...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
In late 1935, he accepted the nomination for mayor (podestà) of his native Štanjel by the Fascist regime, for the National Fascist Party
National Fascist Party
The National Fascist Party was an Italian political party, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of fascism...
. He remained mayor during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, using his knowledge of German language and his cultural acquaintances to convince the German troops to spare the village from destruction. He also maintained communication with local Yugoslav partisans. Nevertheless, the monumental fortifications part of the village, which he himself had renovated during the 1930s, were eventually destroyed in the fight between the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and the Slovene partisans.
In 1944, Fabiani relocated back to Gorizia where he lived until his death.
Work
His most important works include: MladikaMladika
The Mladika building is the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia , located in the country's capital Ljubljana....
Palace (Ljubljana, 1896), Palace Portois & Fix (Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, 1898), Palace Artaria (Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, 1900), Palace Urania (Vienna)
Urania (Vienna)
The Palace Urania is a public educational institute and observatory in Vienna.It was built according to the plans of Art Nouveau style architect Max Fabiani at the outlet of the Wien River and was opened in 1910 by Franz Joseph I of Austria as an educational facility with a public observatory...
, the Revenue Office building (Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...
, 1903), the Narodni dom in Trieste (1904), the urban development plan for Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
(1895), the plan for the reconstruction of Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...
(1921) and the general urban development plan for Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
(1952).
Awards and honors
Italian Order of Merit for Culture and ArtItalian Order of Merit for Culture and Art
Italian Order of Merit for Culture and Art is a Italian order, established on November 16, 1950. The order has three class, gold, silver, bronze, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Italian's art, literature or culture....
- Roma
Roma
- Places :Italy* Rome, the capital of Italy, is called Roma in Italian and some other languages* Roma Tre University, a university located in Rome, Italy, and founded in 1992...
September 10, 1951.