Art and Architecture of Urban Settings in Croatia

About the project
The UrbArH project of the Institute of Art History in Zagreb studies the processes of creation and the lives of urban settings in Croatia, particularly emphasising the turning points of their past. The project will upgrade and expand the Institute’s multi-decade program of the Artistic Topography of Croatia and will result in research papers, presentations delivered at international conferences, and books.

Using archival, bibliographic and comparative research, the project will investigate the reasons for the creation and the causes of changes, growth and decline of cities, with particular emphasis on the share of builders (local and foreign) and citizens (indigenous and immigrant populations) in shaping public and private spaces, i.e. Stadtbild. Uneven dynamics of urban development in Croatia will be considered, both at the general level and at the level of individual monuments of architectural heritage. The project will also analyse the role of visual arts in the design of public and private spaces. Comparative views of the mentioned processes from the 12th century to the present day will enable reaching more far-reaching conclusions about the production of space and the generation of urban cultural memory.

The research of the described historical perspective from the Middle Ages to modern times will achieve a better understanding of the current situation of the urban centres of Croatia, which face challenges such as earthquake reconstruction, depopulation, excessive construction and the generally unsatisfactory state of the monument fund.

Follow the activities of the research team here.

Results of the project are available through CroRIS.

Project leader
Matko Matija Marušić, PhD

Research team
Joško Belamarić, PhD
Martina Bobinac
Irena Kraševac, PhD
Sandra Križić Roban, PhD
Matko Matija Marušić, PhD
Ana Plosnić Škarić, PhD
Ana Šverko, PhD
Danko Zelić, PhD

Project duration: 2023–2027

Project acronym: UrbArH

Internal research projects are financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU from funds provided in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026 (NPOO). The amount of their funding is agreed in the Program Agreement within the implementation budget component of the Institute of Art History.

#URBARH #IPU # MZO #NPOO #NEXTGENERATIONEU