Архитектура соколских домова у Краљевини Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца и Краљевини Југославији

Abstract

The Sokol movement was created in 1862 in Prague, which was then a part of Austrian Empire, as a form of awakening Czech national awareness through sport activities. The creator of this concept was Miroslav Tyrš, together with Jindřich Fügner and Emanuel Tonner. The Sokol movement condoned a liberalist philosophy and strengthening the national identity though physical exercise, primarily gymnastics and athletics. A certain form of propaganda was present, such as the sentence: ˮEverything which is Czech is also Sokol.“ Besides Czechs, the Sokol concept was adopted by other Slavic peoples who lived in Austrian Empire, later Austro-Hungary. During the second half of nineteenth century Poles, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats and Serbs founded their Sokol societies. Although the largest activity and development of Sokols has been in Austro-Hungary, their influence appeared in the Kingdom of Serbia, but also in other countries which had Slavic emigrants, such as the United States of America, Brazil, France and even China. The popularity of Sokol movement among Slavic peoples has certainly contributed the strengthening of pan-Slavism and the desire for independence from germanised culture of Austro-Hungary, as well as for consolidation. The epilogue of WWI de facto enabled the creation of Czechoslovakia, united Poland and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The period between the two World Wars can be rightfully be considered the golden age of Sokol movement, when it had the support of the states and gained the most popularity becoming a part of mass culture. The reason behind it consisted in recognizing the importance of Sokols for the promotion of State ideology and promoting its values through various Sokol manifestations. The inseparable part of studying the phenomenon of Sokol movement is also the architecture built for its purpose, above all Sokol Halls and gymnasiums, and then Sokol stadiums. Sokol Halls were designed as multifunctional objects, both sport and cultural centres. The basic and most important space of every Sokol Hall was the gymnasium, which was also used as a theatre, cinema, but also often as a dancing hall. The way that Sokol Halls were designed in all Slavic countries enabled them to have the same purpose today. The first Sokol Halls were created during the second half of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, however the largest number of them has been erected during the interwar period. In the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later Yugoslavia, about 270 Sokol Halls were built, among which a certain number of them can be considered the highlights of Yugoslav architecture. First objects of Sokol societies were designed in the style of academism and eclecticism, only to be slowly replaced during the 1920s by variations of national style, which remained present up until the beginning of WWII, even though modernism was dominant during the 1930s. Although there were apparent differences in the courses of architecture in different regions in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, it can be concluded that Sokol Halls very well reflected the development of the entire architectural field. Apart from stylistic analysis, the ideological dimension of Sokol Halls was also considered, since they contributed the spreading Sokol and Yugoslav ideas. The conceptual, but also stylistic similarity of Sokol Halls and National Halls in Germany and Turkey, or Fascist Halls in Italy, can be interpreted through similar systems of cultural politics, which certainly did not imply the same political tendencies. The influence of political events on the intensity of constructing Sokol Halls, their promotion in society, but also the conflict with the Catholic Church was also very conspicuous. The devastation of numerous Sokol Halls as a consequence of strengthening the right-winged and fascist organizations by the end of 1930s also represents an important chapter in the history of Sokol movement and its architecture on the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Sokol architecture takes an important place in the history of Yugoslav architecture, because it reflects one significant part of Yugoslavia's cultural climate. The architects' tendencies deprived of powerful investor's or state's influence can be distinguished very precisely through a large number of particular projects of Sokol Halls, since the state only partly influenced the forming of Sokol visual culture.