NATIONAL AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN ZAGREB

“A Marvellous Journey with Fischer von Erlach” NSK exhibition on view in Zrinjevac Park in Zagreb until 6 Sep 2023

Between 31 August and 6 September 2023, Zrinjevac Park in Zagreb is hosting A Marvellous Journey with Fischer von Erlach, an exhibition of the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) featuring the drawings of one of the most famous architects of the Baroque, the great Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, the 300^th anniversary of whose death is marked this year.

Being some of the greatest treasures of the Library’s Print Collection, the displayed drawings present some of the most outstanding works of world architecture such as the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, Israel, the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt, Palace of Diocletian in Split, Croatia and many others. Originally published in 1721 in Fischer’s major written work and the first successful comparative study of world architecture, A Plan of Civil and Historical Architecture (Entwurf einer historischen Architektur), the drawings originated in different ways. Some of them were based on first-hand impressions that Fischer got on his journeys, while he made others by combining measures and descriptions from different sources and drawing on his imagination. As Fischer himself stated, his intention was more to furnish admirers of this art with designs in sundry species of architecture, and to lay down plans for those, who make profession of this art, to raise new inventions upon, than to instruct the learned.

Make sure you do not miss out on a rare opportunity to make a one-of-a-kind journey by immersing yourself in an inspiring collection of fascinating drawings depicting the architectural feats of different civilisations across Europe, Africa and Asia.

Authored by Maja Karić, Marija Perkec and Vesna Vlašić Jurić, the exhibition was organised with the financial support of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media.