The Preservation of the Architectural Heritage in Interwar Yugoslavia and Romania

• In Event: Monuments of and to the Past: The Politics of Heritage in Interwar Balkans, Russia, and Turkey

Abstract

In 1918, two Eastern European countries with a shared Ottoman past and Orthodox architectural heritage—Serbia and Romania—significantly expanded their territories following the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. Serbia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929), while Romania incorporated Transylvania along with other smaller regions, forming Greater Romania. This territorial expansion resulted in a more diverse and complex architectural heritage, as both countries integrated regions with distinct cultural and religious traditions, particularly Catholic and Protestant. How, for example, were the Catholic monuments of Dalmatia, Slavonia, and Transylvania integrated into the emerging Yugoslav and Romanian national narratives? Did the approaches to restoration and preservation undergo significant changes in response to this expanded heritage? Taking a comparative perspective, the study explores both continuities and transformations in architectural preservation policies in interwar Yugoslavia and Romania. A key point of comparison is the countries' shared Ottoman and Orthodox heritage, which had been promoted as "national" throughout the long 19th century. Consequently, they faced a similar challenge: incorporating an alternative, and in some cases more prestigious, architectural heritage into an already established national narrative centred on historic Orthodox churches and monasteries.

Author

• Cosmin Tudor Minea, Masaryk U (Czech Republic)