Welcome to the December issue of Croats in London
This month: Vukovar: Filling the Void, Vatroslav Jagic Presentation

Vukovar: Filling the Void

Model of the plan

It was in November 1991 that Vukovar fell to Serbian aggression, with the city virtually reduced to rubble. The Croatian Embassy is hosting an exhibition of architectural plans for reconstructing part of Vukovar. It is entitled , ‘Vukovar’ - Filing the Void’. The architects are London based Florian Migsch (Austrian)and Andrea Krausse(German).

The Embassy also hosted a talk organised by the Croatian Students and Young Professional Network, the idea of which inspired the exhibition.

CIL caught up with one of the architects, Florian Migsch, and discussed the plans with him.

CIL: Can you tell us how this whole project came about?

There is an international competition for urbanism and housing, organised by a body called Europan which is subsidised by the European Union, very much in the spirit of European unification in the early nineties so that young architects could have the chance to go abroad.

It is a competition whose ideas are intended to be implemented. We wanted to participate.

We looked over sites, and we were struck by Vukovar simply because of its recent past. We picked Vukovar in 1998 - it was a very difficult, but very challenging project.

In putting in our competition proposal, we did not expect it to reap anything other than publicity. We were quite surprised when we were selected as the winner in 1999. We were then approached by the Croatian government who wanted to implemented the scheme.

CIL: Can you tell us about the nature of the plan ?

The nature of the plan is to try to capture the urban energy we found in Vukovar in 1998. The city had lost its urban fabric. People had to improvise, to make do. They had erected temporary shelters for business and socialising. They took over formerly private land for communal use such as sport. We wanted a plan that could support this use of the city. It was something based on improvisation and the absence of boundaries.

CIL: Did you consult local people?

To a certain degree, yes! I tried to talk to kids and people that I met. This was a bit difficult as I could not speak Croatian and their English was not so good.

I was made aware there were problems in terms of recreation, there was some difficulties due to landmines. You could not go out for a walk due to them, large areas were marked dangerous. I also spoke to people form the UN dealing with landmines.

It helped me understand what buildings they would want to retain and which to demolish.

During the competition you want to climb somewhere high to get an overview. I was invited by some residents to their flats so I could climb the to the roof of their apartment block and take pictures.

CIL: Why has the plan not proceeded?

I think the reason is that the money earmarked for the project went elsewhere. The project went through the process of obtaining permits and permissions and so the money went elsewhere. There was no decisive political will to push it through, and with elections there was change of personnel at the Ministry of Public Works.

CIL: It’s been in a state of limbo since?

The people involved in Europan from Croatia were keen and tried hard to get the scheme built. One of the circumstances that have changed sine we started this project is that Croatia is actively pursuing membership of the European Union. I think that implementing the scheme that was generated as part of the Europan competition would strengthen that ambition.

Now that its 15 years since Vukovar was occupied during the war, its something every Croat is acutely aware of, these two things coincide and it would be productive to kick-start the process again.

The architects hope the exhibition can be taken to Croatia, in the meantime you can see it at the Croatian embassy, details in Noticeboard below.

Vatroslav Jagic Presentation

Croatian Ambassador Josko Paro and Professor Branko Franolic presented a portrait of the Croatian, Vatroslav Jagic (1838 - 1923) to the Slavonic Library of the Taylor Institution in Oxford on 24 November. Jagic was the founder of Comparative Slavic Philology (the study of the written language). A display of books was compiled for the occasion.

Noticeboard

Only events run by known and reputable bodies will be listed here.

14 November - 8 December Filling the Void - An urban design proposal for Vukovar. Croatian Embassy (address below) Open to the public until 8th December Monday to Friday 11:00 to 16:00.

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