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Name of Monument:

Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene

Location:

Sela by Sisak, North-West Croatia, Croatia

Contact DetailsParish Church of St. Mary Magdalene
Sela 118
44273 Sela-Sisak
T : +385 44 713 540
Parish Office of St. Mary Magdalene  (Responsible Institution)

Date:

1759–1765

Artists:

Unknown architect

Denomination / Type of monument:

Religious, Baroque central oval church with dome

Patron(s):

Zagreb chapter and the parish priest, Matija Šantek

History:

The Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Sela by Sisak, founded by Bishop Stjepan Selišević in 1701 on an estate belonging to the Zagreb chapter, was originally made of wood. The parishioners comprised largely the canons of Zagreb, and included the well-known historian, Baltazar Krčelić, who had a prestigious position in Vienna and may have had a hand in the selection of the architect and initiated the construction of this monumental brick-built church. The foundation stone was laid in 1759 and building was complete by 1786.

Description:

For Croatian architecture, the Church of St. Mary Magdalene is a unique Late Baroque interpretation of the specifically Baroque oval ground plan. The exceptional form of the plan, and the high quality of the church, are in line with the social position of those who commissioned it. The building also sets itself apart by its position on the planes of the Sava Valley where, with its striking façade, it towers over the landscape. Positioned on one of the most important approach roads to the centre of Croatia's largest diocese, it also marks the frontier zone of Croatia proper.
Composed of an oval nave with a high cupola – continued along the longitudinal axes on the one hand by a square sanctuary, and on the other by an ellipsoidal forecourt – the church follows the paradigmatic approaches of Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt, which was transformed during the 18th century within their wide circle of Austrian disciples. In this context there is an obvious divergence from the Styrian influences that prevailed in the area – the usual and widespread dynamism given to the oval ground plan with wide side-chapels and narrow diagonal chapels –  is reduced here to the diagonal ones only, by which a stronger spatial cohesion is achieved, heightened by the omission of the tambour. At the same time, in the articulation of the walls, the usual wall pillars with sections of beams, give way to double pilasters and a continuous trabeation, once again brought to life in the contemporary Viennese Rococo-Classical architecture of Franz Munggenast (1724–1748) and Nicolò Pacassi (1716–1790). Also belonging to the Rococo is the refined transparency and airiness of the interior, created here by the light from the great window-cartouches in the chapels and the oval skylights in the dome. Apart from the realisation of a dominant oval space with a dome, clearly expressed on the plastic body of the church, this building opens up one more important topic in Late Baroque architecture, and that is the dynamically mobile façade with two bell towers. An effective contrast to the convex central-façade zone is achieved by the concave surfaces of the bell towers detached from the body of the church. This composition of volumes, supplemented by well worked-out architectural sculpting, goes beyond many contemporary Central European works and suggests an excellent architect at work, trained in the foundations of the highest achievements of Viennese Baroque architecture, and clearly a member of the Maria Theresia court style.

View Short Description

Within the framework of relatively few Late Baroque central-oval churches in Croatia, the Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Sela by Sisak is the most monumental creation, brought into being by the Zagreb chapter on the estate where it stands. The quality of the church is evident in the elegant oval nave with a dome, and in the distinctive convex-concave façade with its two bell towers. Its stylistic characteristics, which as well as being Late Baroque also take in Rococo and Classical architecture, tell of a well-informed practitioner who was inspired by the leading architects in Austria at the time – Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt – while also acquainted with contemporary architecture in Vienna.

How Monument was dated:

Documents and stylistic features.

Special features

View of the Sanctuary

Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene

1759–1765

The walls of the nave are divided only by the shallow niches for altars between the pilasters topped by a cornice, with a dome above. Such characteristics tell of a designer educated in the tradition of the great Viennese architects of the first half of the 18th century, but also of one familiar with contemporary e achievements in Vienna.

View of the Choir

Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene

1759–1765

Church plan

Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene

1759–1765

Selected bibliography:

Horvat, A., (ed) “Barok u kontinentalnoj Hrvatskoj” in Barok u Hrvatskoj, Zagreb, 1982, pp. 1–381.
Cvitanović, D., Sakralna arhitektura baroknog razdoblja, Gorički i gorsko-dubički arhiđakonat, knj I, Zagreb, 1985, pp. 102–119; 287–291.

Citation of this web page:

Katarina Horvat-Levaj "Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2025.
https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;hr;Mon11;27;en

Prepared by: Katarina Horvat-LevajKatarina Horvat-Levaj

SURNAME: Horvat-Levaj
NAME: Katerina

AFFILIATION: Institute of Art History, Zagreb

TITLE: PhD, Scientific Consultant

CV:
Katerina Horvat-Levaj graduated with a BA in Art History and Archaeology in 1981 from the University of Zagreb (Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Art History). In 1985 she obtained her MA and in 1988 she was awarded a scholarship at the University of Padua. In 1995 she defended her Doctorate at Zagreb University on Representative Residential Architecture of the Baroque in Dubrovnik. Since 1982, she has been employed at the Institute of Art History in Zagreb, and is presently a Senior Research Associate. Katarina also teaches at the University of Split. At the University of Zagreb she participates at doctoral level in the Faculty of Croatian Studies and the faculties of Architecture and Philosophy.

Translation by: Graham McMaster
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: HR 40

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