DOI article:
Labudová, Zuzana: The former county house in Levoča: the problem of its style interpretation in the context of the European classicistic architecture
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51714#0285
ŠTÚDIE / ARTICLES
ARS 42, 2009, 2
The Former County House in Levoča.
The Problem of Its Style Interpretation in the Context
of the European Classicistic Architecture*
Zuzana LABUDOVÁ
The State of Research and the Up-to Day
Reflection of the Work in the Study Sources
The authors who have dealt so far with the
structure of the former County House in Levoča
when interpreting its style origin oscillate between
two alternating opinion levels. The first level stud-
ies the early application of the Classicist style to the
building of the County House in the first decade of
the 19th Century in this in advanced and pure form
visible especially on the façade in its morphological
éléments (portico) and harmonious arrangement of
the whole. The second one deals with the issue of
the source of style, which still remains unresolved.
Until today most authors* 1 repeat or adopt the
thesis presented by Kuhn and Foltyn in the only com-
plété survey work on Classicism in Slovakia so far.2 In
this study they refused formerly suggested sources of
the style of the structure in German Classicism, and
they explained its style by a view that “the architect of
the buildingAnton Povolný when designing the County House
re lied on the Renaissance architecture under the influence of the
Renaissance character of Levoča and Spiš town.C. They add,
* The study is based on results of research executed in the
frames of the VEGA project No. 1/0316/08 Europe and us
— us and Europe: Inclusions of the European in the 19'b Century art
in Slovakia, financed by the Scientific Grant Agency of the
Ministry of Education of the Slovák Republic and the Slovák
Academy of Sciences.
1 From the latest ones LUKÁČOVÁ, E. - POHANIČOVÁ,
J.: Rozmanité 19. storoäe. Architektura na Slovensku od Hefeleho
po Jurkoviča [The Varied 19th Century. Architecture in
however, that Povolný “did notfollow up directly with the
Spiš Renaissance with typical features but applied creatively
the principles of classical Renaissance architecture”, and
in this way they explain the uniqueness of its style.
They also point to the fact that “in its mass composition
it is reminiscent of Italian Renaissance Palaces”, which in
our region were a distant architectural model, and in
local Renaissance these models, which might have
been possible to be worked creatively with on the
level of pure Renaissance morphology and mass,
practically did not exist. Thus this was an attempt
to explain the style of the building by a local, dual
Renaissance tradition running through centuries and
suddenly arising out of the own architect’s will or of
the period atmosphère in seif in the building of the
County House in Levoča, without any preliminary
preparátory stage defined by other earlier structures
in this environment — an attempt, which did not rely
on any particular research results in the past. The
above-mentioned authors wanted to emphasize the
uniqueness of this architecture and give it the sta-
tus of a unique création of the local environment,
which succeeded in producing architecture of such
Slovakia from Hefele to Jurkovič], Bratislava 2008, p. 36;
KRIVOŠOVÁ, J.: Osvietenstvo a klasicizmus [Enlightenment
and Classicism], In: MORAVČÍKOVÁ, H. (edi): Architektura
na Slovensku. Stručné dějiny [Architecture in Slovakia. A Brief
History]. Bratislava 2005, p. 109.
2 KUHN, I. — FOLTYN, L. — KEVICZKÝ, A.: Architektura
klasicismu na Slovensku [Architecture of Classicism in Slovakia].
Bratislava 1955, pp. 85-86.
277
ARS 42, 2009, 2
The Former County House in Levoča.
The Problem of Its Style Interpretation in the Context
of the European Classicistic Architecture*
Zuzana LABUDOVÁ
The State of Research and the Up-to Day
Reflection of the Work in the Study Sources
The authors who have dealt so far with the
structure of the former County House in Levoča
when interpreting its style origin oscillate between
two alternating opinion levels. The first level stud-
ies the early application of the Classicist style to the
building of the County House in the first decade of
the 19th Century in this in advanced and pure form
visible especially on the façade in its morphological
éléments (portico) and harmonious arrangement of
the whole. The second one deals with the issue of
the source of style, which still remains unresolved.
Until today most authors* 1 repeat or adopt the
thesis presented by Kuhn and Foltyn in the only com-
plété survey work on Classicism in Slovakia so far.2 In
this study they refused formerly suggested sources of
the style of the structure in German Classicism, and
they explained its style by a view that “the architect of
the buildingAnton Povolný when designing the County House
re lied on the Renaissance architecture under the influence of the
Renaissance character of Levoča and Spiš town.C. They add,
* The study is based on results of research executed in the
frames of the VEGA project No. 1/0316/08 Europe and us
— us and Europe: Inclusions of the European in the 19'b Century art
in Slovakia, financed by the Scientific Grant Agency of the
Ministry of Education of the Slovák Republic and the Slovák
Academy of Sciences.
1 From the latest ones LUKÁČOVÁ, E. - POHANIČOVÁ,
J.: Rozmanité 19. storoäe. Architektura na Slovensku od Hefeleho
po Jurkoviča [The Varied 19th Century. Architecture in
however, that Povolný “did notfollow up directly with the
Spiš Renaissance with typical features but applied creatively
the principles of classical Renaissance architecture”, and
in this way they explain the uniqueness of its style.
They also point to the fact that “in its mass composition
it is reminiscent of Italian Renaissance Palaces”, which in
our region were a distant architectural model, and in
local Renaissance these models, which might have
been possible to be worked creatively with on the
level of pure Renaissance morphology and mass,
practically did not exist. Thus this was an attempt
to explain the style of the building by a local, dual
Renaissance tradition running through centuries and
suddenly arising out of the own architect’s will or of
the period atmosphère in seif in the building of the
County House in Levoča, without any preliminary
preparátory stage defined by other earlier structures
in this environment — an attempt, which did not rely
on any particular research results in the past. The
above-mentioned authors wanted to emphasize the
uniqueness of this architecture and give it the sta-
tus of a unique création of the local environment,
which succeeded in producing architecture of such
Slovakia from Hefele to Jurkovič], Bratislava 2008, p. 36;
KRIVOŠOVÁ, J.: Osvietenstvo a klasicizmus [Enlightenment
and Classicism], In: MORAVČÍKOVÁ, H. (edi): Architektura
na Slovensku. Stručné dějiny [Architecture in Slovakia. A Brief
History]. Bratislava 2005, p. 109.
2 KUHN, I. — FOLTYN, L. — KEVICZKÝ, A.: Architektura
klasicismu na Slovensku [Architecture of Classicism in Slovakia].
Bratislava 1955, pp. 85-86.
277