"Narodni dom" redirects here. For the hall with this name in Celje, see
National Hall, Celje.
The Trieste National Hall or Slovene Cultural Centre'’'[1][2][3] (
Slovene: Narodni dom),,[4] in
Trieste was a multimodal building that served for 15 years as a social and economic centre[5] for the
Slovene minority in the city. It included the
Slovene theatre in Trieste, a hotel, a restaurant, a gym[5] and numerous cultural associations. It is notable for having been burned in 1920 by
Italian Fascists, which made it a symbol of the Italian repression of the
Slovene minority in Italy.[6]
The building was restored from 1988 to 1990.[7] and later used as a hotel (Hotel Regina). Around 2010 it has been renovated according to the original plans.[5]
Building
Such institutions were typical in
Slovenian ethnic territory in the decades around 1900. It was built by the Slovenian architect
Max Fabiani between 1901 and 1904.[5] Fabiani designed the building with the concept of technical-rational structure, with the facade of monumental stone. It was completed in 1904.[8][9] It had an ornate facade and state-of-the-art equipment, including an
electric generator and
central heating.[7]
Fascist attack
On 13 July 1920, at the end of a violent anti-Slovenian demonstration[5] as a reaction to the
July 11 Split incident, the building was burned by the Fascist
Blackshirts, led by
Francesco Giunta.[10] The act was praised by
Benito Mussolini, who had not yet assumed power, as a "masterpiece of the Triestine Fascism" (
Italian: capolavoro del fascismo triestino).[6] It was part of a wider
pogrom against the
Slovenes and other
Slavs in the very centre of Trieste and the harbinger of the ensuing violence against the Slovenes and Croats in the
Julian March.[10]
On 15 May 1921, less than a year after the arson attack, the architect Fabiani became a member of the
Italian Fascist movement. The reason for his joining the party and his political activity in the following years remains unclear.[11][12]
Legacy
Boris Pahor's autobiographical novel Trg Oberdan[Note 1] describes how he witnessed the Fascists burning the building.
Further reading
Kacin Wohinz, Milica (2010): Alle origini del fascismo di confine – Gli sloveni della Venezia Giulia sotto l'occupazione italiana 1918–1921,
ISBN8890342285, Gorica, p. 307
Notes
^Boris Pahor's novel has been translated into German under the title Piazza Oberdan.
References
^Sluga, Glenda (2001). The Problem of Trieste and the Italo-Yugoslav Border: Difference, Identity, and Sovereignty in Twentieth-Century Europe. New York: State University of New York Press. p. 208.
^Hametz, Maura Elise (2005). Making Trieste Italian, 1918–1954. Rochester, NY: Woodbridge. p. 21.
^Kmecl, Matjaž; Žnidaršič, Joco (1987). Treasure Chest of Slovenia. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba. p. 316.
^Sluga, Glenda (2001). The Problem of Trieste and the Italo-Yugoslav Border: Difference, Identity, and Sovereignty in Twentieth-Century Europe. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 50.
^
abcdeOpara, Corinna (2013). Three Days in Trieste. Trieste: Beit Casa Editrice. p. 104.
^
abSestani, Armando, ed. (10 February 2012). "Il confine orientale: una terra, molti esodi" [The Eastern Border: One Land, Multiple Exoduses].
I profugi istriani, dalmati e fiumani a Lucca [The Istrian, Dalmatian and Rijeka Refugees in Lucca] (PDF) (in Italian). Instituto storico della Resistenca e dell'Età Contemporanea in Provincia di Lucca. pp. 12–13.
^Pahor, Milan (2010).
"90 let od požiga Narodnega doma v Trstu" [90 Years From the Arson of National Hall in Trieste]. Primorski dnevnik [The Littoral Daily] (in Slovenian). pp. 14–15.
COBISS11683661. Retrieved 28 February 2012.