Chiesa dei Minoriti

Premio Domus Restauro e Conservazione

Year of entry: 2015

Crediti

Cliente

Comune di Maribor

Collaboratori

Jurij Kobe
Tanja Paulin
Urša Podlipnik
Maja Kovačič
Ina Radšel
Peter Plantan

Autori

Atelierarhitekti

The founder of the Institute is the Republic of Slovenia. Founder’s rights and obligations are exercised by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. The Institute performs public service in the field of protection of immovable heritage and associated movable cultural heritage.

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Technical description

The Minorite monastery in Maribor was abolished in 1784 by the emperor Joseph II., along with several others in the Austro-Hungarian empire. After that, the building, including a big church, was used for military purposes and was eventually left to decay.

The restoration of the church is one of the final stages of preservation of this cultural heritage building with an exceptionally strong historical message. The monastery is set to become one of the key cultural venues of the city of Maribor. In 2010, the puppet theatre found its location in the renovated building, and in 2014, the former monastery garden became an open-air theatre, using the outside of the puppet theatre stage.

The restoration process of Minorite church and its Baroque origins brought several surprises. These resulted in much bigger and richer available new spaces than it was originally planned. The restoration works unveiled foundations of Romanesque pillars under the church floor, on the level of the crypt. This brought about changes in the project which made almost the entire ground level with its exceptional historical importance accessible to the public, offering a venue for more intimate, private events. The new church floor is a plate which separates the two levels without touching the walls. All the necessary installations, including heating, airing, lighting and sound systems, are embedded into the sides of the plate.

The acoustics of the church was a special problem, as conventional solutions involving reflection and absorption plates had to be avoided due to the characteristics of the building. Therefore, all window shutters, fire protection appliances and seats were used as acoustic panels.

In the final stage of the restoration, a large portion of a Gothic church entrance was unveiled on the northern facade. The ground level of that church was almost one meter beneath the present Baroque building. Therefore, a visit to Minorite church now offers an insight into three historical periods.

The church interior features carefully restored Baroque architectural elements and mouldings, as well as paintings by Master Joseph Groebler, including an interesting view of Maribor on the sanctuary ceiling.