Trieste National Hall

Last updated January 08, 2025

The Trieste National Hall or Slovene Cultural Centre^[1]^[2]^[3] (Slovene : Narodni dom)^[4] in Trieste is 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.

Notes

↑ Boris Pahor's novel has been translated into German under the title Piazza Oberdan.

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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.
1 2 3 4 5 Opara, Corinna (2013). Three Days in Trieste. Trieste: Beit Casa Editrice. p. 104.
1 2 Sestani, 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.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
1 2 "Maks Fabiani: arhitekt Anaksimandrove zakonitosti večnega porajanja in uničevanja" [Max Fabiani: The Architect of the Anaximander's Law of Eternal Rising and Destruction]. MMC RTV Slovenia (in Slovenian).
↑ Rožič, Janko (2010). "Nacionalni slog v arhitekturi" [National Style in Architecture]. 46. seminar slovenskega jezika, literature in kulture: Slovanstvo v slovenskem jeziku, literaturi in kulturi [The 46th Seminar of the Slovene Language, Literature, and Culture: Slavism in the Slovene Language, Literature, and Culture](PDF) (in Slovenian). p. 135. ISBN 978-961-237-363-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-04.
↑ 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. COBISS 11683661. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
1 2 "90 let od požiga Narodnega doma v Trstu" [90 Years From the Arson of National Hall in Trieste]. Primorski dnevnik (in Slovenian). 2010. pp. 14–15. COBISS 11683661. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
↑ "Kdo je bil Maks Fabiani" [Who Was Max Fabiani] (in Slovenian). Radio Koper. 27 February 2015.
↑ Mezinec, Petra (20 February 2015). "Je bil zagrizen fašist ali pa so ga v to vlogo potisnili?" [Was He a Fierce Fascist or Was He Forced into This Role?]. Primorske novice (in Slovenian).

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[13] Boris Pahor's novel has been translated into German under the title Piazza Oberdan.

[1] 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.

[2] Hametz, Maura Elise (2005). Making Trieste Italian, 1918–1954. Rochester, NY: Woodbridge. p. 21.

[3] Kmecl, Matjaž; Žnidaršič, Joco (1987). Treasure Chest of Slovenia. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba. p. 316.

[4] 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.

[Three_Days-5] 1 2 3 4 5 Opara, Corinna (2013). Three Days in Trieste. Trieste: Beit Casa Editrice. p. 104.

[Sestani2012-02-6] 1 2 Sestani, 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.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}

[RTVSLO234308-7] 1 2 "Maks Fabiani: arhitekt Anaksimandrove zakonitosti večnega porajanja in uničevanja" [Max Fabiani: The Architect of the Anaximander's Law of Eternal Rising and Destruction]. MMC RTV Slovenia (in Slovenian).

[8] Rožič, Janko (2010). "Nacionalni slog v arhitekturi" [National Style in Architecture]. 46. seminar slovenskega jezika, literature in kulture: Slovanstvo v slovenskem jeziku, literaturi in kulturi [The 46th Seminar of the Slovene Language, Literature, and Culture: Slavism in the Slovene Language, Literature, and Culture](PDF) (in Slovenian). p. 135. ISBN 978-961-237-363-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-04.

[9] 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. COBISS 11683661. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.

[Primorski90let2010-10] 1 2 "90 let od požiga Narodnega doma v Trstu" [90 Years From the Arson of National Hall in Trieste]. Primorski dnevnik (in Slovenian). 2010. pp. 14–15. COBISS 11683661. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.

[11] "Kdo je bil Maks Fabiani" [Who Was Max Fabiani] (in Slovenian). Radio Koper. 27 February 2015.

[12] Mezinec, Petra (20 February 2015). "Je bil zagrizen fašist ali pa so ga v to vlogo potisnili?" [Was He a Fierce Fascist or Was He Forced into This Role?]. Primorske novice (in Slovenian).

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