Ars & Humanitas (Aug 2019)
Homage to a New Town in an Old One: Dequel’s Bust of Pier Paolo Vergerio il Giovane
Abstract
The concept of collective memory raises fundamental questions regarding the assessment of heritage, especially of built heritage in contested spaces. The simultaneous presence of different groups in conflict introduces into the space parallel memory discourses that can be recognised both in the built environment as well as in public sculpture, and both can be read as a symbolic marking of space (Veschambre, 2008). The urban space of northern Istria, where the Italian and Slovene communities have become intertwined throughout history, were drastically marked by the political and historic events of the mid-20th century. Post-war conflict-solving processes lead and an ongoing process of “ethnic metamorphosis” (Purini, 2010) in the region came to a peak when the majoritarian Italian-speaking population of the urban area emigrated, while the space was settled by newcomers from inner Slovenian regions and other Yugoslav republics. Tensions between Slovenes and Italians arose in the early 20th century, especially from the period of Fascist oppression and violence against the Slovene population. Nevertheless, the antifascist struggle united the two ethnic groups, specifically within the Communist ideology, so after WWII the area of the so-called Zona B of the Free Territory of Trieste was marked by the ideal of fratellanza, the brotherhood between Italians and Slovenes in Istria. A monument to this ideal was created by a sculptor from Capodistria, Oreste Dequel, who is unknown in the Slovene context. The sculpture represented the Protestant Bishop of Capodistria, Pier Paolo Vergerio il Giovane, a friend of the key Slovene Protestant Primož Trubar. Despite the then leading Socialist Realist aesthetics, the artist managed to intertwine in the artwork, using a subversive approach, several collective memories.
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