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NATIONAL STYLISTIC ASPIRATIONS IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY —o> — MONIKA PILKHOFFER ABSTRACT This article aims to introduce various questions of national identity appearing through the stylistic aspirations of architecture in the AustroHungarian Monarchy. In the discussion of the topic the major emphasis falls on the unfolding of the Hungarian national style; however, the Austrian, Polish and Slovakian aspirations will also be mentioned. As a focus common to all the aspirations is the locus of the conserved authentic forms, namely, those enclosed mountain areas that were distant from civic centres. The timber houses of Zakopane and Slovacko with their sunray ornamented pediments, the German Heimatkunst deriving from rural architecture, or the architectural trend led by Karoly Kos and the group called the Youngsters, drew on very similar roots. The role of national language, literature, music and gastronomy as means to gain cultural and political independence from Vienna was discovered by the intellectuals in the Romantic era and thus can be considered the forerunner of Hungarian national style. Ödön Lechner made an attempt to renew the language ofornaments thus creatingthe nationalstyle. The application offloral motifs originating from folk art provided a possibility to leave historicism for Art Nouveau. While Austrian artists challenged the relevance of a Hungarian national style, Hungarians found the lack of Austrian national identity the reason for not having developed a peculiar national style over the river Leitha. Another fascinating question is why the popular style amongst the citizens of territories with mixed nationalities (Szabadka, Marosväsärhely) and the “peasant burghers” of the settlements in the Great Plain region could not find * A47 +
