2024-08-19
7 分钟Guy De Launey tells us about a largely overlooked piece of Zagreb’s urban environment that was once home to an iconic Yugoslav newspaper. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
An outwardly unremarkable tower block in Croatia's capital has a tale to tell.
Formerly the bustling home to an iconic Yugoslav newspaper, the Viznyk skyscraper is now bereft of workers and facing an uncertain future.
You're listening to Tol Stories, a Monocle production brought to you by the team behind the Urbanist.
I'm Carlota Rebello.
In this episode, Guy Delaunay tells us more about this otherwise overlooked piece of Zagreb's urban environment.
The Wiesnik skyscraper won't win any prizes for looks.
It's a glass and concrete slab with windows tinted to take the edge off the heat and glare of the sun.
And to be fair, that can be pretty fast pierce in a Zagreb summer.
It's not much of a skyscraper either.
Just 16 storeys overhang the base, which sports a ground floor and a mezzanine.
Its location in the city is far from the best.
Marooned on the side of one of the main routes through Zagreb, where Zagrebchka Avenue runs into Slavonska Avenue, you wouldn't notice the difference between the two roads.
It's the same sprawl of multiple lanes of ill tempered traffic.
The banks of the River Sava and the charms of the Lower Town remain tantalizingly out of reach.
And it looks distinctly rough, not just around the edges, but pretty much everywhere.
The scuffed tinted windows make it look like the building is covered in rust, though locals affectionately nicknamed it the Chocolate Tower because of its brown hued, segmented appearance.
But when it opened in 1972, the Wiesenik skyscraper was a powerful symbol of what was at that point the world's most successful socialist country.
Tito's Yugoslavia was modern, forward looking and relatively free, even if it was somewhat light on actual democracy.
Its passport was widely welcomed to the west and east, and the strength of the Yugoslav dinar gave its holders considerable purchasing power.
Opening a modern headquarters for one of its leading media outlets was a form of broadcasting and the message was, aren't we doing well?