Tall Stories 422: The Vjesnik building, Zagreb

传奇故事 422:Vjesnik 大楼,萨格勒布

The Urbanist

艺术

2024-08-19

7 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

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.

单集文稿 ...

  • 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?