A set of six reliefs adorns the façade of an apartment building on the corner of Krížna and Karadžičova streets. The reliefs, three per floor, extend the width of the window sills on the fifth and sixth floors and are sited on the second to fourth window axes from the north.
Their motifs are the professions of workers and farmers, with ideological reference to their centrality within the new state. The use of relief decorations with the theme of work as part of the artistic design of buildings constructed in the 1950s and 1960s was a strong feature of socialist realism. For example, there are twenty reliefs on the façade of the Pavilion of Theoretical Institutes of the Slovak University of Technology (today FAD STU) on Freedom Square in Bratislava. Both groups of works share common formal and compositional elements.
The artistic design and depiction of themes and figures reflect the period's demand for realism, comprehensibility, and clarity, as the ideological message of these scenes was the celebration of working people.
According to researchers, the relief below the window sill of the fifth floor in the fourth window axis from the north depicts the building trade.
This relief repeats the pattern of the other five scenes. It shows a group of three men, two on the left and a third on the right who is turned towards the other two. The figure furthest left is shown from the front with head in right profile. He is wearing overalls, and raises a box in his right hand, while his left hand, arm bent at the elbow, holds an unidentified object against his waist. The man to his right is depicted from behind with head in profile turned towards him. Wearing a cloak, he raises an unfurled drawing and holds a pair of compasses in his right hand. The builder on the right of the relief is shown from the front wearing a beret and is turned towards the other men. In his lowered left hand, he holds a hammer, while with his right hand he supports a length of lintel – a cornice – on his shoulder.
ZZ
Research status as of 15. 11. 2023.
