Textile Industry – FAD STU

Otakar Čičátka / 1949 – 1953

The Pavilion of Theoretical Institutes of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava was built between 1948 and 1953 based on a project by the eminent Slovak architect Emil Belluš. The south wing of the building is decorated with a set of relief plaques that were mounted on the building between 1949 and 1953. Their creators were the most important Slovak sculptors of the 1950s. 

      There are twenty reliefs on the façade: eight on each of the western and eastern sides, three in the 1st floor windowsills on the southern side, and one above the building’s east entrance.     

       The collective theme is celebration of the professions that contributed most significantly to the building of a new society after 1948. These professions are symbolised by their distinctive attributes. Content of the reliefs, as well as the artistic method of processing (descriptive realistic depiction), conforms to the period of socialist realism in Slovakia during the first half of the 1950s. The composition is characterised by schematic representation; it features static scenes of two or three three-quarter figures (workers) depicted to the sides of the plaque, linked by the attributes of their profession.  

       The relief Textile Industry, southernmost on the west façade, was created by Otakar Čičátka. 

       It portrays two independently composed female figures. To the left, with profile averted, a woman holds part of a textile machine in her upraised hands. To the right, en face with her head turned to the right, a woman holds a box with spools of thread in one hand and raises spindles in her other hand. 

ZZ

Research status as of 10 June 2023.


Authorship

Co-authorship


Years

  • 1949 – 1953 – implementation

Type

Material

Spiš travertine

Technique

carving

Dimensions

127 x 177 x 12 cm

Inscription

lower centre O. ČIČÁTKA

Condition

  • preserved, not maintained

Registration

  • National Cultural Monument number 829/1 in Central List of Monuments of Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic.
  • Located in Monument Zone Central Urban Area, Bratislava.

Owner

  • Slovak University of Technology

Administrator

  • Slovak University of Technology

Address

Námestie Slobody 2911/19

Location details

on the façade

Plot number

7776/3

GPS

48.1507870, 17.1116920

Other works in the area

Animal Husbandry – FAD STU

Justín Hrčka 1949 – 1953

Plumbers – FAD STU

Ladislav Pollák 1949 – 1953

Forestry – FAD STU

Ľudovít Goga 1949 – 1953

Mičurin Movement – FAD STU

Justín Hrčka 1949 – 1953