One of the most attractive villas of Liburnian sea-side is surely Secession-style Münz villa, constructed in 1903 by Jakob Ludwig Münz, a stone-worker and owner of stone-pits in Southern Tirol (Austria) and constructor of the well-famous Grand Hotel of Pula. He was a promoter of the opening of the bus line Rijeka-Pula. Ludwig Münz arrived at Opatija in the capacity as partner of Alfred Wrede, the concessionaire and founder of the tram service, which from 1908 to 1933 has linked Matulji and Lovran. The Villa, whose cellars were full of malvasia wine, has been nationalised in 1948 and took over by Syndicates and after that by a Macedonian Children Organisation; recently the villa was the accommodation of displaced persons from Podunavlje, and finally in 1999, it has been acquired by the Hoppers, a Croatian-American couple.
Picture Source : CROINFO
After almost 15 years of the sale, of this unique and non-replacable landmark on the Liburnian sea-side, it just seem’s that this is the end of it. Build in 1903 and surviving two World Wars and a cival War, it seems now that this magnificent building will be taken down by an inactive monument protection authority, the lack of care from the member of the City Councel of Opatija and a fashion designer born in Sarajevo.
Five years the new owner had to wait for location and construction permits to be issued. Due to her statement, that was based on problems with the protection authority from Rijeka. Thought the issuing of those documents are now dating back nearly ten years, nothing has been done, and for us the site shows a disastrous state.
Those are the facts from 6 years ago, when a crew form Jutarnji list visited the site:
Tenement facade, smashed windows, leaking roof, overgrown and unkempt plot with exotic palm trees which are just dead, is the state. The windows are boarded with nails, and a winter garden is completely collapsed. It can be seen that the roof of the dome on top of the villa is separating from the wall and some parts of the fence do no longer hold.
The state these days, after another six years is even worse. The picture above, which were taken in 2013, show the devastation in the internal. It seems that the local and national authorities do not care that one of the greatest landmarks is being destroyed beyound any possibility for repair. Thought that the ceramic facade was commissioned in Hungary and that some work was hand painted. The villa is full of details, that were not bought by the standards, but were specially commissioned. So it is quite sure that those commisioned works are unreplacable. Have a look for yourself next time you drive by!!!
“I think that the house does not have any particular architectural value, but it is very nice” was said by Ljiljana Šegedin in an interview with a local newspaper. But as she was exploring the history of the villa Münz, Ljiljan Šegedin came across documents that confirms, that the previous owners had a lot of trouble with neighbors, the authorities and in one incident Emma Münz nearly ended up in jail. Maybe Ljiljan Šegedin is right and that history will repeat itself, as this is a cruel act against heritage and architecture of Croatia.
Here a bit more about the great history of this villa and the Original scientific paper from Berislav Valušek in Croatian.
Sources:
- Interview with Ljiljana Šegedin sole owner of Sagitta d.o.o. (Owner of Villa Münz)
- The official document registering Villa Müntz as a protected cultural property.
- The Law on the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage
Opatija : The devastation of Villa Münz
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