Šandora Petefija 1, 24000 Subotica
The Svetozar Marković Gymnasium is situated at a central location, less than 500m from the Town Hall. There was an old gymnasium building in Subotica from 1817, but the City Senate decided to have a new building constructed in 1895, according to Ferenc Reichl’s design. The construction began in 1896 and the building was finally put to use in 1900.
Reichl created this remarkable edifice in the style of the late Baroque, which he consistently applied in interior decoration as well.
This two-story building is located on the corner of Sándor Petőfi Street and István Széchenyi Street, and the diagonally sloping facade extends into two wings of the building, so that the foundation is that of a slightly distorted letter “V”. The entire architectural concept is subjected to the rules of Baroque. The street-facing facades are embellished with decorative plaster concentrated around the building’s openings in the forms of floral and geometric motifs.
The ground floor of the entire building is rustically stylized, and the verticality is emphasized by two massive Corinthian columns with circular bases that extend along both floors. The front of the building is rounded and raised, and the dome is covered with tin plates. There are two seated figures supporting a globe in the middle at the very top. The dome is placed on a high, flat facade with rows of arched windows. The crowning decoration of this corpus is certainly the sculpture ornamentation of a young man that stands, life-sized, with the hands resting on the baroque lines of the volume. At the end of both wings of the building there are decorative side-gates made of wrought iron with floral motifs.
The ground floor of the main entrance portal, which leads into the representative part of the building, contributes to the great impression of the prominent facade. The central part of the interior has an impressive, wide vestibule and a three-baroque staircase. In addition to the classrooms, offices, and auxiliary rooms, the school also has a modern library, a grand Festivity hall and the memorial room of Dezső Kosztolányi.
Watch YouTube channel of Svetozar Marković Gymnasium.
