To settle the question of the Magen David decoration on the "Residenz", it
really is necessary to determine whether this design was used on any other
churches built in central Europe in the 19th century, or whether the
architect Josef Hlávka (February 15, 1831 - March 11, 1908) used this design
element in any of the other buildings he designed.
Hlavka was a very well known and famous architect and is still well
remembered in his native Czeck Republic. It should be easy to access
photographs of other buildings he built.
I have a recent photograph of a private house in Sadagora, which is also
adorned with decorations of the star of David, but have no idea whether this
house was initially built for Jewish owners. I will gladly send it to
anyone who wants to see it.
Mimi
Hlavka studied at the Technical University in Prague and later architecture
at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Shortly after he had finished his
studies, the Czech architect František Šebek retired and left him his well
established company in Vienna. Later Hlávka built the Opera House in Vienna,
Regional maternal hospital in Prague, the complex of an Eastern Catholic
Church in Chernivtsi (Ukraine, now the seat of the university), and numerous
apartment buildings in Vienna.
[edit]
On 10/1/10 8:50 AM, "Paul Heger" <pheger_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Julian is right regarding the theological doctrine of Christianity,
> but |I doubt very much whether this was the motive for installing a
> Magen David on the Residenz in Czernowitz. The church leaders know
> very well that South Asia is the source of this magic symbol, which
> was adopted late by the Jews and has no association with Jewish belief
> and its allegation of being chosen by God. Adopting it by Christians
> would not support their doctrine of being the current chosen people.
> Further, if indeed the Church would have perceived it as a symbol of
> its supplanting Israel, it would have been done on a universal scale,
> on every church and Christian institution, not extremely rare, as it
> is today.
> Paul/Pessach Heger
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed
in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily
the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members
or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has
an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a
searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. Please post in "Plain
Text" if possible (help available at:
<http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/PlainText.html>).
To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/elist/lyris/leave.html
To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to:
owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on 2010-10-01 12:44:01
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : 2011-01-01 14:59:47 PST