Urania Cinema, Osijek

The Urania Cinema is a building in Osijek, in Osijek-Baranja County, and is of interest to visitors who like Secession (Art Nouveau) architecture. This freestanding edifice is among the protected examples of the city's secular heritage.

The design was made in 1911 and 1912 by Viktor Axmann, commissioned by the company Urania i kino d.d. The ground plan is irregular: the elongated cinema hall has a projecting entrance with a bulging façade, and it is flanked on both sides by corridors that end on the façade in recessed exits. Business premises with an L-shaped plan are attached to the northern corridor. The building is made up of two volumes, the main one with the hall and a smaller one with the rooms, and its façade is wavy, shaped by a curve. It stands out for its spatial dynamism and the expressiveness of its volumes and is regarded as a small masterpiece of the Secession. Axmann designed everything down to the details, even the lamps in the interior.

The Urania Cinema is a protected cultural good, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-5760.

Photo: Roko Poljak, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: Wikidata (CC0).