The Trieste National Hall or Slovene Cultural Centre'’'[1][2][3] (Slovene: Narodni dom),,[4] in Trieste was a multimodal building that served for 15 years as a social and economic centre[5] for the Slovene minority in the city. It included the Slovene theatre in Trieste, a hotel, a restaurant, a gym[5] and numerous cultural associations. It is notable for having been burned in 1920 by Italian Fascists, which made it a symbol of the Italian repression of the Slovene minority in Italy.[6] The building was restored from 1988 to 1990.[7] and later used as a hotel (Hotel Regina). Around 2010 it has been renovated according to the original plans.[5]
Such institutions were typical in Slovenian ethnic territory in the decades around 1900. It was built by the Slovenian architect Max Fabiani between 1901 and 1904.[5] Fabiani designed the building with the concept of technical-rational structure, with the facade of monumental stone. It was completed in 1904.[8][9] It had an ornate facade and state-of-the-art equipment, including an electric generator and central heating.[7]
On 13 July 1920, at the end of a violent anti-Slovenian demonstration[5] as a reaction to the July 11 Split incident, the building was burned by the Fascist Blackshirts, led by Francesco Giunta.[10] The act was praised by Benito Mussolini, who had not yet assumed power, as a "masterpiece of the Triestine Fascism" (Italian: capolavoro del fascismo triestino).[6] It was part of a wider pogrom against the Slovenes and other Slavs in the very centre of Trieste and the harbinger of the ensuing violence against the Slovenes and Croats in the Julian March.[10]
On 15 May 1921, less than a year after the arson attack, the architect Fabiani became a member of the Italian Fascist movement. The reason for his joining the party and his political activity in the following years remains unclear.[11][12]
Boris Pahor's autobiographical novel Trg Oberdan[Note 1] describes how he witnessed the Fascists burning the building.
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