The most representative Secession-style monument in Transylvania, the Black Eagle Palace is one of the emblems of the city of Oradea. Tourists do not miss the palace to take photos or cross the beautiful passage. Perhaps the image of this black eagle, one of the largest birds of prey, a species that definitively disappeared from Romania in the first part of the 20th century, is undervalued.
But what is the story of the eagle from Oradea? In the 1900s, the city had a brief period of prosperity, to which we owe today the architectural heritage that makes Oradea one of the most beautiful art nouveau cities. Although the Black Eagle Palace was built at the beginning of the 20th century, its history dates back to 1714. At that time, there was a small house on the same site, an inn called “The Eagle”, whose ground floor housed the “town brewery”. Public events, balls, theater performances or political events were organized in that place. In 1835, after the modification of the building, it became an important hotel in the city, Hotel Vulturul.
“The City Hall launched a project competition for the reconstruction of the Vulturul Hotel in 1903, two years later the project with the code name “Champagne” by the architects Dezső Jakab and Marcell Komor, two of the most important figures of the Hungarian secessionist movement, was named the winner. current in which many of the emblematic buildings of the city built during that period can be found. The City Hall did not build the hotel anymore, considering the costs of its construction too high, instead it sold the property to lawyers from Oradea, Emil Adorjan and Ede Kenez-Kurlander, who undertook to build the project architects Dezső Jakab and Marcell Komor”, explains architect Daniel Panait, president of the Bihor Order of Architects.
The demolition of the old building began in November 1906, and the foundation works began in March 1907. Also in 1907, the “Black Eagle and Green Tree Joint Stock Company” was established in 1907, where the administrators and main shareholders were Dr. Ede Kurländer and Dr. Emil Adorján. In April 1907, the builder Ferenc Sztarill begins the construction of the Black Eagle complex.
“The birth of this project needed all the ambition and determination of the two owners, who for its completion had to resort to setting up their own brick factory “Vesta” when the suppliers doubled the prices upon learning the scale of the project, and their own bank, Banca Maghiară, when the banks increased the interest rates and it became difficult to access the funds for the construction of the building”, says Daniel Panait.
The construction was finished in December 1908, the hotel having two facades, two theaters, confectionery, cafe and 75 rooms. The festive opening took place in 1909. Spectacular is the stained-glass window with the black eagle executed in 1909 in the Oradean workshop Neumann K. The light passing through the stained-glass window highlights the passage built after the famous Vittorio Emanuele gallery in Milan.
Humorous magazine “The Eagle”
Another story with an eagle from Oradea is related to a magazine. In Oradea, the first humorous magazine was founded in 1853 by Iosif Vulcan and G. Arelean, with the title “Umoristul”, and it appeared until 1870, as revealed to us by Silviu Sana, historian and scientific researcher at the County Library “Gheorghe Şincai” from Oradea, which also recalls another humorous magazine, “Gura satului”, also published by Iosif Vulcan in 1861.
“For almost 10 years, there is no other Romanian humor magazine in Transylvania. Iustin Ardelean comes and brings back the cheerful spirit in the era of great national turmoil. The lack of such a newspaper was brought to fruition by Iustin Ardelean, and that’s the only way “Vultur” managed to gain popularity among Transylvanian Romanians, but also to attract the attention of the Hungarian authorities. This is the second Romanian magazine from Oradea, after “Familia” magazine, becoming over time one of the most popular humor magazines for Transylvanian Romanians. The appearance of the magazine is not unrelated to the political and cultural movement of Romanians in Transylvania, especially since Iustin Ardelean was part of the Student Assembly from the Oradea Law Academy”, explains Silviu Sana, who clarifies that although the magazine was the most popular in Transylvania, at the local level, there is no mention of her appearance either in the Hungarian or the Romanian press (Familia).
Photo: “Gheorghe Sincai” County Library
Graphics by Iustin Ardelean
Over time, the graphics made by Iustin Ardelean in “Vulturul” magazine reappear in the form of labels made by the designer Ruxandra Rotar, an architecture student. The labels appear on five types of “Vulturar” beer, the Bers Nova brand, the name of the craft beer being created after a panoply exhibited at Casa Darvas-La Roche on which the magazine’s header appeared.
“The conversion of these headers to the role of beer labels was a very interesting but at the same time simple process, by photographing the relevant elements from the “Vulturul” magazine, which you can find at the Gheorghe Şincai County Library, and then drawing them. I know that nowadays it is not very common to draw by hand, and the identity of the pages would be compromised if we were to scan them. I redrew them and then made a series of chromatic iterations with colors that were more in harmony than in contrast, so that a visual balance could be seen and to ensure that the narrative of the illustration proposed by Iustin Ardelean was not compromised and did not block the message it through a range of eccentric colors. The narrative is simple. The eagle on each label is tamed by a vulture, which causes a funny, sometimes chaotic dynamic between people, just as I want these beers to create connections between people”, explained the designer Ruxandra Rotar at the launch at the Zion Synagogue .
Maybe other creators from Oradea will be inspired by the image of the black eagle, to take it further and build around it a more consistent image of a city that is increasingly sought after and appreciated.
