A contemplative spiritual oasis for everyone opens its door in the centre of Rijeka.
A contemplative spiritual oasis for everyone opens its door in the centre of Rijeka, in the northern part of Delta. The pavilion, designed by the famous Croatian architect Nikola Bašić, is a place where all citizens can stop and find peace, regardless of their religious or other belief.
The spirituality of contemporary society is expressed in different forms of social rituals, from prayer to meditation, and nowadays the pursuit of spiritual experiences does not only appeal to believers, but also to atheists, whose spirituality has become a recent philosophical and cultural challenge. Living in today’s fast-paced world requires the possibility to occasionally disconnect from the hectic carousel of everyday life. For that reason, world urban environments are increasingly offering some isolated places where one can stop for a moment, disconnect, collect oneself, reset and engage in contemplative states. Nikola Bašić has designed his pavilion as a space in which we are able to direct our gaze and thoughts to the sight of infinity.
* The name CONTEMPLVM comes from Latin which is comprised of the words con – with and templum – temple. Originally referred to “a place for the observation and interpretation of divine revelations (symbols) from the flight of birds” (see contemplum, contempli). The letter ‘V’ stands for ‘U’ (CONTEMPLVM) because in the original Roman alphabet the letters ‘V’, ‘W’ and ‘U’ were not distinguished but were written ‘V’. The name has been chosen from the original Latin language because, apart from the fact that the expressions of contemplation and temple overlap, a characteristic of all religions of the world, it clearly indicates that the pavilion is located in Europe, on the Mediterranean, the place where the original Latin language comes from.
