INVENTORY FATE OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN SENJ

Bogoslovno sjemenište i visoko teološko učilište osniva 1804. godine senjsko-modruški biskup Ivan Krstitelj Ježić. Ta visokoškolska ustanova, stoljeće i pol jedina na području sjevernog Jadrana, uz manji prekid (1919.- 1933.) djeluje sve do 1940. godine. Zavod je bio smješten u zgradi staroga franjevačkoga samostana, koja je nakon požara 1810. godine obnovljena 1816. i opremljena novim namještajem. Zavodovu zgradu temeljito obnavlja biskup dr. Antun Maurović krajem XIX. stoljeća. Uoči II. svjetskoga rata, 1940. godine, biskup dr. Viktor Burić zatvara ovaj zavod. Zgrada je u II. svjetskom ratu stradala u bombardiranju grada, namještaj je najvećim dijelom raznesen. Nakon 1945. godine zgrada sjemeništa nacionalizirana je i koristi se sve do danas za smještaj tijela gradske uprave i ugostiteljske namjene. Inventar sjemeništa sačuvan je samo u tragovima. Nešto je umjetnički vrijednoga inventara sačuvano i taj se inventar opisuje u ovome radu.In 1804, Ivan Krstitelj Ježić the bishop of Senj-Modruša founded Theological seminary and High school of theology. This High school was operating, with short breaks (1919-1933), for a century and a half as the only one in the North Adriatic till 1940. The institution was located in the building of the old Franciscan monastery. In 1816, after the fire in 1810, the building was renewed and furnished. The bishop Dr. Antun Maurović had the building thoroughly renewed by the end of XIX century. On the eve of the second World War, the bishop Dr. Viktor Burić closed the institution in 1940. In the II World War, during the bombing of the town, the building, furniture and the library were ruined. After 1945 the building of the Seminary was nationalized and since then has been used to locate municipal authorities and catering necessities. The inventory has partly been saved. The most valuable part of the inventory is the picture of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, painted in oil, in the late baroque style by an unknown artist from the north-west continental part of Croatia or Slovenia. The benches in the cathedral in the classicistic profile are part of the seminary inventory. The sculptures, so called “tirolci” are documents of the time when the seminary was operating. The sculpture of Saint Catherine of Siena belonged most probably to the seminary too; it can be attributed to the older period, when Paulist carpenter-carving workshop was operating in Senj. In the cloister – seminary yard, there is a stone pedestal with the Latin text from 1875, where stood the statue of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. There is also a lime-tree with a huge trunk and crown, over 150 years old that can be considered the monument of the natural and cultural-historical heritage