TEHRAN – Kish Gallery on the Persian Gulf island Kish opened last week with showcasing a collection designs by the Austrian architect and urban planner Otto Wagner.

“Organizing the exhibition of Wagner’s designs is an auspicious beginning to better and more cultural collaborations with Iranian artists and foreign countries,” Kish Free Zone Organization managing director Gholamhossein Mozaffari said during the opening ceremony of the gallery.

“Kish, as the crossroads to various cultures, needs such cultural places to interact with other great countries, which have played a key role in the growth of culture and civilization,” he added.

The Austrian Ambassador to Iran, Stefan Schulz, also attended the inauguration ceremony of the exhibition.

He called Kish a safe and beautiful island with great tourist attractions, and said, “It is a great honor to showcase designs by one of the distinguished Austrian architects on this island.”

Born in 1841, Wagner was a founder and leader of the modern movement in European architecture. His early work was in the already-established Neo-Renaissance style. 

As a teacher, Wagner soon broke with tradition by insisting on function, material and structure as the bases of architectural design. 

Among his notable works in the Art Nouveau style are a number of stations for the elevated and underground City Railway of Vienna and the Postal Savings Bank. The latter, which had little decoration, is recognized as a milestone in the history of modern architecture, particularly for the curving glass roof of its central hall.

His lectures were published in 1895 as “Moderne Architektur”. An English translation appeared in “The Brickbuilder” in 1901. He passed away in 1918.

Photo: A view of the Postal Savings Bank in Vienna designed by Otto Wagner.

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