A year ago, these stairs were just grey and sad. In May 2018, however, as part of the Rijeka local park program, during the week of Croatia Volunteer, the stairs received a permanent visitor: Josip Pičman.

Pičman was a very innovative Croatian architect who lived between two World Wars. He become very famous, even though he worked professionally for only 8 years. His projects were respectable, but most of them weren’t realized. Why? Because of the social situation. Pičman was very disappointed with it.

He was the author of the first conceived conceptual plan for the construction of the National House (today’s Croatian Cultural Center and Hotel Neboder) in 1934. Josip never lived to see his best work. A week before his 32nd birthday and only a day before the construction was approved, Josip threw himself through the window on 5th floor on the main street Ilica in Zagreb.

Because of his tragic death, the award-winning plan was not fully realized.

When you see the Pičman mural and glass all over those stairs, you will know what lies behind it: the tragic story of a young, modern and misunderstood architect who lived in the wrong time.