Bucket List Item: The Maxo Vanka Murals

Photo by Ken Schultz

If you have ever driven along Route 28 in Pittsburgh, you may have noticed that, just past the 40th Street Bridge, there’s a yellow brick church just off the highway called St. Nicholas Church. You wouldn’t know it from the outside, but within the walls of that church are some of the most overlooked pieces of art in the United States: The Murals of Maxo Vanka.

Maksimilijan “Maxo” Vanka’s affinity for art came at a young age, as he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia, where he eventually became a professor. He graduated in 1914, the year World War I started. During WWI, he served with the Belgian Red Cross, as a medic, where he was exposed to the grotesque nature of war. He was already a pacifist at his core, but his time in service really solidified his stance on that, which was, undoubtedly, expressed in his art. 

As Nazism spread in the 1930s, and war, once again, was imminent in Europe, Vanka and his Jewish-American wife fled to the United States. According to Anna Doering, the Managing Director of Vanka Murals, Vanka was traveling with a writer, on an industrial tour of America. They stopped off in Pittsburgh, where Vanka was introduced to Father Albert Zagar, the Pastor of St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church. Father Zagar was interested in doing something special for the interior of the church, and lucky for him, Vanka had come to really enjoy Pittsburgh. Zagar invited Vanka back to the city of Pittsburgh in 1937, and essentially gave him free rein to paint whatever he saw fit on the interior of the church, while, of course, maintaining a certain level of spirituality and connection to the church. Vanka was able to complete about half of the murals we see today in eight weeks, all by himself. He would complete the rest of them in 1941. 

Photo by Smallcurio

The symbolism in the murals is striking; perhaps the most significant being the nod to immigrants transitioning from an old world to a new one in America. With Vanka being a Croatian immigrant, that was, obviously, something he dealt with on a personal level, and it’s a sentiment that is still relevant to this day. The symbolism that is, by many accounts, the most obvious (without the need for much interpretation), is the odes to war; it’s clear that Vanka was using his creative freedom to protest the widespread conflict of the time. Of course, all art is open to interpretation, and one can draw their own symbolism from each of the 20+ murals. 

At the time that these murals were completed, there was no air conditioning in the church. This meant that the windows were often left open during congregations. Most people that read this are probably familiar with the fact that Pittsburgh, at one point, was filled with smog and had some of the worst air quality in the whole world, due to the industrial work being done prior to the clean air initiative. Well, Pittsburgh’s reputation at the time was proven accurate, because over the years, a thick layer of dust and soot began to cover the walls and ceilings of the church, giving the murals a dim, faded look. Since the 1990s, preservation efforts have begun in an effort to restore the murals to be observed for future generations. As of 2021, about half of the murals had been conserved; a process that includes a meticulous cleaning, and injecting the murals with nanoparticles to preserve the paint. According to Rossilynne Culgan, author of ‘100 Things to do in Pittsburgh Before You Die’, there is a small square left untouched on one of the murals to demonstrate the difference in brightness before conservation efforts began, and the difference “will blow you away”.

As a lover of history, and a Pittsburgh fanatic, it’s unusual that I only just recently found out about the murals within St. Nicholas Church. I’ve often cited my newfound sobriety as inspiration for me to branch out and try new things during my trips to Pittsburgh. Needless to say, taking a tour and experiencing the Maxo Vanka Murals for myself is absolutely mandatory this year! Any readers ever been here before that want to share something unique they took away from the murals? Please, reach out to me on socials! I’d love to discuss it. 

For more information about the Vanka Murals, check out https://vankamurals.org/

Additional sources I used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g_usdrYNkI&t=2s

https://guides.library.duq.edu/vanka-murals

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