DOMINIKOVIĆ HOUSE, MUNICIPAL CISTERN AND PRISON

Dominiković House, Municipal Cistern and Prison

(Dominiković House)

At the place where the old peasant part of Metković, which was located on the slope of the Predolac hill, descended towards the valley and the civil part of the settlement, today's Oca Ante Gabrića Street is located. At the beginning of the 19th century, it contained very important buildings for any larger settlement, and it also marked the spatial expansion of the settlement into the area of ​​former agricultural areas. One of such large and important buildings, and the only one that has been completely preserved, is the house of the Dominiković family, i.e. Filip Dominiković, who was the mayor of the Metković municipality in the second half of the 19th century. The simple three-storey house with an enclosed courtyard at the back follows the form of traditional architecture, and only the modest decoration of the facade draws traces of the Art Nouveau architecture of the time. The Dominiković family house is significant because in April 1875, during a visit to Dalmatia, including Metković, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I. slept there. This house was the most luxuriously furnished house in Metković, as evidenced by the fact that it had twelve rooms and two salons, and in memory of this event, the owner of the house erected a memorial inscription that was destroyed after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In the extension of the street there was also a city water cistern, i.e. a city cistern that was built in 1843. As a sign of gratitude for the construction of this important building that provided drinking water to the residents of Metković, they erected a memorial plaque in honor of Karl Kempter and Anđel Vidović, the mayor of the municipality, which is still preserved and visible on the remains of the cistern. Interestingly, in the period between the two world wars, the remains of the cistern served as a prison.