Slovenia

Jože Plečnik

Krizanke, designed by Plečnik

Jože Plečnik was born on January 23, 1872 in Ljubljana, Carniola, Austria-Hungary. He studied architecture at University of Vienna. He was a teacher at Architecture University in Prague and in Ljubljana. While he was in Ljubljana he transformed the city through works such as the Church of St. Francis; civic improvements including new bridges, waterfront, banks, and sluices along the Ljubljanica River; new market buildings, kiosks monuments, plazas, and parks; a new cemetery, Žale; and major buildings such as the Vzajemna Insurance Company Offices and the monumental University Library. Buildings designed by Plečnik were built by the constructor Matko Curk.


One of the waterfronts designed by Plečnik

The cementery designed by Plečnik, Žale

After World War II, Plečnik fell out of favor in the new Communist Yugoslavia, where his commitment to classical architecture and his devout Catholicism were viewed with skepticism. His teaching role at the university was gradually reduced and he received fewer commissions, although he did complete some smaller monuments, fountains and church renovations in the 1950s. Plečnik died in January 7, 1957 at aged 84 and received an official state funeral in Žale.

Jože Plečnik
(23 January 1872 – 7 January 1957)

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C5%BEe_Ple%C4%8Dnik

http://imagenes.esloveniacorazon.si/uploads/2009/07/joze-plecnik-1925-210x300.jpg
http://www.visitljubljana.com/file/167225/vhod_zale.jpg

Ljublijana

Background information

City background



Ljublijana, Slovenia

Ljubljana is the capital and largest city of Slovenia and it`s the only centre of international importance. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. With approximately 280,000 inhabitants, it classifies as the only Slovenian large town.Throughout its history, it has been influenced by its geographic position at the crossroads of the Slavic world with the Germanic and Latin cultures.




Map of Ljublijana

Our exchange group, Kristof, Stijn and Levi, has visited Ljubljana during our stay in Slovenia. Here we saw a lot of the buildings, and Kristof told Levi and Stijn a lot about them.

The Earthquake

Vodnik Square (before the earthquake)

The 1895 earthquake, also called The Easter Earthquake was an earthquake that destroyed a part of Ljubljana`s buildings. At that time, Ljubljana's population was around 31.000 people, with around 1400 buildings. About ten percent of buildings were damaged or destroyed, although few people died in the destruction. On Vodnik Square (Vodnikov trg), an old monastery, which contained a girls diocesan college and a library, was sufficiently damaged that it had to be razed, and the site eventually was turned into an outdoor market (Ljubljana Central Market, Osrednja ljubljanska tržnica), now an important site in the city.


Ljubljana Central Market

Buildings

National and University Library of Slovenia (NUK)

The National and University Library established in 1774, it is one of the most important national educational and cultural institutions of Slovenia. It is located in the centre of Ljubljana, in a building designed by the architect Jože Plečnik in the years 1930–1931 and constructed between 1936–1941. The building is considered one of the greatest achievements by Plečnik. According to the Mandatory Publications Copy Act, issuers are bound to submit a copy of each publication they publish to the National and University Library. There have been significant problems with a lack of space and a new modern building has been planned to be built in the vicinity.


The National and University Library of Slovenia

Ljublijana Castle

Ljubljana Castle is a medieval castle in Ljubljana. It is located on Castle Hill, overlooking the old town. At the end of the 1960s, the long and extensive renovation works started. The whole renovation took more than 35 years. In the 1990s, the use of the castle as a place for weddings and cultural events began. The Ljubljana Castle funicular, a funicular railway to the top of Castle Hill, was built in 2006 and brought to service on 28 December 2006. The hill also features a 1974 monument by the sculptor Stojan Batič dedicated to the Slovene peasant revolts. It is also a tourist attraction. The remains of the fortifications on Castle Hill were reworked into a promenade called Šance, designed -again- by the Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik.

Ljublijana Castle, with the railway

Slovene National Theatre

The building was previously named the Provincial Theatre and was built between 1890 and 1892 in the Neo-Renaissance style by the Czech architects Jan Vladimír Hráský and Anton Hruby. Before the construction of the German Theatre, the present Slovene National Theatre (SNG), in 1911, the building served as a venue for productions in both Slovenian and German, and afterwards only in Slovenian.

Fronton of the SNG

The facade of the Opera House has Ionic columns supporting a tympanum above the entrance and has two niches at the side adorned with allegorical statues of Tragedy and Comedy by sculptor Alojzij Gangl.



Last couple of years, the Theatre has been upgraded to modern standerds. They extended and enlarged the building with something that looks like a big black box.





Slovene national theatre (Before upgrade)

Slovene national theatre (after upgrade)

sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1895_Ljubljana_earthquake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_and_University_Library_of_Slovenia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ljubljana_Castle
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=679724
https://maps.google.nl/maps
Unsourced photos provided by Levi van der Heijden

 

Difference between buildings in Slovenia

Map of Europe, 1900

The most widespread style for houses after WWII is the socialistic style: high gray blocks in cities. On the countryside people are building similar houses as in US and in rest of Europe. It is also very popular to build enviromentally friendly houses . The most important Slovenian architects are Joze Plecnik, Maks Fabjani, Edvard Ravnikar, Vladimir Subic etcetera. They got their inspiration in big cities of the Austrian Empire especially in Vienna and Prague. They made almost all important buildings in Ljubljana, Maribor, Goriza etcetera. An important influenced for buildings and houses is that thezstill have relief. In mountains area house are higher than in Great Hungary plain. Here houses are bigger and lower. Houses at seaside are usually build in Italian style, because Italians live in that area too.



Map of Slovenia, 1900

There are different styles in different parts of the country, because the landscape of slovenia is very diverse. In the north-west, there are mainly mountains, and in the south-west there are marshes. People have to make different houses because of pracitcal reasons. Also, in the very north-east of slovenia, you`ll see rather different styles than the rest of slovenia. This is because that part has a completely different culture. In this north-east part, the architecture is similar to the styles in Hungary, and in the rest of slovenia you`ll find a lot of similarities with Austria and Germany. This is because in the past, those two were part of these two countries.

sources:
http://fccorn.people.wm.edu/images/EuropeMap-1900.jpg
http://www.llmap.org/images/EastCentralEurope/SourceMap_Page99.jpg