Ljubljana

Cultural sights

Plečnik's Ljubljana

The Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik (1872-1957) left a lasting mark on three central European cities: Vienna, Prague and Ljubljana. According to Friedrich Achleitner, a renowned art critic from Vienna, Plečnik with his singular style may come to be considered an architect of the future.

After 1921, Plečnik contributed most significantly to the character of his native Ljubljana, the nation's new capital, which he tried to model on ancient Athens. His style is characterised by the use of classical architectural elements such as columns, lintels, balustrades and colonnettes, combined and reinterpreted in his own distinctive way. The so called Plečnik's Ljubljana as a unique example of urban planning rates among the 20th century's most prominent total works of art.
 

Mestna hiša (Magistrat, Rotovž) / Town Hall

Mestni trg 1, 1000 Ljubljana
T: +386 (0)1 306 10 20
http://www.ljubljana.si

Ljubljana's Town Hall (locally referred to as Mestna hiša, Magistrat or Rotovž), is used as the seat of the Municipality of Ljubljana. It was built in the late 15th century by the master builder Peter Bezlaj. It assumed its present appearance between 1717 and 1719, when an annexe designed by Carlo Martinuzzi was added to it by the master builder Gregor Macek Snr. Later the building was alterated several times, the most thoroughly by the architect Svetozar Križaj in 1963.

The Town Hall façade reflects Venetian architectural influences. The vestibule provides space for a late Gothic plaque with a coat of arms surviving from the original Town Hall building and a 17th century statue of Hercules with a lion, previously a part of the Hercules Fountain which used to stand in the middle of the nearby Stari trg square. In the Town Hall's arched courtyard stands Francesco Robba's Narcissus Fountain (Narcisov vodnjak) from Bokalce Castle (Grad Bokalce). Next to the staircase there is a monument in memory of Ivan Hribar (1851-1941), a famous mayor of Ljubljana.

Robba Fountain (The Fountain of Three Carniolan Rivers)
Mestni trg,Ljubljana

The Robba Fountain, one of Ljubljana's best known Baroque monuments, also known as The Fountain of Three Carniolan Rivers, stands at the edge of the Mestni trg square. It was created between 1743 and 1751 by the Venetian-born sculptor and architect Francesco Robba (1698-1757), who spent most of his life in Ljubljana and is considered to be the city's greatest Baroque master sculptor working in stone.

The Robba Fountain is modelled on famous Roman fountains. The sculptures of three river gods adorning it are believed to represent three Carniolan rivers: the Sava, the Ljubljanica and the Krka. The Fountain's ground plan is shaped in the form of Ljubljana's ancient three-leaf town seal.

The Fountain of Three Carniolan Rivers was Robba's last work in Ljubljana. While sculpting it, he became poor and as soon as the work was finished he moved to Zagreb.

Mestni muzej Ljubljana / City Museum of Ljubljana

Gosposka ulica 15, 1000 Ljubljana
T: +386 (0)1 24 12 500
F: +386 (0)1 24 12 540
info@mm-lj.si
http://www.mm-lj.si
 

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00. Mondays, 25-26 December and 1 January closed.

Visitors to the City Museum of Ljubljana can admire the Renaissance architectural features of the palatial museum building, take a walk along a 1st century Roman road or meet the Underwater Troll in the "Search.for.Yourself" exhibition room.

The Museum keeps the world's oldest wooden wheel with an axel, dated 3500 BC, which is currently being restored and is not on view to the public. To round off the tour of the renovated four-storey museum building, visitors can stop at the museum café for refreshment, in the museum's atrium to taste a culinary delight or at the museum shop to buy a souvenir.

Permanent Exhibition Faces of Ljubljana

The City Museum of Ljubljana's permanent exhibition, entitled Faces of Ljubljana, is dedicated to the life and history of Ljubljana. The city is shown both as a place for living and the country's economic, political, administrative and creative centre. Several exhibition sections feature selected images of Ljubljana and famous personalities living in it in different periods of history.
 

Zmajski most / Dragon Bridge

The Dragon Bridge across the Ljubljanica river was built to replace an old wooden bridge built in 1819 and known as the Butchers' Bridge (Mesarski most). For economy reasons, the municipal authorities, who commissioned the building of a new bridge, decided to finance a reinforced concrete construction instead of a more expensive and less fashionable stone one.

Built between 1900 and 1901, the Dragon Bridge, originally named Jubilee Bridge (Jubilejni most), is one of Ljubljana's most typical examples of Art Nouveau architecture. It is Slovenia's first bridge paved with asphalt, Ljubljana's first reinforced concrete bridge and one of the earliest reinforced concrete bridges in Europe. Its designer was Professor Josef Melan, a famous engineer specializing in reinforced concrete bridge engineering and the father of the theory underlying static calculations for large arched bridges.

The Art Nouveau appearance of the Dragon Bridge is due to the Dalmatian architect Jurij Zaninovic, who studied under Professor Otto Wagner. He designed the Bridge's decorative concrete covering, balustrades and sheet-copper dragon statues, which became a symbol of Ljubljana. Zaninovic's original design envisaged winged lions instead of dragons. The lamps on the balustrades, which used to be fuelled by gas, are part of the Bridge's original decoration.

Prešernov trg square

The Prešernov trg square developed from a road junction in front of one of the city gates leading to medieval Ljubljana. Next to the junction, a Franciscan church of the Annunciation was built in the 17th century, but the junction was turned into a square and paved only after the city walls were pulled down in the middle of the 19th century.

In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of 1895 the square saw the building of several bourgeois palaces: Frisch House (Frischova hiša) and Seunig House (Seunigova hiša) at the lower end of the Copova ulica street, the building currently housing the Centralna lekarna pharmacy, Urbanc House (Urbanceva hiša), Hauptman House (Hauptmanova hiša) and Mayer Palace (Mayerjeva palaca), the latter built thirty years after the earthquake. Across the river from the square, Filip Mansion (Filipov dvorec) and the Kresija municipal office building were built by the Graz-based architect Leopold Theyer.

The first decade of the 20th century saw the Art Nouveau refurbishment of Hauptman House and the building of Urbanc House (Centromerkur), one of Ljubljana's most beautiful Art Nouveau buildings, wich housed the city's first department store. Between the two World Wars, as a final touch to the square, the Mayer department store was built on the south side of the square. When the architect Jože Plecnik's Triple Bridge was built, the square extended to the other side of the Ljubljanica river and assumed its present appearance.

The squares' Prešeren Monument, designed by the architect Maks Fabiani and the sculptor Ivan Zajc, was unveiled in the autumn of 1905. It depicts the greatest Slovenian poet, France Prešeren (1800-1849), and the muse of poetry holding a spring of laurel above his head. The poet's statue is symbolically faced by the statue of Julija Primic, his great love, mounted on the fasade of a building located across the square, in the Wolfova ulica street.