Friday May 24 turned into a beautiful day with a high of 22C. We walked to Prešeren Square to meet up with our 11:00 a.m. Free Tour.
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| We walked over Cobblers' Bridge, built by architect Jože Plečnik between 1931-32. Previously, there had been a covered wooden bridge connecting two squares. The old bridge provided space for cobblers' workshops, hence the name Cobblers' bridge. Note: Plečnik's classical columns. |
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| There was a youth orchestra playing to raise funds |
Our tour guide, Tina, provided us some history of Slovenia. There are only 2.1 million people in the country. The country is on the crossroads of Slavic, Germanic and Romance languages and cultures.
She explained that there are different climates and different cultural elements in Slovenia. The common factor is the Slovene language. In the north are the Alps with a colder climate and a heavier meat diet. In the southwest, there is a Mediterranean climate and the food is more influenced by Italy. The rest of Slovenia has a continental climate (hot summers and cold winters) and has more of an Austrian diet. While Slovenia existed as a country centuries ago, it has been under Roman, Byzantine, Hungarian, Italian, French, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. It was then a part of Yugoslavia (first the Kingdom) and then Communist regime (post WWII), until 1991. During WWII it was occupied first by the Italians and then the Nazis.
Tina indicated that in June 1991, it only took 10 days for Slovenia to gain its independence from Yugoslavia. It became independent on June 25, 1991 following a December 1990 vote, where 88% of the electorate voted for independence. On June 27, the Yugoslav People's Army dispatched its forces to prevent further measures being taken for the establishment of a new country. After the Ten Day War, a truce was negotiated for a 3 1/2 month halt of the enforcement of Slovenia's independence. At the end of that period, the last Yugoslav Army soldiers left Slovenia. In December 1991, a new Constitution was adopted and in January 1992, the EU recognised Slovenia as an independent country.
Tina also told us a bit more about the statue of France Prešeren (1800-1849), the greatest Slovenian poet. His poem,
A Toast, is the Slovenian anthem. There is also an annual poetry reading in the Square every February of Prešeren's works. She also pointed out that the female figure is nude on top (it represents the Muse). When the sculpture was unveiled in 1905, it outraged the Church folks in the pink church across the square. The compromise was to plant some trees so that the statue could not be seen from the church.
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| Prešeren statue with the Muse |
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| The Plečnik designed Triple bridge--- there was one original stone bridge dating back to 1842. Plečnik added two other bridges in 1931 to deal with the increased traffic in the area. Now all this area (since 2004) has been pedestrianized. |
We walked to the nearby Central Market.
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| Dragon Bridge--the city's symbol |
We passed by the Cathedral- Church of St. Nicholas. The Cathedral was erected between 1701-1708.
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| Ljubljana Cathedral- beautiful fresco outside |
We spent some time in front of one of the two beautiful bronze doors that were created in 1996 to commemorate the visit of Pope John Paul II. The western door by sculptor Tone Demšar marks 1250 years of Christianity in Slovenia.
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Pope John Paul II is at the top of the door. The door portrays the history of Christianity from the bottom to the top. The bottom of the door shows some archaeology that represents pre-Christian times. The large tree is the Linden Tree, the national tree of Slovenia. The horsemen on the left represent the Crusaders and the horseman on the right with a turban represents the Ottoman Empire kidnapping young boys. Ljubljana, never fell under Ottoman rule, despite being under siege multiple times. he books above the horsemen represent the first books printed in Slovene in the mid 16th century. There are then three heads representing bishops and important men in Slovenia's religious history. The section under John Paul II pictures a crowd facing away on the left representing the atrocities of the 20th century. The other side shows happy people smiling, representing Slovenia's day of independence. One person is giving the pope a carnation, the symbolic flower of peace as the Vatican was the first state to recognise Slovenia's independence in 1991.  | The other 1996 bronze door on the Cathedral is called the "Ljubljana door". It depicts images of local bishops from the 20th century with Christ in the foreground.
It is by Mirsad Begić, the artist whose painting we just purchased! |
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We stopped for a few minutes in front of the Town Hall. The first building erected on this site in 1484 was rebuilt in 1718. Tina told us the Town Hall has a number of free art exhibits.
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| The Town Hall |
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| Looking down the street, full of shops and restaurants |
We walked across the Cobblers' bridge.
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| Cobblers' Bridge |
We stopped to admire the National and University Library built by Joże Plečnik between 1936-4, which is considered to be the architect's most important work in Slovenia. Tina said the outside design was like a carpet. It also has a beautiful reading room, that one can visit only on Saturday afternoons during the school year.
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The Library--- we have walked by this a number of times on the way to the Novak Gallery
and en route to the Main Square.
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Our final stop on the tour was the main building of the University of Ljubljana. It is the oldest and largest higher education institution in Slovenia founded in 1919. Today it is attended by around 40,000 students. Tina told us that tuition is entirely free. The reason for this was that under Tito, all education including University was free, and that when Slovenia become independent in 1991, the populace demanded that education be kept free.
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| University of Ljubljana administrative building |
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| Slovenian Philharmonic building across from the University building |
The tour ended at 1:00 p.m. We decided to have lunch at "Open Kitchen", in the area just in front of the fruit and vegetable market area. "Open Kitchen (Odprta Kuhna)" takes place on Fridays from spring through fall and features creations by Slovenian chefs. What is interesting is that only brick-and motor restaurants can have a stall, and they must create a street-food type dish (or several). It's a melting pot of culinary Slovenia. There are a number of shared tables nearby to sit and eat. It runs from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Open Kitchen first started in 2013 and is extremely popular.
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| Allan and I shared a dish of šmorn (Slovenian shredded pancake) with a fruit sauce |
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| Poster promoting the chef |
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| Lots of folks having lunch |
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| Another shot of the mostly locals enjoying lunch |
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| Seating area |
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| Our second dish was from the Bao stall- yum |
We walked back to the City Hall, first stopping at the design Store IKA, which was in a beautiful Baroque building.
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| Canonry House, before 1600, Early Baroque façade with paintings |
We dropped by the Town Hall to check out the inside and the art shows.
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| Town Hall-- three flags of EU, Slovenia and Ljubljana fly outside |
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| Sculpture and art inside |
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| Beautiful walls and artefacts |
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| European Green Capital Award 2016 |
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| Access City 2017 Award |
It was then time for a coffee. We went to Cafetino, first opened in 2001. They serve their own blend as well as 30 other single origin beans from all over the world.
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Cafetino
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| Lots of beans to choose from |
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| Allan with his flat white. I had an iced coffee with oat milk. |
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| Just outside the door |
We then walked south for about 15 minutes to the Plečnik House, the home designed by Joże Plečnik (1872-1957), the most important architect from Ljubljana who also worked in Vienna and Prague. Ljubljana is one of the few cities that have been so profoundly market by a single architect.
Plečnik House is a complex of houses that were initially intended as family living quarters. His brother Andrej bought the first house in 1915 when Joże Plečnik was still a professor in Prague. Joże moved to the house in 1921 when he returned to Ljubljana as a professor at the newly established Department of Architecture at the Ljubljana Technical School. At the time that he was planning and managing the Prague Castle renovation as the chief architect, he also planned the renovation of the house in Trnovo (a separate small village, now part of Ljubljana).
It was supposed to be a home for all Plečniks siblings (he had two brothers and a sister - his parents had passed away). He added a cylindrical annex with two round rooms on two storeys. He also bought the neighbouring house and added a garden to his home as well as an original winter garden, which he also designed. He had planned separate living quarters for both brothers, his sister and her family and himself, and a common kitchen where the family could meet. While the plans were realized, he spent most of the rest of his life in the house by himself.
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| Signage for the House |
There were two sections to the house. One part was an exhibit with details of Plečniks life, some pieces he designed, and pictures of some of his main works. The second floor of the exhibit featured works of architects influenced by Plečnik. The exhibition was free and included a visit to the gardens. To see the main part of the house where he lived, one had to join a tour that had a maximum of seven people. We had hoped to be on the 4:00 p.m. tour, but it was fully booked. We got a ticket to the 5:00 p.m. tour and then spent a delightful hour touring the free exhibit and going out to the garden. This turned out to be the perfect way of seeing the house.
After Plečnik's death in 1957, his legacy was carefully taken care of by his nephew, Karel Matkovič. Upon the nephew's death, the property and all the original furnishings were purchased by the City of Ljubljana. The house first opened to the general public as a museum in 1974. It was renovated between 2013-2015.
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| Dateline and pictures as well as his major works in the three cities of Vienna, Prague and Ljubljana |
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| Highlights of Plečnik's life |
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| Triple Bridge |
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| The family |
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| Reading room in the National and University Library- he conceived the Library as a temple of learning. It was built from 1936-1941 |
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| Main Market building 1940-42 |
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One part of the back of the house
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| The back of the house-- winter garden on the right |
The circular addition to the house
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| Incredible garden-- when Plečnik moved here, there were just surrounding fields. |
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The amazing garden-- when Plečnik lived here,
he allowed his neighbours to grow vegetables there |
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| View from the garden to the adjoining 19th century Trnovo Church. Plečnik was a friend of the Parish priest and wouldn't let the Church built a fence-- only the trees that are presently the acted as a divide. |
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| One of the add on rooms |
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| Garden full of recycled pieces- top of the fence from old sewage pipes |
The tour started at 5:00 p.m., just outside the small gallery shop where there was a model of the house which Plečnik designed. The guide pointed out the design of the added sections.
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| One side of the model of the house |
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| Model of the house with added section at the back |
We first entered a room full of items that Plečnik collected. The guide pointed out the columns which Plečnik had brought home from a project he worked on. They are not used to support the roof here, but are merely decorative.
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| Lots of interesting artefacts in the entrance room |
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| Pictures taken of the rooms at the time of Plečnik's death in 1957 |
We then went into the very spartan kitchen, which had a number of chairs designed by Plečnik.
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| Furniture in the kitchen |
Our Guide pointed out the small stove where Plečnik would make his morning coffee. Right next to the stove was a chair with a seat that lifted up, where he kept sketching supplies. He could also sketch while having his coffee. The chair was purposely not too comfortable, so he would have to get up and move to his work space to start working right away.
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| Chair next to the stove |
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| Picture of the kitchen from 1957 |
We then went up to his workroom and bedroom in the circular part of the building. Lots of interesting items.
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| Work area |
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| Bed- apparently too short for him, but purposely made that way so he wouldn't spend much time in it |
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| Coat and decorations-- a friend who was living in the US sent him the Japanese prints |
We then went into a very small room, where Plečnik used to greet guests. He had installed some stained glass to not allow folks to peer in. On his desk was one of the awards the City of Ljubljana gave to him. Our guide said that Plečnik himself designed the award.
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| Small room- the hammer shaped piece on the desk was the award |
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| A dragon piece on the desk |
We went upstairs to a round room which was Plečnik's atelier. This room had originally been designed as a bedroom for a family member, but his brothers and sister never really moved in, so Plečnik turned it into a workspace. All the furniture was custom made by him and/or his students and tricky to fit into the circular space. Plečnik was an early recycler and repurposed a lot of items. He was a smoker, and even drew on used cigarette packs.
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| The circular atelier- lots of windows with garden views |
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| Heater located near the guide |
We then went downstairs to the last room- a small winter garden.
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View from his winter garden (built 1929-30)-- he even had a heater. During WWII when the University was closed, he used to teach students in this space. There was an entrance from the garden.
We went out into the garden, which we had already seen. We were both very glad we had visited Plečnik House. It really felt like one was entering Plečnik's world and the wonderful space he had designed. |
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| The outside of the house from the street- most unassuming |
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| The nearby Plečnik designed bridge |
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| View back on the Trnovo Church |
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| We passed a number of large communal vegetable/herb gardens |
We headed back to the apartment to drop our bags and head out to the Novak Gallery opening. It is so fortuitous that our Airbnb is just about an eight minute walk away from the Gallery.
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| We passed by the Plečnik designed National and University Library-- this time we recognised his signature columns (they are everywhere in Plečnik's works). |
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| I love this view of the green trees and castle from the square one over from the Gallery |
Our destination was the opening of the Mirsad Bergić exhibit. The event started at 6:00 p.m. and we got there around 6:30 p.m. The gallery was buzzing. Lots of folks mingling outside with their champagne and lots inside. At the back corner, the artist was seated, signing books and talking to folks. Lots of media there as well. Tatania had told us to ask for Peter Novak, the gallery owner's son. We found him in the small office and we were treated like royalty. He immediately gave us a hard copy of a book of the artists' work and then ushered us over to where Bergić was seated to get it signed.
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| The crowd inside |
Well, it turned out that we were getting a piece of art drawn in our copy of the book.
When we first came in, we had seen him doing a drawing for another client.
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| The start of the drawing for us |
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Bergić uses coffee as an accent--- he dipped his fingers in the coffee and applied to our drawing.
He often mixes coffee into his paints as well.
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| The picture developing |
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| Signing the picture |
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He asked for my name and added it to the picture--
he has Parkinson's now but is still managing to draw |
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| The brilliant final product (he said to let it dry for a few minutes). |
We also met the gallery owner, who had us pose for a picture with him and two others from the gallery for the media. What a fabulous experience meeting the artist and having him draw the picture.
We then walked back up to the Open Kitchen event in the market area. Once we got there, we found it a bid too packed and decided that we would prefer to sit down comfortably and have a more leisurely dinner.
We are also here during the third edition of Ljubljana Art Weekend, a four day celebration of the arts with many free events. We are only here for four nights and really wish we had a few more days to spend in this beautiful city. Friday was a very full day but most enjoyable.
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