Plečnik's Ljubljana

A Brief Look at the City's Architectural Master...

When I first came to live in Ljubljana, a friend wrote and asked if I had fallen in love with Plečnik yet – a very perceptive question to which she would know the answer. Ljubljana’s remarkable beauty is a monument to Jože Plečnik’s love of his native city. His prodigious achievements as town-planner, architect and designer are all-pervasive and have meant that his name will always be linked to that of his beloved city – ‘Plečnik’s Ljubljana’ is a term commonly used. What greater tribute could be paid to Plečnik’s undisputed inspiration and innovation?

It is largely thanks to Plečnik (1872-1957) that we can enjoy living in a well-planned and pedestrian-friendly city with tree-lined streets and classical forms and dimensions. Plečnik, most prolific during the inter-war period, set about creating his own little ‘Athens’. Early in his career in Vienna, Plečnik successfully translated Secessionist lines into dramatic expressionism and then began to develop his own very unique style, not paying a great deal of attention to fashion movements in architecture and town planning. In the 20’s and 30’s, these favoured more functional design and tended to give priority to the icons of the technical age such as the motor car, but Plečnik favoured classicism and paid greater attention to the needs and well-being of the individual. His eclecticism and individuality tended to alienate him from the mainstream of modern architecture, however, in the 1980’s Plečnik’s vision and authority was endorsed when he was ‘rediscovered’ and heralded as a prophet of post-modernism. According to Dr. Krečič, the Director of the Architectural Museum at Fužine Grad, "Plečnik’s Ljubljana, in its planning, execution and quality, is a world architectural and urban planning phenomenon."

When Plečnik began work in Ljubljana, the city already had the aspect of a planned city, thanks to the work of Maks Fabiani, who devised a plan following the 1895 earthquake, and the city also had a decidedly classical feel to it with its extensive Baroque architecture. Plečnik greatly enhanced these aspects of the cityscape by implementing detailed plans he had drawn up in 1928 and by introducing elements of Greek and Roman architecture as well as Byzantine, Islamic, ancient Egyptian and local folklore motifs. In spite of the fact that Plečnik did not succeed in completing every aspect of his master plan, he achieved a high level of homogeneity by ensuring that every element of his design complemented the whole and by paying great attention to every design detail – from chair to chalice, from pillar to paving stone and from plant to park bench.

The tour of Plečnik’s Ljubljana given below should take about 2 hours and serves as a useful introduction to Plečnik’s work in the capital. It is a little taster to build up your appetite to seek out in Ljubljana and elsewhere other ‘Plečnik treasures’, be they monumental edifices or church furnishings.

A good place to begin a tour of "Plečnik’s Ljubljana" is Plečnik’s house in the Trnovo section of Ljubljana. In fact, one of his pupils, Dušan Gabrijan, strongly suggests that the architect formulated his plan for the city using his home as a vantage point. This is quite plausible given that Plečnik developed his main ‘land axis’ into the centre of the city via Trnovo Bridge and Emonska cesta . This runs more or less parallel to his ‘water axis’ via the Ljubljanica River.

The house at Karunova ulica 4, which now houses the Architectural Museum’s Plečnik Collection (open Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am-2pm) is well worth a visit. It reveals the rather monastic surroundings that Plečnik lived in for almost 40 years. He added an interesting, round, two-storey extension to the house and organised it in such a way that he and his two brothers and sister could live communal yet independent lives; but Plečnik ended up living there alone, apart from a brief period when he shared with his brother, Janez.. Following Plečnik’s death in 1957, his nephew, Karel Matkovič, ensured that his uncle’s effects and rooms be preserved for posterity. Plečnik’s religious fervour, asceticism and dedication to his art and to his students becomes evident as you are taken on a tour of the house and its surrounds.

In front of the house stands the church of St. John the Baptist (1855) and it is from there that we begin to see Plečnik’s plan unfolding. He created a semi-circle of porphyritic stone in front of the church that is reminiscent of a landing. This leads us to Trnovo Bridge, designed by Plečnik. He endowed the bridge, which spans the Gradaščica creek, with some rather unusual design features: a pair of pyramids stand at either end of the bridge mirroring the twin spires of the church, an obelisk is centrally positioned on the bridge’s eastern side and a statue of the patron saint of the church stands proud on the other. The bridge also boasts another rare characteristic – birch trees are actually growing on it.

The banks of the Gradaščica were also a subject of Plečnik’s attention. He created gentle slopes, had trees (notably chestnuts) and hedges planted and constructed stairs leading down to the river to accommodate the washerwomen of Trnovo and Krakovo on the other side of the river, the oldest of the city’s suburbs, inhabited by people who worked the land and rivers. You can see the stairs, a little overgrown now, if you turn right along the river. If you go further along to the confluence of the Gradaščica and the Ljubljanica, you will see Plečnik’s wonderful, long parallel lines of gently sloping steps overhung by graceful willows that adorn the banks of the Ljubljanica.

Getting back to Trnovo Bridge, we head north towards the city centre along Emonska cesta where we touch the corner of the old walls of the Roman city of Emona at a street called Mirje after the Latin murus. Turning left into this street we come to the restored remains of the southern part of the Roman wall (at the junction of Mirje and Barjanska cesta). Plečnik had urged the city authorities to preserve the wall and had incorporated it into his city plans. He finally got his wish – he was requested to renovate the wall in 1938. He actually added his own structures to it which would probably be against the rules of p.c. restoration today. He constructed a cross-vaulted square structure to serve as a lapidary (space for the storage of stone architectural remains) and decorated the three openings in the wall – he put a pyramid (a replica of Rome’s Centius pyramid) over one, lined a second with rough hewn pillars and arranged semi-circular steps in the third. The grass growing on top of the wall is not accidental, Plečnik wanted to create a soft green undulating effect and intended to have all his structures covered in greenery. Inside the wall he created a park as a recreational area for students of the nearby Technical School, where he taught between the wars. Plečnik would probably be happy to see the students of today enjoying his work – they tend to use the pyramid as a climbing frame.

Heading north via Barjanska we come to the junction with Aškerčeva cesta. Going east we come back to Emonska cesta. From this point we can look down Coyzova cesta towards the river to see more of Plečnik’s landscaping. Zoisova links Plečnik’s ‘land axis’ to his ‘water axis’. On the north side of the street, Plečnik created a park area in front of the walls of the old monastery of Križanke. Near the junction with Emonska cesta, he erected a statue of the poet Aškerc (by Nikolaj Pirnat, 1956). Much earlier, in 1927, he constructed yet another pyramid at the other end of the street. It was to act as a ‘link’ to the spires of the church on the other side of the Ljubljanica River. In addition to this, in 1954, Plečnik designed a canopy over the main entrance to the Faculty of Architecture, which stands on the south side of the street. Plečnik taught at the school from 1945 to 1947.

Going north along Emonska we arrive at trg Francoske Revolucije where, in 1929, an anniversary year, Plečnik erected a monument to the period of the Illyrian Province (1809-13) celebrating a time when the Slovenes (under French rule in Napoleon's time) were allowed a greater degree of self determination than in the past, particularly concerning language. The monument takes the form of a square obelisk topped with the emblem of Illyria with the head of Napoleon on one side and the personification of Illyria as a maiden on the other. It contains the remains of one of Napoleon’s unknown soldiers. Towards the top of the obelisk is a piece of stone that juts out a little. There is a story behind this that illustrates the excellent relationship and empathy Plečnik had with his craftsmen, himself having begun his career as a cabinet maker. The story goes that one of the craftsmen broke a piece of stone and was about to discard it when Plečnik stopped him, saying it should be made an integral part of the obelisk. It was to serve as an example as to how we should make virtues from our mistakes.

Turning to the right we come to the entrance of the Križanke complex, a wonderful, rough, stone structure now mainly used for Ljubljana’s annual summer festival. In medieval times it was a monastery, home to a Teutonic Order. Plečnik was requested, when he was in his eighties (1952-6), to adapt it into a summer theatre. He introduced arches, balustrades, columns and folklore motifs as wall decorations. The west side of the interior courtyard is particularly characteristic of his work with its ornamental lighting and pergola (open roof or cross-rafter supported on columns) on the upper terrace. He also created a new lapidary on the east side of the Baroque church in the complex and, typically, he created a park area along the western exterior wall. Another story shows that the intense Plečnik had a sense of humour and irony. He had put in a lot of lighting, particularly in one of the internal courtyards,called Hell Yard, and was asked by one of his workmen if all these lights were necessary. He replied that the communists needed ‘enlightening’. On the eastern side of the main courtyard we also find two pillars decorated with a hammer and sickle in juxtaposition to a statue of Christ.

Returning to the Illyrian monument we go north and take a very pleasant walk along Vegova ulica, laid out by Plečnik. Dr. Krečič describes this streetscape as "one of Plečnik’s finest city compositions". But alas, since we are out of space in this article, we will need to continue with part two of our Plečnik tour in the forthcoming November-December issue of Ljubljana Life. And if you simply cannot wait 'til then, why not just arrange a tour for yourself!

First of all, we notice a pergola containing a statue of the poet Simon Gregorčič, which sets the tone for the whole of the landscaped area running along the front of the National and University Library and the School of Music. Plečnik renovated the old renaissance wall and topped it off with a majestic line of trees and busts of composers crowning simple square pedestals.

We must linger a little in front of the 5-storey National and University Library building. Some take exception to the exterior appearance of this massive edifice, others consider it to be a symphony of brick and stone. The general consensus is, however, that it is the most important work of Plečnik’s entire Ljubljana opus. It was built on the site of the Baroque palace belonging to the Counts of Turjak that was destroyed during the 1895 earthquake, and its design is based on the Zaccaria Villa in Rome. Plečnik had a great reverence for learning and tried to design a building to befit its vocation. The enormous windows in the east and west walls of the reading room, technological wonders in their own right, represented to him the revelation of learning. The beautiful long, dark Podpec marble staircase (visible through the main door in Turjaška street) leading to the reading room is a possible metaphor for passing from the darkness of ignorance to light of wisdom.

At the end of Vegova cesta we arrive at Kongresni trg, created in 1821 on the grounds of a former Capuchin monastery for the Ljubljana Congress, which decided the fate of post-Napoleonic Europe. Plečnik partially redesigned the square. The ugly car park stretching between the Ursuline church on the west side of the square and the Academia Philharmonica on the east replaces Plečnik’s original paved walkway, which had a string of elegant street lamps running down its length in line with Robba’s Holy Trinity statue (which Plečnik had moved to the front of the Ursuline Church). Plečnik also replaced the chestnut trees in Zvezde (Star) Park – an integral part of the square – with sycamores, surrounded it with stone bollards and furnished it with a weather station (now removed) a small round structure with columns which is in line with the Illyrian monument, a simple classic fountain (by Boris Kobe) and, in 1953, he placed in the north-west corner of the square a monument depicting a child with a wreath in its hand (by Bozo Pengov) celebrating the women’s wartime demonstration of 1943.

A staircase (Gledališka stoba) on the west side of the square by the side of the Academia takes us to the Ljubljanica River. The stylised street lamp on the staircase is unmistakably Plečnik’s. From the riverside we can see the very elegant rear of the Academia Philharmonica, another Plečnik design, and we can begin to explore, what is for me Plečnik’s piece de resistance, the tree-lined banks of the Ljubljanica River, with its bridges and quayside market area.

Heading north along the river we come to a wooden bridge constructed in recent years but which had been part of Plečnik’s plan as evidenced by the staircase leading to Kongresni trg he had constructed to the left of the bridge. Finally we come to the unique Triple Bridge (Tromstovje most). The old central bridge was found to be too small and Plečnik was commissioned to find a solution – he made the inspired decision to add pedestrian bridges on either side of the existing one. All the bridges are decorated with attractive balustrades and tall sensually shaped street lamps. There are descending staircases on the new bridges, which lead to the lower terraces of the embankment. You could be forgiven for thinking that the Triple Bridge reminds you of Venice – Plečnik was inspired by that great city. Ingeniously he also had poplar trees planted on lower ledges of the west side of the embankment so as only the branches can be seen.

We cross the bridge here and looking left we catch a glimpse of the wonderful vista of the open loggias (arcaded gallery) of the market buildings designed by Plečnik in the 40’s. At the near end is a small Greek temple-like structure that is used as a florist shop. It is a fitting end to the classic form of the market buildings. The structure is mirrored on the other side of the river by a smaller ‘little temple' that houses a tobacconist’s, adding symmetry to the whole composition. The wonderful fish and meat shops are housed in the lower level of the market building just above the water level. You may notice a gap in the middle of the market buildings roughly mid-way between the Triple Bridge and the Dragon Bridge where Plečnik had intended to have a Butchers' Bridge constructed.

Heading south again along the banks of the river we arrive at Plečnik’s Shoemakers’ Bridge. It is crowned with Plečnik’s ‘trademark’ columns; there are six pairs of them topped with spheres. This is the site of a medieval Butchers’ Bridge, which later became inhabited by shoemakers since the local inhabitants complained of the stench coming from the butchers' shops. Plečnik intentionally made his bridge wide, creating a sort of town square effect where people could gather together, a vocation very much fulfilled today.

Turning left away from the river we come to Stari trg, and if we go right down this street we come to St. James’ Church. Unfortunately, it is shrouded by a curtain of poplar trees put there purposely by Plečnik who did not like its façade. He was commissioned between the wars to reorganise St. Jacob’s Square (Levstikov trg) to the far side of the church. He bordered the square with stone spheres and surrounded it with plane trees. In it he placed a fountain and a restored statue of the Virgin Mary which he surrounded by statues of saints and set aloft a slender pillar.

That takes us to the end of our tour of the principal landmarks on Plečnik’s ‘terrestrial and river routes’ through the city – just a little flirtation with the great master!

The Old Technical School (1920-21), Aškerčeva 9

Plečnik’s House (1924-30), Karunova 4

Home of Spiritual Retreat (1924-25)

The Church of St. Francis (1924-5), Verovškova ulica

Trg OF (1920’s) (in front of the railway station)

The Ljubljana Stadium (1925-40), Dunajska cesta

The Chamber of Commerce, Craft and Industry building, now used for the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia (1925-27),

Cojzova Street with Levstikov trg (1926-27)

Levstikov trg (St. Jacob’s Square) (1926-38)

The Mutual Assurance Building (1928-40) now used by the Triglav Insurance Company, Miklošičeva 19

The Illyrian or Napoleon Monument (1929), trg frankoske revolucije

The banks of the Ljubljanica and Gradaščica, bridges and stairways (1929-33) including the Shoemakers Bridge and the Triple Bridge

Pogačarjev trg (1929-30) (in front of St. Nicholas’s Cathedral)

Kongresni trg with Zvezda Park (1929-40)

Vegova ulica (1929-42)

Trnovo Bridge (1931-32)

The Peglezen building (1932-34), Poljanska 1

Tivoli Park (c.1933)

Slajmerjev Park (1933)

The area around St. Florian’s church (1933-34), Gornji trg

St. Cyril and Methodius’ Church (1933-34, 1958), Kuzmičeva ulica 6

The sacristy and surrounds of St.Bartholomew’s Church (Sv. Jerneja)(1933-36), Celovška cesta

The Sance (Outer Bailey) fortifications, Ljubljana Castle (1935)

Rear of the Academia Philharmonica (1937), Kongresni trg 10

The Church of St. Michael in the Marsh (1936-39), Črna vas 48

Memorial buildings in the Žale cemetery (1936-40), Žale

National and University Library (1936-41), Turjaška 1

Roman City Wall (1938), Mirje

Baraga’s Seminary (1938-41), Akademski kolegij, Viharjeva 13

Abrožev trg (1940)

The Market (1940-42), Adamic-Lundrovo nabrezje

The Ursuline Grammar School (1939-41), Šubičeva 1

Hrvatski trg (1938-39)

The Sluice Gates on the Ljubljanica (1939-44)

Križanke, Trg Francoske Revolucije 2 (1952-56)

Tombstones in the graveyard at the Church of the Holy Cross (Sv. Kriz) (including the Plečnik family grave)

Memorials to national liberation – in the cemetery of Stepanja vas, in Tivoli Park and on 27^th April Road (post-war period)

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