Cultural heritage in Slovenia – on local level

ADHER project2nd project meetingCittà di Castello, Italy22-25 April 2010

• Contents:• Presentation of some of the more important cultural

heritages in the municipality of Ljubljana (MOL).• Presentation of the main results of the SWOT analysis

(analysis showing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of the situation regarding cultural heritage in the MOL which was used as a basis for the Development strategy of the municipality of Ljubljana 2008-2011.

• Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia (with total population of 276.000 people) and it is its political, cultural, economic, scientific and educational centre.

• As a cultural center of Slovenia, Ljubljana is home to numerous theaters, museums and galleries – for example (on the next slides):

National Museum of Slovenia

• The museum has the central collection of cultural heritage bearing witness to the past of the Slovenes.

• It is the oldest of all Slovenian museum institutions (it was founded in 1821).

National Museum of Contemporary

History

• The museum focuses on the Slovenian history from the beginning of the 20th century onwards.

National Gallery of Slovenia

• The gallery is the main art museum in Slovenia containing the largest visual arts collection from the late medieval period to the early 20th century.

The Museum of Modern Art

• The museum contains a collection of 20th century Slovenian art.

City Museum of Ljubljana

• The museum focuses on the history of Ljubljana.

• It keeps the world's oldest wooden wheel with an axel (from the 4th millennium BC) found in the Ljubljana Marshes.

• Ljubljana also boasts one of the oldest philharmonic orchestras in the world – its beginning goes back in the year 1701 when the Academia Philharmonicorum was founded, which was succeeded by the Slovenian Philharmonic (at the beginning of the 19th century) among the honorary members of which we can find Josef Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Niccolò Paganini, Johannes Brahms and others.

Slovenian philharmonic orchestra

The building of the Slovenian Philharmonic

• Ljubljana managed to retain traces from all periods of its rich history: from the legacy of Roman Emona...

Roman town walls (in Mirje)

Emona House

Northern Burial Ground

... to the old-time city centre with the Baroque and Art Nouveau characteristics – one of Ljubljana’s best known Baroque monuments is, for example, the Robba Fountain...

Robba Fountain

• The fountain was created by Venetian-born sculptor and architect Francesco Robba (1698-1757), who spent most of his life in Ljubljana.

• It is also known as The Fountain of Three Carniolan Rivers – it is adorned by sculptures of three river gods that are believed to represent three Carniolan rivers: the Sava, the Ljubljanica and the Krka.

... and among the Ljubljana’s best known Art Nouveau buildings are also the following buildings:

Cooperative Business bank building

Grand hotel Union

• The building is considered to be one of the finest examples of Slovenian national style architecture. • At the time it was built, the hotel was the

city's largest building boasting the biggest function hall in the Balkans, which was, due to its complex iron roof structure, considered to be a great technological achievement.

• In the first half of the 20th century, modern Ljubljana was shaped by the strong personal style of Jože Plečnik (1872-1957), a great European architect and a local of Ljubljana – his the most important work in Ljubljana and in his homeland is the National and University Library which, besides having the most extensive collection of literature in the country, own numerous medieval handscripts and Renaissance prints...

National and University Library

... and some of other more important Plečnik’s works in Ljubljana are, for example:

Triple Bridge Žale city cemetery

• The bridge is probably the most unusual and the most frequently crossed bridge in Ljubljana.

• At the cemetery many soldiers of the 1st world war and numerous known politicians, writers, poets, painters and architects are burried, including Plečnik himself.

• The results of the SWOT analysis (of the situation regarding cultural heritage in the MOL), on which the Development Strategy of the minicipality of Ljubljana 2008-2011 is based, show the following strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats:

• Strengths:• There is a big number of cultural heritage units

in the MOL.• A great part of heritage in the MOL is properly

sustained.• New legislation in the field of cultural heritage

preservation which enables more effective approach to cultural heritage preservation.

• A number of participants in educational programmes on cultural heritage increased.

• Weaknesses:• People are not well informed about the cultural

heritage of the city (including also that they are not well informed about procedures for cultural heritage preservation).

• There is a rapid decay of cultural heritage objects, which are not well sustained.

• The archaeological potentials of the city are not exploited for promotional, educational and touristic programs.

• Threats:• A continuation of decay and permanent lost of

heritage.• Low awareness of the meaning of cultural heritage

(and thus also about cultural heritage as a bearer of economic value).

• Opportunities:• To raise the awareness of the meaning of cultural

heritage.• To improve the promotion of cultural heritage (by

introducing new approaches).• To establish new concepts of cultural heritage

preservation.• To revive cultural heritage of the city and include it in

the touristic offer.