Secession in art meant a departure (separation/break away) from the mainstream neo-classical idea of art at the end of the 19th century. This was manifested in various artistic trends such as Art Nouveau, Secession (Munich, Berlin, Vienna), Jugendstil, … where prominent representatives were Klimt, Schiele, and Munch. But in this article, we will focus mainly on architecture, the Viennese Art Nouveau, where Otto Wagner was the most recognizable representative and Maks Fabiani, as his student, was the most important secession architect in Ljubljana. Also, Plečnik was a student of Wagner, but did just a few works in this style while in Vienna
In Ljubljana, the Secession movement had a profound impact on the city’s architecture. After the devastating earthquake in Ljubljana on the 14th of April 1895, the renovation took place with the urban post-earthquake regulation plan in 1895 and ended in 1908 by Fabiani (also Sitte) and supported by mayor Hribar (also Grasselli) that acquired finance. Most buildings in the secessionist style were built in the first decade of the 20th century. Koch designed buildings in this style till mid-’20s. Today Ljubljana (along with Barcelona, Glasgow, Rijeka, Havana, Riga, Helsinki, Budapest, Brussels…) belongs to the network of 20 Art Nouveau cities of the world.
The bourgeoisie wanted to get closer to the nobility with the possibilities of serial industrial production and new raw materials (iron, steel, glass, reinforced concrete). They looked for their inspiration in the flora and fauna, folklore motifs, exotic cultures and religions, geometric shapes and implemented them in cast iron details, corniche, oriel with turret, colorful facades with ornaments (tiles, smooth and rough plasters), balcony, canopy, sculpture, etc.
Also, an important moment was the rising of Slovenian national identity with Ljubljana as its capital. At the turn of the 20th century, Slovenia was struggling to define its place within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This period meant Ljubljana’s rebirth and transformation from a provincial town into a modern center for the Slovenian nation with infrastructure (gas line, new sewer and plumbing systems, first asphalt, …), reform of urban administration, health, education, and tourism that followed.
Secession buildings in Ljubljana
There are around 70 buildings in Ljubljana that are built in the Secession style, where some are completely in that style and others that have just a few elements. You can find most buildings in the area between the railway station and the old town along Miklošičeva Street, around Miklošič and Prešeren squares (both designed by Fabiani). Also, Slovene, Tavčar, and Trdinova streets have some prime examples. Below you can find a map of those buildings and further there are their photos and description. The first 20 are the most representative examples and it continues with less markable buildings listed alphabetically by address.
Krisper house, Miklošičeva 20, Maks Fabiani, 1900/01
Krisper House is located at Miklošičeva 20 and was built in the years 1900 and 1901. The first house on Miklošič Square was planned by the architect Maks Fabiani himself and thus showed how he imagined the walled square to be. The corner building with an oriel topped with a turret forms the northeastern corner of Miklošič Park. The facade of the house is designed in a light art nouveau style modeled on modern Viennese architecture and decorated with typical plant and floral stylized motifs in an elegant line reminiscent of Hort’s popular whipping motif.
The Belgian version of the new art was also reminiscent on small wrought iron details, a peephole, a bell, door handles, and a mailbox. Some have already disappeared from the house and are only preserved in pictures. As the architect Maks Fabiani himself wrote, he used the floral Art Nouveau decoration at the request of the owner, municipal councilor Valentin Krisper.
Čuden house, Cigaletova 3, Ciril Metod Koch, 1902
Čuden House is an Art Nouveau commercial and residential three-story building located at Cigaletova Street 3 on the northwest corner of Miklošič Square in Ljubljana. It is named after investor and watchmaker Fran Čuden. It is considered to be the most recognizable Art Nouveau-style house surrounding Miklošič Square. The plan for the house was made by the architect Ciril Metod Koch at the same time as the neighboring Pogačnik House. It was built in 1902 after the model of Joseph Maria Olbrich’s houses (plastically rich, organic, and decorative) in Vienna. Koch overemphasized individual architectural elements in the design:
- the corner tower (resting on consoles), starts with a square, continues with a cylinder, and ends with a globe on a square slab, under the slab the top of the tower is decorated with heads in relief and initials of investor in gold,
- semicircular canopy of the balcony on the main facade, facade decorations,…
- the balconies have artfully designed wrought iron railings, and the windows are two- and three-part, with colored ceramic tile circles above the windows.
- semicircular canopy stands above a cantilevered balcony above two pylons
- originally, the facade of the house was painted purple-red, but during the renovation, it was painted in a neutral color.
Pogačnik house, Cigaletova 1, Ciril Metod Koch, 1902
Pogačnik house is located at Cigaletova 1, west side of Miklošič Park. The investors were Štefan and Jožef Pogačnik. Architect Koch designed it in 1902. It was designed as a tenement building and is located in the main part of the western facade of the square in front of the courthouse. The architect used more flat-oriented forms in the design of the facade. Due to its location, Pogačnik’s house does not have a corner tower, a balcony, or the wrought iron decoration associated with it. The most interesting part of the facade is the decoration above the entrance with a relief of a female figure holding twigs in outstretched hands.
It resembles the plan for the facade of the Worker’s Home in Vienna. All the windows on Pogačnik’s house are simple two-part. The ground floor windows have horizontal incised lines. On the first floor, the windows are connected by a single line. The upper floors of the house are connected by vertical bands between the windows, which lead from the circular cornice in the middle of the third floor and hang down to the windowsills of the second floor. Just before the end, they are interrupted by a strip of decoration made of sterilized leaves. Between the windows of the second and third floors of the house, there is a decoration with a geometric figure.
Deghenghi house, Dalmatinova 7, Ciril Metod Koch, 1904/05
The factory owner, Anton Deghenghi, had two buildings constructed simultaneously to the same plan as an apartment house on the Dalmatin Street 7. The one at the corner is accentuated with an oriel, which is topped with a bell-shaped roof. According to Koch’s original plan, the facade was to be richly decorated with typical Secession plant ornamentation, but the execution of the facade was more modest. The decoration was reduced. The facade was realized in a combination of smooth and rough plasters in brick red and yellow.
Regalli house, Miklošičeva 18, Fran Berneker, 1904/6
The plans for Regalli’s house were made by the architect Fran Berneker (1904 – 1906), who was otherwise a sculptor by profession and the author of the beautiful monument to Primož Trubar in Tivoli Park. The building an ariel topped with a turret completes the southeastern corner of Miklošič Park, the facade is finished with a wave-shaped cornice above the windows of the second floor and is decorated with glazed green ceramic tiles. The bronze door with two shallow reliefs depicting the allegories of Day and Night, is also Berneker’s work. The stone sculptures of the Atlanteans, which support the corner pier, were also made according to Bernekar’s design.
Bamberg house, Miklošičeva 18, Fran Berneker, 1906/07
Bamberg house is located on the corner of Miklošič Street and Dalmatin Street in Ljubljana. The construction was financed by the well-known Slovenian publisher and printer Otomar Bamberg (Kleinmayr & Bamberg printing house). Bamberg’s house was built between 1906 and 1907 according to the plan of the architect Maks Fabiani, who also designed the nearby Miklošič Park (then Slovenski trg) and the Krisper’s House. In his design, Fabiani strove to connect architecture and its environment. He designed it in a modernist neo-baroque style and moved away from Art Nouveau.
This can be seen in the selection of materials and building elements, among which the Borromini facade of the side along Dalmatinova Street is particularly interesting. The building’s imposing vertical bands in gray concrete plaster stand out. Ceramic relief images and sculptural decoration with figures of the printing trade can be seen under the canopy on the facade. They are the work of the Austrian sculptor and ceramicist Hugo Franz Kirsch. There is a pier above the entrance from the front of the building and a balcony above it.
Cooperative Bank (Zadružna gospodarska banka), Miklošičeva 8, Ivan Vurnik, 1921/2
The former Zadružna gospodarska banka on Miklošič Street is one of the most famous buildings in Ljubljana. With its richly decorated facade, it stands out from the framework of the otherwise similar Art Nouveau, a colorful part of the city. It was built in 1921 by the architect Ivan Vurnik, and it is considered one of the most beautiful examples of national romantic style architecture. Inside the building, there is a painted banking hall with a glass ceiling, which consists of small blue glass squares, and a decorative strip of multi-colored glass is embedded in it.
Colored stained-glass windows in geometric motifs also decorate the stairwell on the first two floors. The painting of the hall and the facade is the work of the architect’s wife Helena Vurnik, originally from Vienna, who participated in her husband’s research and creation of typical Slovenian architecture. The geometric decorations in the red-white-blue color combination of the Slovenian tricolor are complemented by motifs from Slovenian iconography: a stylized landscape of spruce forests and wheat fields and vines and the motif of women in Slovenian traditional clothes.
People’s Loan Bank (Ljudska posojilnica), Miklošičeva 4, Josip Vancaš, 1907
The building has a typical Secession facade with Wagnerian decorative elements, such as gables in the form of a basket handle, a ceramic coating to the facade, and Fabianian shallow bow windows. The roof of the central projection is surmounted by two seated figures, barefoot and with bare shoulders, holding a small purse and a beehive respectively, and cartouches on which bees and ants are depicted, symbols of industry, economy, and wealth.
Grand Hotel Union, Miklošičeva 1, Josip Vancaš, 1903/5
Grand Hotel Union Eurostars is considered one of the most elegant and beautiful hotels in the region in a famous Art Nouveau building that was built between 1903 and 1905. A plan by the architect Josip Vancaš was made for the biggest building (100 meters long) in Ljubljana at the time and the biggest hall in the Balkans, which was also considered a technological achievement due to its demanding iron roof structure.
The entire building, both the exterior facade and the interior with all the furnishings and a rich etched glass collection (now replaced by copies), was designed in distinctly Art Nouveau. It is divided into two wings, which are connected to the whole by a prominent corner tower with a dome. The facade is decorated with plant motifs, which are different on each floor. The building was later remodeled twice but basically kept its art nouveau look.
Urbanc store (Centromerkur), Trubarjeva 1, Fredrich Sigmundt, 1902/3
The first department store in the city was built in 1902 by the merchant Feliks Urbanc. It was completed in 1903, and it was designed by the Graz architect Friedrich Sigismund and is considered his best work. It is modeled after contemporary department stores in Paris, Vienna, Graz, or Budapest. The entrance to the building is highlighted by a semi-circular canopy in the form of fan-shaped flower petals made of glass and wrought iron.
At the top of the building stands a neo-baroque statue of Mercury, the god of trade and patron of merchants. The interior of the shop still serves its original purpose. It has an interesting decorated wooden staircase supported by two rows of columns. Between the columns stands a female statue, the personification of the craft. The staircase railing is finished below with two wooden female heads. All the interior decorations, furniture decorated with plant motifs, motifs on the etched glass of the shop windows, and the lighting design reflect the influences of the Belgian and French versions of “nouveau art”. The latter is a rarity in Ljubljana, which was otherwise more inspired by Viennese Art Nouveau.
Hauptman House, Wolfova 2/Prešeren square 1, Ciril Metod Koch, 1904
This is the only house on Prešern Square that survived the earthquake. After the earthquake, the house was bought by the merchant Adolf Hauptmann, and Koch drew up a plan to renovate the building in the Art Nouveau style. The house was renovated so that the facade was covered with colored ceramic tiles in a geometric pattern and in contrasting green-blue-red color tones concentrated on the upper part of the facade and on the cornice. From the artistic point of view, it is considered to be one of Koch’s best architectural works in Ljubljana.
City Savings Bank (Mestna hranilnica), Čopova 3, Josip Vancaš, 1903/04
The Secession facade with historicist decorative elements is one of the earliest of Vancaš’s Secession works. The Secession portal in the central axis is emphasized with a glass and wrought-iron awning in the shape of open petals; the original Secession signboard is preserved above the entrance. The interior of the building is one of the few Secession ambiences, which have been more or less faithfully restored.
Girls’ Lycee (Mladika), Prešernova 25, Max Fabiani/Ciril Metod Koch, 1906/12
The school is a good example of architecture that is well integrated into the local tradition and also in the urban context of the garden city on the edge of Tivoli Park. The turret above the entrance imitates the clock tower on Ljubljana Town Hall, the facade is ascetic, pure in form, without ornaments, and made of local material. The only decorations on the building are the owls as the symbols of wisdom on the keystones of the entrance porch and a relief of grey stone on the facade of the gymnasium. The facade of the boarding house facing Tivoli Park is horizontally partitioned with molding surrounding the entire building and bearing stylized Secession plant ornaments.
National Printhouse, (Narodna tiskarna), Ciril Metod Koch, 1902/04
The building was the first printing house in Slovenia suitable for large-scale production. The facade is horizontally divided by a course of floral reliefs between the ground floor and the first floor and by a color floral frieze on the course between the second and third floors. The central axis of the building is emphasized with an awning above the portal and a balcony on it and is terminated with a pediment reaching high above the facade. The geometric decoration is combined with wreaths and heads, and the interior of the corridor is decorated with colored floral ornament.
Deutscher Theaterverein (Drama), Erjavčeva 1, Alexander Graf, 1909/11
The German-oriented townspeople, united in the Deutscher Theaterverein in Laibach, built their own, German theater – the current Drama. The building was built between 1909 and 1911, the plans for it are the work of Viennese architect Alexander Graf, who built several theater buildings for the German ethnic community in the Czech Republic. The Ljubljana Theater is a copy of the theater that Graf had previously built in Ústí na Laba.
The interior is luxuriously decorated. The entrance hall is designed in a classicist style, and the exterior of the building is decorated with Art Nouveau elements. Above the entrance stands a balcony supported by columns. The building’s triangular front, which was originally decorated with the inscription Deutsches theater, stands out.
Royal lmperial State Craft School (Cesarsko kraljeva državna obrtna šola), Aškerc 1, Vojteh Dvorak, 1909/11
The school is a monumental palace with rich figural and plant decorations on the facade and in the vestibule. The central projection is emphasized with a triple-arch entrance flanked by figures of two children: to the left is a girl with the coat-of-arms of the city of Ljubljana, and to the right is a boy with the coat-of-arms of the province of Carniola.
Gymnasium Tabor (Sokolski dom), Tabor 13-14, Ivan Vurnik, 1923/26
Sokol Gymnastic Society’s Hall in secession style 1923-1926 on Tabor was built and ornamented in the Slovenian folk style according to the plans of Ivan Vurnik, the last of his work. One of the first indoor sports facilities in Slovenia. The facade is in a unified color tone. It is designed exclusively with architectural elements, profiled architectural members, and stuccowork, articulated with pillars, pointed pediments, hipped gables, and unusually designed capitals of the columns on the first floor, and is ornamented with inexplicable decorative motifs.
Public bath (City playground), Prečna 7, Wilhelm Bruckner & Co, 1899-1901
Committed to modernizing the city after the earthquake of 1895, the municipality supported the building of public baths to enable the poorer classes to bathe at an affordable price. The reinforced concrete baths building was constructed on the model of a public bath house in Lipsko, Poland, by the Wilhelm Brückner & Co Architectural Studio in Graz, 1899-1901.
Its double entrance on the truncated corner is surmounted by a triangular attic supported by a volute on each side. The building is accentuated by a single-story hexagonal tower. Its neo-romanesque façades are segmented by round-headed, two-light mullioned windows and lesenes standing out against pale-colored walls. Today, the building houses a family center with a playground intended mainly for pre-schoolers
Dragon bridge, Zaninović, 1900/01
The Dragon Bridge, decorated with famous dragon statues, is the most famous image of Ljubljana. The bridge is also a completely unique creation. It is considered an exceptional technical monument and a superb creation of Art Nouveau architecture from begining of 20th century. It was built between 1900 and 1901 and was the first real reinforced concrete structure in the city and one of the first and also the largest bridges of its kind in Europe at the time.
At the time of its opening, it was called the Franz Joseph I Jubilee Bridge, and winged lions were initially planned instead of dragon statues. For the first time in Slovenia, an asphalt coating was laid on it. The bridge project was made by prof. Josef Melan, the famous designer of reinforced concrete bridges and the father of the theory of static calculation of large suspension bridges.
The art nouveau look of the bridge is the work of the Dalmatian architect Juri Zaninović, otherwise a student of the famous Viennese architect Otto Wagner. According to Zaninović’s plans, concrete linings, balustrades, as well as dragon statues made of copper sheets were made. The lamps on the bridge railing are also part of the original decoration and were originally gas-powered.
The dragon bridge replaced an older, wooden one called the Butcher’s Bridge, which had stood there since 1819. At the time, the city municipality decided on a modern design and reinforced concrete construction of the bridge mainly to save money, as it was significantly cheaper than the more common stone one.
Beethovnova 2, Ciril Metod Koch, 1923
Office Building in secession style, designed by Ciril Metod Koch in 1923
Adriatic Insurance Company (Jadranska zavarovalna družba v Trstu), Beethovnova 4, Ciril Metod Koch, 1923
The building has a late Secession facade with two shallow oriels and is the last of Koch’s works in Ljubljana. A floral relief decorates the facade panels under window sills on both oriels, and there is a decorative geometric pattern under the cornice. The symmetrical facade is emphasised in the centre by a portal with semi-circular termination, and a triangular attic on the roof. On either side of the entrance is a medallion with the initials of the company that owned the building: JZDT.
Croatian Savings Bank, Beethovnova 7/Cankarjeva 8, 1920
The corner building has a late Secession facade. The ground and first floors are vertically connected by fluted pilasters, and the upper two floors by a decoration of plant branches and leaves. Two powerful horizontal mouldings divide the facade into three horizontal parts, the corner is emphasised with a cupola.
Peternel House, Beethovnova 9, Gustav Tonnies, 1910/11
The tripartite facade is almost identical to the facade of 8 Župančičeva ulica. The central portion is recessed from the street line, accentuated with balconies on the first and second floors, resting on columns and concluded with a curved gable which contains a tripartite window. The facade surface on the ground-floor is decorated with a chess-board pattern, executed in rough and smooth plaster, and the upper part is ornamented with geometric motifs between the windows and on the cornice.
Philip Mansion, Cankarjevo nabrežje 1/Stritarjeva 9, Leopold Theyer, 1896/97
The monumental building with a corner turret emphasizes the entrance to the medieval city center. The facade, which is designed in the style of German neo-Renaissance, is decorated with historicist plant motifs, among which individual Secession elements appear. The building was famous before the end of the last century because of Mayer’s coffee house, which had been arranged on the ground floor of the building, in typical Secession style; it can today only be seen in old photographs.
Pirc House, Cigaletova 5, 1905/06
A corner building with a typical corner turret. The facade, treated in two tones of green, is decorated with Wagnerian decorative elements in gold, which are concentrated on the corner oriel, above the windows of the first floor and below the eaves.
Grobelnik House, Ciril Metodov trg 1, Anton Wolf, 1899/1900
A corner building with an oriel which extends from the second storey to the top of the house . The facade is decorated with late-Historicist and Wagnerian motifs, concentrated between the windows of the second floor, on the cornice and on the corner oriel.
Agricultural Savings Bank (Kmetska posojilnica), Dalmatinova 1/Slovenska 44, Ciril Metod Koch, 1906
The neo-Renaissance facade is treated in a combination of plaster and light ceramic tiles. The bright facade is decorated with dark floral garlands under the windows of the second floor, and the spaces between the windows of the third floor and the cornice are embellished with geometric ornaments.
Smielowski House, Dalmatinova 3, Robert Smielowski, 1903
The Secession fac:ade is decorated with geometric patterns in the combination of white and yellow plaster and blue and white glazed ceramic tiles. The door with wrought-iron latticework is designed in a typical Secession plant pa
