The Philosophy

ofConservation

ture. While he had Masalyk’s enthusiastic support, his work in Prague was criticised: “The revolutionary proposals of Prof Plecnik, which are certainly concerned with decent endeavour to render the Castle as beautiful aspossible, do have one flaw. they will be created by an artist who has excellent qualities but cannot possibly understand the magic which Prague Castle has offered so many Czech people with its picturesque views and its location in an environmentto which thePrague people have become accustomed and which has now become part of them” (Pravo Lidu, 28 July 1935). When Masatyk left office, Plecnik stayed in Ljubljana, where in addition to his building projects he worked for the city council on a whole range of urban planning works: roads, squares, bridges, river embankments etc. All were designed to help give Ljubljana its own new identity as a capital. From his house in the suburb of Trnovo, the routes into the city along both road and riverbank show countless small touches of his architecture and landscaping; throughout the city, something interesting is frequently encountered, often very small in scale, only to be discover as another ‘grace note’ by Plecnik. It is a very rare experience to see the outcome of such a consistent and individual en-

hancement of his home city by a sensitive architect, working at all scales from major buildings to an individual street light or planting.

In 1902 Plecnik described his approach: “like a spider, I aim to attach a thread to tradition, and beginning with that, to weave my own web”. His architectural vocabulary is a fascinating amalgam of the local vernacular with a free and inventive synthesis of the Roman remains of Emona, Ancient Greece, and the Cretan reconstructions of Arthur Evans. While extremely sensitive to place and history, Plecnik had a very cavalier approach to historic fabric, thinking nothing of re-using Roman columns in different locations, rebuilding lengths of Roman wall, and even considering demolishing and completely rebuilding Ljubljana Castle to be a more dominant symbol of Slovenia!

Plecnik’s work had the support of the people of Ljubljana. In 1941 the

City Council published an anthology of his work Architecture Perennis, and he continued working on church buildings until his death in 1957. His role and status in Slovenia have been likened to Gaudi’s in Barcelona; his house soon became a museum, and in 1972 it became the base for the new

Plecnik bowl and capitals (from Plenick exhibition in Lubijana Castle).

Bull stair, entrance from third courtyard.

Lock on the Ljubljanica.

Ionic streetlight (‘Gledaliska stolba’), Ljubljana.

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Context 55 September 1 997