Plečnik’s Ljubljana: the back story

About Plečnik’s Ljubljana: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ljubljana Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Jože Plečnik (1872–1957) was born in Ljubljana, worked in Vienna and Prague, and came home in 1921 to give his city the look of a capital. Almost everything you love about the centre bears his touch.

A citizen of three cities

Plečnik trained under Otto Wagner in Vienna, then worked at Prague Castle for the first Czechoslovak president, before returning to Ljubljana to teach at the new university.

Bridges and banks

He added two footbridges to the old stone bridge to create the Triple Bridge, built the Cobblers’ Bridge as an open-air room, and lined the Ljubljanica with stepped embankments, willows and promenades.

Plečnik treated the whole city as one great building, with the river as its main hall.

Market and library

His long colonnade of the Central Market follows the curve of the river, and his National and University Library, with its patterned brick and stone walls and its great reading room, is one of the masterpieces of 20th-century architecture in the region.

The house in Trnovo

Plečnik lived and worked in a modest house in Trnovo, now Plečnik House, kept as he left it, with his drawings, furniture and garden. Guided tours explain his life and ideas.

A UNESCO site

In 2021 UNESCO inscribed “The works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana: human-centred urban design” on the World Heritage List, including the river embankments and bridges, the market, the library, Congress Square, the Trnovo church and bridge, and the Žale cemetery.

Our advice: follow a Plečnik walk: start at the Triple Bridge, take the market colonnade, cross to the library on Vegova, continue down the river to the Cobblers’ Bridge and finish at Plečnik House in Trnovo (book the tour).

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Plečnik’s Ljubljana: the back story before you go.