Edvard Ravnikar: The Modern Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1948

The secret of good architecture is in the intelligence of the programme … and in the skilful response to its conditions*.

*Edvard Ravnikar, “Modern Gallery”, Chronicle of Slovene Cities, No. 2, June 1940.

In this memorial year dedicated to the architect Edvard Ravnikar (1907-1993), it is worth reflecting on his beginnings. The first major project that comes to mind is the ossuary for the fallen in World War I at the Ljubljana Žale Cemetery, opened on 10 December 1939. At that time, however, Ravnikar had already been commissioned to work on the Modern Gallery (now the Museum of Modern Art). Although the gallery was only completed after World War II, it was the first project where he presented himself as one of the most important Slovenian architects. It therefore holds a special place in his oeuvre. He received the commission without a competition or references of built projects, apart from a small tombstone at the Žale cemetery, which he designed as a student. How was this possible?

The idea of a gallery displaying “the products of national art” had already been considered by the circle around Žiga Zois, but when the first Slovenian art exhibition was held in 1900 in Ljubljana’s Town House (Slovene: Mestni dom), the idea was revived again. At first, they talked about art in Slovenia, and it was not until later, especially after the 1904 exhibition of the Sava Society at Galerie Miethke in Vienna, that critics began to talk about Slovenian fine art. We must not forget that these were times of national awakening. The question was raised, do Slovenians even have their own art from the past? Rihard Jakopič, the leading painter at that time, raised this question in 1907 and answered it by saying that everything that came before modern art, everything that was created in our historical period, was the work of foreigners and the fruit of foreign art. This view triggered many reactions and debates about whether fine art was part of a wider international style or whether it should be entirely native, and if foreigners living in Slovenia could create art that was considered Slovenian.

Even before World War I, the then Mayor of Ljubljana, Ivan Hribar, had committed some funds for the purchase of works of art for the National Gallery that was to be established. In 1907, Jakopič addressed a memorandum to the Ljubljana Municipal Council,[1] in which he advocated the early establishment of an art gallery based on a purely national foundation, concerned that the envisaged national gallery would also keep and exhibit “foreign” art created in Slovenia, and not just “Slovene” art. These were the first ideas about the need for an independent gallery dedicated to modern art. Jakopič himself set about this task in a concrete way. In 1908, he obtained a permit to build his own art gallery, based on a design by Max Fabiani. The city gave him a ten-year free lease on a part of the meadow in Tivoli, and Jakopič financed the pavilion from his own funds. It was the first art gallery in the country.

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[1] Jakopič’s Statement – Ljubljanski zvon, No. 7, 1907.