Jože Plečnik

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Jože Plečnik (pronunciation

Plečnik was born in Ljubljana, present-day Slovenia, the son of Helena (Molka) and Andrej Plečnik.^[3] Plečnik followed in his father's footsteps, training in woodworking during primary school. This knowledge would prove useful in Vienna where he worked for two years as a designer and supervisor making furniture at a woodworking company. As a teenager he was sent to a vocational school, but as a talented draftsman, he then was sent to a technical school in Graz, where he would find his first mentor, Léopold Theyer.^[4] He studied under noted Viennese architect and educator Otto Wagner and worked in Wagner's architecture office until 1900. A woman-friend asked Plečnik to marry her written in a letter. He replied, “I am already married to my architecture.”^[5]

Work

From 1900 through 1910, while practicing in the Wagner's office in Vienna, he designed the Langer House (1900) and the Zacherlhaus (1903–1905). The Zacherlhaus was notable for its use of reinforced concrete columns in the ground floor and mezzanine. This practice was considered risky at the time as the practice was fairly new. His use of reinforced concrete columns would continue in his later project, The Church of the Holy Spirit.

His 1910–1913 Church of the Holy Spirit (Heilig-Geist-Kirche) is remarkable for its innovative use of poured-in-place concrete as both structure and exterior surface, and also for its abstracted classical form language. Most radical is the church's crypt, with its slender concrete columns and angular, cubist capitals and bases.

In 1911, Plečnik moved to Prague, where he taught at the college of arts and crafts. The first president of the new Czechoslovak Republic from 1918 onwards, Tomáš Masaryk, appointed Plečnik chief architect for the 1920 renovation of Prague Castle. From 1920 until 1934 Plečnik completed a wide range of projects at the castle, including renovation of gardens and courtyards, the design and installation of monuments and sculptures, and the design of numerous new interior spaces, including the Plečnik Hall completed in 1930, which features three levels of abstracted Doric colonnades. His final work in Prague was the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord (Roman Catholic, 1929–32).

Upon the 1921 establishment of the

Plečnik gave the capital of Slovenia, the city of Ljubljana, its modern identity by designing iconic buildings such as the Slovene National and University Library building. Plečnik was also a transformative figure in the city planning of Ljubljana. This included restorations and improvements to historic buildings and sites. His work in city planning differed from many other efforts of the time, as his focus was further from practical problems found in the city, but instead focused on the overall experience of Ljubljana. He also designed other notable buildings, including the Vzajemna Insurance Company Offices, and contributed to many civic improvements. He renovated the city's bridges and the Ljubljanica River banks, and designed the Ljubljana Central Market buildings, the Ljubljana cemetery, parks, plazas etc. Buildings designed by Plečnik were built by the constructor Matko Curk.^[6]

During the

In the 1980s, with postmodernist interest in Plečnik's work, the general interest in him has been revived, as well, after being forgotten during the 1960s and 1970s.^{[citation needed]} Since then, Plečnik's legacy has been commemorated in various ways, most notably in the 1990s on the Slovene 500 tolar banknote, with the National and University Library of Slovenia depicted on the reverse.^[7][8]

The unrealized

Plečnik's home in Ljubljana houses a museum of his life and work.[10] There are several busts and sculptures of him situated around Ljubljana as reminders of his works and legacy.

In 2021, selected works of Plečnik in Ljubljana and Črna Vas were inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites under the name "The works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana – Human Centred Urban Design".^[11]

Gallery

• 
  Villa Langer (1901)
• 
  Villa Loos (1901)
• 
  Villa Weidmann (1902)
• 
  House Langer (1902)
• 
  Zacherlhaus (1905)
• 
  Tomb for Heinrich Peham von Bojernberg (1906)
• 
  Lacknergasse 98 (1907)
• 
  Villa Graßberger (1908)
• 
  Borromaeus fountain (1909)
• 
  Herbststraße 82 (1913)
• 
  Silbergasse 35 (1915)
• 
  Congress Square, Ljubljana (1928)
• 
  Fountain at Lány Castle (1930)
• 
  Triple Bridge extension (1931)
• 
  Trnovo Bridge (1931)
• 
  Church of St. Anthony of Padua, Belgrade (1932)
• 
  Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Prague (1932)
• 
  Tomb for Antonín Švehla (1933)
• 
  Church of Mary of Lourdes, Zagreb (1934)
• 
  Jožamurka (1939)
• 
  National and University Library of Slovenia (1941)
• 
  Ljubljanica Sluice Gate (1944)

Work on Prague Castle

• 
  The Garden of Paradise (1925)
• 
  Flagpoles in front of the Matthiastor (1926)
• 
  Observation platform (1927)
• 
  Third courtyard and obelisk (1928)
• 
  Wall garden (1928)
• 
  Fountain (1928)
• 
  Stairway (1931)
• 
  Stairway (1932)

See also

• Max Fabiani
• Ivan Vurnik

References

Further reading

• Berglund, Bruce. (2017), pp. "The Architect Creating for the Ages," in "Castle and Cathedral in Modern Prague: Longing for the Sacred in a Skeptical Age." Budapest and New York. Central European University Press. Pp. 63-108.
• Prelovšek, Damjan. (1992) Jože Plečnik: 1872–1957: Architectura perennis. Salzburg. Residenz verlag. Published in English version in 1997 by Yale University Press.
  ISBN 0-300-06953-7
• Margolius, Ivan. (1995) "Jože Plečnik: Church of the Sacred Heart." Architecture in Detail series. London. Phaidon Press.
• Krečič, Peter. (1993) "Plečnik, the complete works." New York. Whitney Library of Design.
  ISBN 0-8230-2565-9

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jože Plečnik.

• Virtual museum of Jože Plečnik
• Jože Plečnik on Architectuul
• Photo gallery of buildings designed by Jože Plečnik