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Joze Pleenik

by Ana Gorenc from Ljubljana,Slovenia

Jože Pleènik (internet)
Jože Pleènik (internet)

It really took me some time to figured out who that person is for me. So many people are there in my life and they all have their special place in my heart-thay are all my heroes in some way.

NUK
NUK

So, to answer this question-who is my hero I picked up a person, that I never really knew. A person who made my town,Ljubljana, as beautifull at it is now. Jože Pleènik in the most famous Slovene architect.

Born in Ljubljana on the 23.1. 1872, Pleènik was educated in Ljubljana, Graz and Vienna where, as Otto Wagner`s student, he graduated. Pleènik believed in the noble mission of the architect and it’s ethical function. He believed today’s architecture must emerge from the architecture of the past. He considered traditional heritage not as a restriction, but rather as an inexhaustible source of creativity. Despite the fact that he made his creations during the period of the great modernism movement, he rarely made any comments about happenings on the architectural scene. As I 've written before, he was an architect and town planner. Few cities have had the personal seal of a single artist so strongly impressed as Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, has with Jože Pleènik. Besides the extraordinarily high quality of his work, Pleènik has also been praised abroad for his high degree of originality and innovation in the use of historical, regional and even local features.

After World War II Pleènik fell out of favor in the new Communist Yugoslavia, where his commitment to classical architecture and his devout Catholicism were viewed with skepticism. His teaching role at the university was gradually reduced and he received fewer commissions, although he did complete some smaller monuments, fountains and church renovations in the 1950s. Pleènik died in 1957 and received an official state funeral in the Zale.

Pleènik's work
Pleènik's work

Pleènik's work, which was characterized by iconic, classical forms used in surprising, often uncoventional ways, was largely forgotten in the 1960s and 1970s. Renewed interest in Pleènik's work developed in the 1980s and 90s, as postmodernism led to a reconsideration of classical forms and motifs in architecture.

Pleènik's Ljubljana
Pleènik's Ljubljana

We can still see the glory of this giant arhitecture every time we walk down the Ljubljanica, Žale Cemetery or any other famous works he created.

Žale
Žale

Maybe you find it quite interesting that I’m presenting him as my hero. But I must say that I find myself very happy every time a see his work, he inspired me in many ways and still over all of the many cities I have seen in my life I find my hometown as the prettiest one of all.

Page created on 5/5/2005 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 8/6/2018 4:52:25 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.