Arcades in the Navje Memorial Park

Monumental cemetery architecture of the nineteenth century and Plečnik’s reconstruction

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, a classical arcade structure was erected in the eastern edge of the cemetery next to the Church of St. Christopher in Ljubljana, which has been preserved as part of the Navje Cemetery designed by the architect Jože Plečnik. The article presents new knowledge about the architectural history and original appearance of the Arcades, obtained from the study of the newly discovered original design of the Arcades from 1865, textual archival materials, historical photographs, as well as the results of sounding studies and a spatial analysis. Based on textual materials, it has been concluded that the construction already commenced in 1864, according to a design most likely drawn by the city construction supervisor Franc Pollak. It is the design of a structure consisting of a series of arcades running to the left and right of the accentuated central avant-corps. Whereas the arcade segments on the left most likely continue towards the north, those to the right or, rather, the south, continue around the corner segment and along the southern cemetery wall. As opposed to the envisaged monumental cemetery architecture, only eight arcade segments were constructed to the left of the expanded end cluster with a considerably modified avant-corps.

The Ljubljana Arcades turned out to be one of the earliest grandiose cemetery designs in the Habsburg Monarchy. Not only that, as the comparative analysis shows, architectural examples should be sought in the monumental cemetery architecture based on north Italian cemeteries of the campo santo type from the first half of the nineteenth century. The sounding studies further revealed that the structure was originally decorated with a vivid, multi-colour painting on the façade and in the interior. The new knowledge places the Arcades among the most important nineteenth-century architectures in the Slovenian territory.

After the cemetery was closed in the early twentieth century, the narrow belt along the eastern cemetery wall was in 1937 and 1938 transformed into Navje, “the pantheon of the meritorious”, designed by Jože Plečnik, and the tombstones of the prominent representatives of Slovenian cultural history were moved under the “old arcades”. The research has shown that Plečnik unified the Arcades’ colour scheme in the spirit of “white Antiquity”, adapted them to the modified spatial situation using various architectural interventions, and brought them into conformity with the memorial park’s geometric design. In the decades following the Second World War, the park’s design was lost, many monuments were degraded, and the Arcades experienced several waves of destruction and restoration. The new knowledge about the design and original appearance of the Arcades, as well as about the dynamic changes to the place of reverence under discussion is therefore of crucial importance for a proper reconstruction of this invaluable cultural monument. The presented results are part of the research performed within the framework of preparation of the Navje Cemetery Conservation Plan.