Establishment of the Academy of Science and Arts in Ljubljana

Abstract

In August 1938 a decree was issued, nationalising the Academy of Science and Arts Society in Ljubljana. The first 18 members of the Academy were elected in October 1938. This was a realisation of the Ljubljana intellectuals' efforts to establish a representative national institution, fulfilling the institutional conditions for the implementation of national cultural and scientific projects. The following article demonstrates the efforts for the establishment of the Academy of Science and Arts in Ljubljana in the period from 1934 to 1938 and for the provision of suitable material resources for its activities. Most attention is paid to the relations between the Slovenian intellectuals and Slovenian politicians (liberals, especially Ban Drago Marušič, until the summer of 1935, and later the politicians of the Slovenian People's Party or the Slovenian part of the Yugoslav Radical Association). The intellectuals expected the politicians to support them firmly in their efforts to obtain the state support. After the establishment of the Academy had been ensured in the spring of 1938, a struggle for the prestigious membership started among the Ljubljana intellectuals, while the politicians (the Slovenian part of the Yugoslav Radical Associations) debated the placement into the context of the successful acquisition of financial resources for the Drava Banate.