The National Assembly Building ( sl, Zgradba Državnega zbora, also colloquially the Parliament () in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

, the capital of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, is a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

palace housing the legislature of Slovenia. Built between 1954 and 1959 by the architect , it is a three-storey building with an area of . It is located on the Republic Square in the center of Ljubljana. Annual visitor numbers are around 13,000. Despite its name, the building houses both the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

( lower house) and the National Council (

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

) of the legislature. The building is an officially protected monument, listed in the records as the People's Assembly Building of the Republic of Slovenia (). It was opened on 19 February 1959 as the Palace of the People's Assembly (), as it was originally the seat of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia's legislature, the People's Assembly.

Construction

The Cathedral of Freedom is an unrealised project of the Slovenian Parliament building, designed by the architect

Jože Plečnik Jože Plečnik () (23 January 1872 – 7 January 1957) was a Slovene architect who had a major impact on the modern architecture of Vienna, Prague and of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, most notably by designing the iconic Triple Bridge an ...

in 1949. It featured a large cone-shaped roof of high but failed to result in any action. A new legislature building was thereafter planned by the architect , a much more conservative and modest design than either of the Plečnik concepts, being an austere modernist palace with no monumental elements or decorations save a large sculptural group of bronze figures framing its main portico. Work began in 1954 on construction of the building to Glanz's plans, using Tehnika, a Ljubljana construction firm. Part of the ethos was that local building materials should be used, such as wood, stone and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

. 27 master craftsmen were also used for the metalwork and joinery. It was completed in 1959.

Opening

The building, opened as the Palace of the People's Assembly, hosted the first session of the People's Assembly of the

People's Republic of Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...

on 19 February 1959. For its first 32 years, the building held meetings of the Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. Following the

independence of Slovenia The Ten-Day War ( sl, desetdnevna vojna), or the Slovenian War of Independence (), was a brief armed conflict that followed Slovenia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. It was fought between the separatists of the ...

in 1991, it gave way to use by the

Slovenian Parliament The Slovenian Parliament ( sl, Slovenski parlament) is the informal designation of the general representative body of the Slovenian nation and the legislative body of the Republic of Slovenia. According to the Constitution of Slovenia, the gen ...

: both the

and the National Council.

Design

Exterior architecture

The four-storey building is externally austere. A freestanding cube, the main façade faces Republic Square and is inlaid with Karst marble, with green

Oplotnica Oplotnica (; german: Oplotnitz) is a small town in eastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Oplotnica. It lies on the Oplotniščica River, a left tributary of the Dravinja River, to the north of Slovenske Konjice. The area is par ...

granite below each window. The only decorative element is the two storey main portal – four oak doors surrounded by statues by and which represent working people.

Interior

Inside, the building is furnished with paintings and frescoes by a selection of Slovenian artists. The largest, a wall painting by the 20th century mural artist

Slavko Pengov Slavko Pengov (24 June 1908 – 6 January 1966) was a Slovene painter best known for his monumental opus of murals such as those in the National Assembly Building in Ljubljana and the Parish Church of Saint Martin in Bled. Pengov was born ...

, extends across the length of the entrance hall and illustrates the history of Slovenians. Created in 1958 and 1959, the mural portrays events including the

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

, the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the 1918 creation of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and

national liberation Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...

, and the creation of

socialist Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...

and homeland reconstruction. The walls of the first-floor corridor are furnished with portraits of former Presidents of the National Assembly. Following the 1991 independence of Slovenia, the building's interior has been refurbished several times to suit the desideratum of the new Slovenian Parliament. The center of the building is occupied by the , 150 seat Great Hall, where the National Assembly convenes. Formerly rectangular, it was renovated into an amphitheater in 2000. Each seat has a microphone, an automatic voting system, plug socket and access to the National Assembly's computer network. The chair facing the doors to the hall is for the President of the National Assembly. Behind it, a bronze

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

of the coat of arms of Slovenia is positioned on the marble wall. The sculptor

Marko Pogačnik Marko Pogačnik (born 11 August 1944) is a Slovenian artist and author. Background Pogačnik studied at the Academy of Arts in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, where he graduated in 1967. He was a co-founder of the neo-avantgarde artistic ...

created the work in 1991 to celebrate independence. There is also a 106-seat gallery for the public and guests to view the Great Hall. The National Council holds its meetings in the Small Hall, on the ground floor. The room is also used for public presentations and conferences.

Incidents

On 18 May 2010, the front façade of the building, made of rare green

tonalite Tonalite is an igneous, plutonic ( intrusive) rock, of felsic composition, with phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture. Feldspar is present as plagioclase (typically oligoclase or andesine) with alkali feldspar making up less than 10% of the total ...

, was severely damaged by students who threw

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

rocks removed from a nearby pavement at the building's main entrance. The incident happened during a large student protest against the proposed law on the introduction of mini jobs that would curb student work and changes to scholarship policy. Repairs to the building were estimated at 27,000

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

References

External links

Slovene Parliament building
Virtual panoramas. Burger.si. Accessed 28 February 2011.
Palače Ljudske skupščine. 60. obletnica zgradbe
// Republika Slovenija. Državni zbor {{Coord, 46, 03, 06, N, 14, 30, 04, E, display=title Buildings and structures completed in 1959

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

Legislative buildings in Europe Seats of national legislatures