Plečnik House
For the past eight years, the renovation of Plečnik’s House was led by Jerneja Batič from the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Ljubljana, which owns the house and paid for the renovation. Ms Batič notes that the renovation project embraced a series of essential activities: »In the course of the renovation, the Museum & Galleries of Ljubljana took a complete inventory of the heritage of Plečnik’s collection and digitised Plečnik’s original plans; an agreement on cooperation between the Museum & Galleries of Ljubljana and the Museum of Architecture and Design – with both safeguarding the heritage – was reached; thanks to the renovation, spaces for a new permanent exhibition and temporary exhibitions have been gained; a new study centre for the investigation of Plečnik’s heritage has been established; the house has been made accessible to persons with impaired mobility and we successfully completed a demanding renovation of Plečnik House and garden«.
The renovation process is also presented in a special publication available in the Plečnik House shop. The book, edited by Mojca Ferle, brings expert insight from conservators, restorators, architects of the house's renovation, landscape architects that renovated the garden and a collection of photographs made during the renovation of the Plečnik House. The book also holds new findings on the great master, testimonies from people who were with Jože Plečnik during his last moments and never-before-published photos of the architect.
Preserving the original appearance of the house’s exterior and interior including Plečnik’s authentic internal and external furnishings was the responsibility of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia (ZVKDS) and Irena Vesel, the conservator in charge, who highlights that the house was in serious need of renovation: »At first glance, the house appeared to be in good condition so we assessed that only urgent maintenance works should be undertaken on the installations and the inner and outer shells. However, probing, a thorough cleaning and the damage caused by the elements all showed that more would be necessary.
All of the materials were in extremely poor condition. The woodwork and all built-in timber were in an extremely bad state and therefore needed strengthening and conserving. Examining the house's structure allowed us to thoroughly learn about all its features and discover all the interventions in it undertaken and completed by Plečnik«. The conservation of the woodwork, wood and stone parts was accomplished by the Restoration Centre of ZVKDS, while the Conservation Services of MGML headed by Katarina Toman Kracina took care of 1,118 original, small items of Plečnik and about 1,500 books and magazines.
Alongside the house’s renovation, the renewal of Plečnik’s garden in line with conservation norms took place; the project was run by Darja Pergovnik from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Regional Unit Ljubljana.
