Baraga Seminary, Monument of national significance in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Baraga Seminary is a building on Vilharjeva cesta featuring a semi-circular layout with distinctive windows and recessed balconies across its multiple floors. The structure displays careful architectural design with a thoughtful arrangement of its various elements.
Construction began in 1936 to plans by architect Jože Plečnik, who later disowned the building after project manager and builder Anton Suhadolc altered the designs. The intended full circle was never completed, leaving only the semicircular half. The building was fitted out after World War II but never fully finished, and a 25-year denationalization case ended in 2017 when the Administrative Court rejected the Ljubljana Archdiocese's claim.
The name Baraga Seminary honours Anton Martin Slomšek's collaborator, Bishop Frederik Baraga, though the building never housed seminarians. Its northern wing has held the Slovenian Youth Theatre and the Pionirski dom with Festival Hall, while the southern wing has been a 293-bed student dormitory run since 1968 by Študentski domovi v Ljubljani.
The northern half on Vilharjeva cesta holds the Slovensko mladinsko gledališče theatre and the Pionirski dom with its Festivalna dvorana hall; the southern half is a 293-bed student dormitory run since 1968 by Študentski domovi v Ljubljani. The semicircle opens toward the street, so the curved facade is seen from outside; the Gospodarsko razstavišče, Navje park and the railway station are close by.
Plečnik disowned the project after the builder Anton Suhadolc altered his plans, and the second half-circle that would have closed the ring was never built. In July 2023 an architectural solution was chosen to renovate and complete the Baraga Seminary and revitalise its surroundings.
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