Europe 2019 - Day 46 (Part 2)

21 June 2019, Friday

After the Dragon Bridge we arrived at the tourist information centre whereupon I opened the map I took from the hostel and asked the guy at the counter to kindly mark the points of interest. He said, “Well, for starters you have to have the right map” - apparently I took the map of a wrong city in Slovenia, not Ljubljana. I burst out laughing in my embarrassment. But then, I do do stupid things like this all the time. 

Anyway. After getting the correct information, we went to the Central Market which is located on the site of an old diocesan college for girls that collapsed during the earthquake in 1895. This earthquake pretty much destroyed most buildings in Ljubljana, and so the town had to be rebuilt. Most of its buildings were designed by an architect named Jože Plečnik. This includes the Central Market area and its surroundings, as well as the Triple Bridge. The Central Market is now an open market selling herbs, spices, handicrafts, bakery stuff, cured meat, dried fruit and nuts, dairy products, fresh fruit and vegetables, fish etc

Then we saw the Vodnik Monument which is a monument dedicated to one Valentin Vodnik (1758-1819), a Carniolan priest, poet and journalist. Then to the Town Hall, which has been at this location on Town Square since the 15th century which was built in Gothic style. In the early 18th century that first Gothic building was reworked in the Venetian Baroque style. A remnant of the Gothic predecessor is a sculpture of Hercules and the Nemean lion from a lost fountain dating to the 1600s. 

There was also another fountain here depicting Narcissus at the main courtyard, as well as an obelisk with a fountain at the bottom depicting 3 male figures pouring water from jugs. These represent the three rivers of the Carniola region: The Ljubljanica, the Sava and the Krka. The design is borrowed from Rome’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) at Piazza Navona. This is known as the Robba Fountain as it is the work of one Francesco Robba.

Then to the Church of St Nicholas or Ljubljana Cathedral. This monument has had a few different forms since the 13th century because of fires and war. The current Baroque design has survived since the beginning of the 18th century, while the splendid dome came later, in the 1840s. It’s an awe-inspiring building replete with art by a number of Italian Baroque masters. I was especially intrigued by the main and back portal doors which had a sort of 3D art on it. So cool! 

Then to lunch which for me was seafood risotto and Union draft beer. Union is the brand of a local and very popular beer here in Slovenia. 

After that we wanted to walk to Congress Square but before that we arrived at an area called Ajdovscina. It was named after the many pagan, Roman graves found in that area. Long ago there was an ancient Roman city called Emona thriving around the 1st to early 6th century. At that time there was a meeting point of 2 important roads in that area: Emona-Celeia and a connection to Gorenjska. When laying the foundations for the Discalced Augustinians Monastery in 1657, and also in later constructions, they discovered many Roman sarcophagi, tombstones and lamps. Hence the name - pagan graves. The square which was once there is no longer there but the name stuck and remained. 

Here we saw an ancient well, part of the remains of a Roman suburb discovered during previous archaeological research on the site of Congress Square. The well is not entirely preserved; the upper part was destroyed during construction works in the 19th century. There are no longer any traces of the layout of its surroundings, but based on the position of other water wells in the area it could be assumed that it belonged to a residential property with workshop facilities. The well is 5.8 metres deep and built using dry-stone technique - at the bottom it is cased with a square wooden construction. 3 more wells built in the same way have been found in Congress Square. 

The high number of wells found here in the area of Emona is indicative of the excellent water-bearing capacity of the Ljubljana Basin. The well dates from the second half of the 1st century, and used until the first half of the 3rd century, when it was filled up with various waste material. Excavations have yielded several fragments of limestone Roman columns. Excavations show that they had a water supply network such as wells and sewers. Wastewater from the town was carried through large swears (rectangular in layout and below the main streets) to the nearby river. We saw one of these sewers when we ventured a bit further out of Ljubljana city centre.