The Vrtača Neighborhood and the Šahovica Block

architect Josip Costaperaria
project The Vrtača Neighborhood and the Šahovica Block, Ljubljana, Slovenia
written by Bogo Zupančič

 

Although the architect Josip Costaperaria and his work in Ljubljana were presented by the exhibition held in The Center for the Protection of Monuments in Ljubljana in 2002, the wider general and professional public is still not acquainted with his work and his personality. The reasons for this ignorance can partly be traced to the former socialist period in which it was not advisable to study luxurious buildings or their architects, the bourgeois way of life or the benefits of capitalism. I am convinced that the book to be published this year Arhitekt Josip Costaperaria in ljubljansko mo­derno mescanstvo (Architect Josip Costaperaria and the Modern Ljubljana Bourgeoisie) will help us to get acquainted with this architect and his work at home and abroad. It will definitely show the complex role of this architect as a mediator for connecting neighboring cultures and peoples: Italians (Friuli), Croats, Germans and Slovenes.