Architecture in Slovenia – Magistrat

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Slovenia –  Carlo Martinuzzi, renovation of the Magistrat –  Carlo Martinuzzi (Cividale del Friuli  c. 1673 – Koper 1726) was the leading architect in Carniola in the early eighteenth century and from 1710 onwards held the post of Landesbaumeister. His most important works in Ljubljana, besides the Magistrat, are the great Seminary building and the Ursuline church. Outside the capital he built a number of great country houses, including at Logatec, Hošperk near Planina, Groblje and Zalog pri Moravcah (the last two of these were demolished in the twentieth century), and his reputation also extended beyond the borders of Carniola, even into the Venetian lands. Among his commissions were the construction of the Capuchin friary in Karlobag and a lazaretto in Trieste. He died in Koper following an accident on the building site of the convent of the Poor Clares.
When in 1717 the city authorities in Ljubljana decided to carry out a thorough renovation of the Town Hall (or Magistrat, as it is known), the plans and model were entrusted to Martinuzzi. After construction began, however, disagreements arose concerning the winding inner staircase, which was then simplified by the builder, Gregor Macek the Elder (Ljubljana 1664–1725). As a result, the history of Slovene architecture long considered Gregor Macek to be the architect of the Magistrat, while Martinuzzi’s contributions not only to the baroque remodelling of the Town Hall but also to the architecture of baroque Ljubljana and Carniola as a whole have been forgotten.
Matej Klemencic

Issue Date: 27.01.2017
Designer: Robert Žvokelj, DAK
Illustrator: Robert Žvokelj, DAK
Printer: Agencija za komercijalnu djelatnost d.o.o., Zagreb, Croatia
Process: Offset
Colours: 4
Values: 1,40