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Church of St Francis of Assisi, Ljubljana
PAGAN TEMPLE?
Plan: 1924-1930; 1927-1956 (interior design)
Built: 1925-1928 (church); 1930-1931 (campanile); till 1974 (interior design)
Commissioner: Franciscans
Address: Černetova Street 20, Ljubljana
Contact: +386 1 5837270
Access: open during services
Plečnik produced many plans for the Church of St Francis. The commissioner, archbishop ordinary's office, wasn't satisfied with the first variant. There is a written critique in the Dostal’s manuscript written on the behalf of archbishop ordinary's office: “… According to these plans only the central part will be suitable for mass. The hall behind the sanctuary is a priory eliminated... In professor Plečnik's plan there is not enough stress on the sanctuary which is the greatest place in the church and especially lacks the stress on the main altar as the heart and the ideal center of the sanctuary... The right and appropriate placement of chairs for the high mass is not evident from these plans.”
Art historian Dr. Franc Stele defended Plečnik in his discussion Is the Church of St Francis not Catholic enough? In this long text there is no evidence that the church is »catholic enough«, except for the claim: “And I believe, that the result of the following is that the concept grew out of pure and special Catholic ideology and is in its essence a mare phenomenon in a chain of tendencies that were founded in the Catholicism with taking into account the general production, his formulation appears bold and overcomes the usual frame of catholic systematic nourishing of tradition. That is why it seems more revolutionary and bold at first glance, than it does when we penetrate its core.”
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