Meeting point

Usually I meet with friends and colleagues at the monument of our famous poet France Prešeren in the city centre.

Lots of people argued in 1905 when this monument was set up because the muse above the poet is half naked. I found out that in recent years the poet became young. Not so far ago he was still old compared to me. Oh, years, how fast you are passing by!

This photo was taken from the triple bridge, the famous bridge in Ljubljana which was constructed by Jože Plečnik, another famous person in Slovenian history. I will show you more of his work in one of my future posts. He had huge plans of destroying a part of the old city and building new houses and other buildings instead of the old ones. I am glad that his plans were stopped otherwise today Ljubljana would look like a modern Roman graveyard. The sign on the bridge says that it was dedicated to an archduke Franc Karel in 1842, when a new bridge was built.

A few centuries ago one of the doors into the city stood on one side of this bridge (it was only one, wooden bridge standing there in that time). Ljubljana used to have a strong wall around it. Actually the city itself was devided into three parts, and each of them was surrounded by a wall. Two towers still stand from that time and also some parts of the walls can be still seen if you know where to look for them.

Also the church you can see on the photo is different from the one that stood there at the beginning. We call it Franciscan church. The building on the right of the church was built by one of the rich Ljubljana’s merchants. On top of it stands a monument of Mercury and at his left foot is a silhouette of the owners head. The white building on the photo is known to the citizens of Ljubljana by the main pharmacy in the city.

So, this is our famous meeting point, well known by everyone in the city and also beyond.