Saturday, December 21, 2013

Ljubljana Day 2

Rain, and more rain...the streets glistening with the reflection of water on cobblestones. I had a large breakfast in the downstairs room. I was in no rush to go out but was happy I had my Borsalino hat that is water resistant, fold-able and looks awesome.  I went to the front desk to help avert a crisis. I needed laundry and have been staying in small hotels with no laundry service. I never like to do it myself, but I have on the road.  The front desk manager said he would take care of it personally---wow, great service.

I left the Hotel collar up, hat brim down heading to my first stop the Cathedral of St Nicholas:

The site of the Cathedral was originally occupied by a three-nave Romanic church whose earliest mention dates back to 1262. After the fire of 1361 it was re-vaulted in the Gothic style. When the Ljubljana Diocese was established in 1461, the church underwent several alterations and additions. In 1469 it was burnt down, presumably by the Turks.
Between 1701 and 1706, a new Baroque hall church with side chapels shaped in the form of the Latin cross was built to a design by the Jesuit architect Andrea Pozzo. As the church's dome was only built in 1841, originally a fake dome was painted on the arch above the centre of the cross. The surviving Baroque interior decoration notably includes frescoes by Giulio Quaglio (painted in the periods 1703-1706 and 1721-1723), Angelo Putti's statues of four bishops of Emona situated beneath the beams of the dome (1712-1713), Putti's painting of Dean Janez Anton Dolničar (1715), who initiated the rebuilding of the church in 1701, Francesco Robba's altar angels in the left part of the nave (1745-1750) and brothers Paolo and Giuseppe Groppelli's altar angels in the right part of the nave (1711).
A host of other works of art were added later. One of the more interesting is the dome fresco painted by Matevž Langus in 1844. The most outstanding 20th century additions include Tone Demšar's main entrance door relief depicting the history of Slovenia, commissioned to mark the 1250th anniversary of Christianity in Slovenia, and Mirsad Begić's side doors with portraits of bishops.


 the view from the corner square up the block from my hotel.



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