Gruber Palace
The Gruber Palace (Slovene: Gruberjeva palača) is a palace in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, standing at 1 Astronomy Street (Zvezdarska ulica) on the right bank of the Ljubljanica, to the east of Levstik Square (Levstikov trg) and Castle Hill. It currently houses the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia.
History
The palace was built between 1773 and 1777 in a braided Baroque and Rococo style by the Jesuit Viennese hydrology expert and architect Gabriel Gruber who as the builder of the canal to drain the Ljubljana Marshes used the palace as a physics and hydraulics research institute. Testament to this is that he equipped the palace with its own astronomical observatory for the purposes of Gruber's School of Hydraulics and Mechanics.[1]
In 1840, the palace was purchased by Anton Virant who merged the property with his own adjacent and used it as a guest accommodation and cafe named "Zur Sternwarte" (meaning observatory). In 1887, it was bought by the Carniolan Saving Bank and in 1965, become the National Archive of Slovenia, undergoing renewal in 1990.[2]
Architecture
The palace is designed in the late Baroque and Rococo style by highly shilled stucco artisans who commissioned to decorate its façade and interior. The Palace is noted for its oval staircase in cool pastel colors of the era and braided and is topped with a domed ceiling designed allegorically, it is a fresco of trade, crafts and technology, completed in 1786 by Andrej Herrlein,[1][2] two years after Gruber himself had been forced to leave.
On the first floor of the palace is a chapel adorned with paintings depicting the life of the Virgin Mary which were painted by the Austrian painter Martin Johann Schmidt, also known as Kremser Schmidt. The facade of the palace is ornamented with the portrait of Gabriel Gruber, created by the sculptor Janez Pirnat.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ljubljana tourism.si
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 www.ijs.si
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
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