National Gallery renewal
The National Gallery is one of the oldest museums in Slovenia. Throughout its history, its art experts have striven to gather a representative collection of Slovenian art dating from the Middle Ages to mid-20th century. Since its foundation in 1918, the National Gallery had to make do with limited space. It was enhanced in 1928, when the permanent collection was established in the building called Narodni dom. The growing number of art works and technological advances accentuated the need for an adequate museum space. The late-19th century building of Narodni dom became too small and inadequate. Between 2012 and 2015, a comprehensive renovation was carried out. The new premises of the National Gallery cover nearly 13.000 sq m and extend over three buildings, built between 1894 and 2001. The main objective was to ensure proper communication between the connecting annex and the exhibition rooms in the former Narodni dom. This important listed building had to be presented in its original shape, which determined the architects’ work. All the interventions aimed at achieving a more functional building were, therefore, designed in a very restrained manner, so that the original image of the building is still recognizable.
