Nikio

Today I would like to present a work by Slovenian sculptor Janez Lenassi, which is located in my very own town (I can even see it from my room). Sometimes when something lies right in front of your eyes for too long you might become blind for it's beauty. Many people from my city are not aware of the masterpiece they are seing every day. I myself wasn't aware of it's meaning untill recently.


Ilirska Bistrica is a city that is merged from two previous villages; Trnovo and Bistrica. Inbetween there is a hill, covered with grass, that now stands in the centre of the city. In 1960's they decided to use that prominent location to make a monument to fallen in WWII. The design of the monument was done by a sculptor, Janez Lenassi, who wanted to present two basic ideas; the shape of the bones (there are actual bones of dead solders burried underneath the monument) and a cube of Kras' cave that is taken from beneath the ground and now floats above the ground. (Karst, called Kras is the predominant type of landscape here and has deep symbolic meaning for local people).

The monument was an immediate success. In the same year Lenassi recived the Prešeren Foundation Award and got published throughout the former Yugoslavia. The monument is still often published in architecture and design magazines. I believe there is a lot of visionary thinking behind this design.

Sadly, Janez Lenassi died earlier this year.



More photos here.