The Cukrarna Gallery
© Arhiv Cukrarne
© Blaž Gutman
© Andrej Peunik
© Arhiv Cukrarne
© Arhiv Cukrarne
© Andrej Peunik
With the opening of the Cukrarna Gallery in September 2021, the Slovenian capital has gained a new space that serves both as a venue for exhibiting contemporary art and as a place where thoughts can be explored and contemporary art projects of all kinds – visual, intermedia, performance, sound, music and more – can be created and presented.
Cukrarna began life in 1828 as a sugar refinery. Starting with just 22 workers and a single sugar kettle, it grew rapidly over the following decades to become the first proper factory in the region and, by the mid-19th century, the biggest sugar refinery in the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Its fate was sealed on 25 August 1858, however, when a devastating fire broke out and put an end to sugar production in Ljubljana, though there were also other factors involved: by that time it had become more profitable to produce sugar from beet rather than from cane, and the owner of the building was deep in debt and could only afford to restore it sufficiently to make it fit for renting out.
Over the following decades the building was lived in by soldiers and factory workers, sometimes both at the same time. Poorer Ljubljanans also moved there in large numbers, especially after the Easter 1895 earthquake. Those who found a new home in the building also included the writers Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, while their friends, who included Ivan Cankar, Oton Župančič and other writers, frequently met or even stayed there on occasion. These writers, who will be forever associated with the genre of Slovenian modernism, were Cukrarna’s most famous residents, and in their works they left remarkable testimonies about the building and its occupants
In 2008, the City of Ljubljana purchased the building and its grounds from its previous owner and from 2018 to 2021 the building was restored and renovated in accordance with plans drawn up by Scapelab before being transferred to the management of the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, a public institution.
Though officially protected as an important piece of industrial heritage, Cukrarna has not exactly been known for its architectural beauty in its recent history. Indeed, the main reason it was preserved at all for so long – nearly two centuries – was its status as Ljubljana’s biggest building, at 5679 m2. Now, though, thanks to this major renovation, Cukrarna has finally come into its own as an interesting architectural achievement in its own right.
Entrance fee
You can buy your tickets online or at the ticket office.
Accessible to persons with movement disabilities
Contacts
Poljanski nasip 40 1000 Ljubljana
Phone: +386 (0)1 241 25 72
Email: [email protected]
Web site: The Cukrarna Gallery
The offer includes
Cukrarna art gallery and special event venue is one of the finest industrial buildings of Ljubljana's 19th century.
The history of Cukrarna is rich and oftentimes dramatic. It was built in 1828 as a sugar factory, and later converted into a tobacco and then a textile factory. Among others, soldiers, the most vulnerable strata of the city, found their temporary home there, as well as Slovenian modernist writers who left there their very unique mark. Today, the building is an urban attraction, which has been transformed into a socially lively and pleasant space in an area at the very edge of the city centre.
The renovated building boasts over 5,500 m2 of total space and includes a lobby, a ground floor gallery, four gallery spaces on the first floor, mezzanine, multipurpose basement, a reading room, a conference hall / classroom and a bar.
The Cukrarna lobby is a breathtaking open space, lit by natural light and overlooking two gallery volumes. The floating cube is clad in perforated sheet metal, which, in addition to its aesthetic character, also satisfies functional requirements, as sound insulation is hidden under it. The lobby can accommodate up to 500 standing guests, up to 220 guests at a sitting event or up to 150 guests at a banquet.
In addition to the lobby, Cukrarna also offers a modern conference room which allows for lectures, conferences, presentations, etc to be held. It can accomodate from 50 to 70 guests.
Contacts
Poljanski nasip 40
1000 Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Phone: 01 241 25 72
E-mail: [email protected]
POI konference:
https://cukrarna.art/sl/
Capacities
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Area size 5500
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Theater seats 220
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Banquet 150
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Reception 500
Conference rooms
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Avla
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Theater
220
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Classroom
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Reception
500
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Banquet
150
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Size of the room
554
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Ceiling height
18.48
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Učilnica
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Theater
70
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Classroom
50
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Reception
-
Banquet
-
Size of the room
120
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Ceiling height
3.41
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