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The Cukrarna Gallery

Cukrarna - notranjost 2022

© Arhiv Cukrarne

Razstava Vračanje pogleda v Cukrarni

© Blaž Gutman

Samsong Young: Sonata za dim v Cukrarni

© Andrej Peunik

Cukrarna - notranjost 2

© Arhiv Cukrarne

Notranjost Cukrarne z rdečim predelom 2022

© Arhiv Cukrarne

Razstava v cukrarni - Čudovito življenje

© 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

  • Designated parking space for persons with movement disabilities
  • Designated path from the car park/public transport to the building
  • Designated entrance for persons with movement disabilities
  • Designated sanitary facilities accessible to persons with movement disabilities
  • Adequate access to the building for persons with movement disabilities (hallways, staircase, lift, etc.)
  • Accessible event space for 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

Map

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