Križevniška cultural quarter
The Križevniška cultural quarter (on Križevniška Street, between the City Museum and Breg), which was started by Mini Teater, unites artists, creators, and residents within a unique community attracting both locals and foreign visitors. This quarter is extremely popular due to its innovative urban revitalisation projects, which include art installations, benches, signs and signage, beautiful green spaces with flowers and trees, and a vibrant lifestyle created in the quarter by residents, passers-by, and lovers of all things beautiful.
The Križevniška quarter has long been loved by artists and intellectuals, and it is special precisely because of its rich history, artistic heritage, and unique atmosphere that combines past and present into a harmonious whole.
The ambience-urban intervention project was designed by art director Robert Waltl together with other creators resident of Križevniška Street. The street is enriched by trees, plants, hanging flower arrangements, and white benches with inscriptions of famous Slovenians connected to Križevniška Street in some way, as well as a booklet in Slovenian and English with a brief history of the street and the people who lived there.
In 2011, Mini Teater celebrated the opening of the Križevniška cultural quarter with a performance based on the poems of Tomaž Šalamun, which took place in ten different locations between Križanke and the Ljubljanica. The performance brought together actors from Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, South America, and France and also uncovered some hidden corners of Križevniška Street and its surroundings. The quarter has many unique and creatively placed benches intended for socialising, chatting, or just taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the city.
From the very beginning, the artistic director of Mini Teater began discovering some interesting names of former Krževniška residents, among which are Prešeren, Kosovel, Linhart, Valvazor, Preglj, the painter Jelovšek, the sculptor Robba, the art patron Blaž Chrobath and his daughter Luiza Pesjakova, Čop, Smole, Ana Jelovškova, and Zois, who even hosted the Pope and Prince Metternich at his palace. Križevniška Street’s contemporary residents are equally interesting and creative – Helena Koder, wife of the famous composer and musician Urban Koder, Aldo Kumar, Alan Hranitelj, and others. The poet Srečko Kosovel wrote his last poems at Križevniška 8 before leaving for Tomaj. In 2014, during the celebration of the 110th anniversary of Kosovel’s birth, Križevniška Street’s image was refreshed in his honour.