History

A Short chronology

The building of Cankarjev dom was undoubtedly the biggest cultural investment of the last century:

•    as late as April 1977, the pit in the middle of the enclosed construction site, which had not seen any change in over ten years, still wasn’t showing any signs of materializing the dream of a cultural centre;

•    on 11 May 1977, an initiatory committee was formed and the IZITR began to prepare plans, under the leadership of Professor Edo Ravnikar; archaeologists moved to the construction site; potential founders started having discussions about money and financing;

•    in summer 1977, a social agreement on construction and financing was prepared and the operative panel met every Monday at 18:00 in the Ljubljanska banka building;

•    in autumn, the main works were allocated amongst investors and the arduous struggle of raising funds began; the programme and other committees of the operative panel were already working at full blast;

•    a social agreement on the construction and financing of the Ivan Cankar Cultural Institution was signed on 15 January 1978, despite a prohibition on investment in social activities which had arrived from Belgrade. Engines finally started roaring on the construction site on 26 January 1978; the republic and the city ardently searched for construction funds;

•    in the spring of 1980, the first cultural and congress events were held in Linhart hall. Previously, the Kulturni dom Ivan Cankar working organisation was established; Miran Kert was its first Director General, Marjan Javornik the first Programme Director, and Igor Lampret his deputy. Despite major disagreements, Božena Zakrajšek brought over the majority of the then congress team from Kompas Magistrat. The institution also employed Sašo Kranjc and Jana Kramberger. The former became the Technical Department Director and the latter the Corporate Services Director in 1982 – both have successfully performed their functions till this day;

•    by September 1982, when Mitja Rotovnik became Director General, all of the four central halls had been completed (except for the stage of the largest one, Gallus Hall, which had to wait two more years before staging its first event). For this reason, in 1982 the concert of the Slovenian Philharmonic was performed in front of the iron curtain, other art and cultural events were also held on three makeshift stages in front of the iron curtain until 1984.

In the middle of the seventies a bright and courageous idea was born: the dream of a modern centre which would offer audiences a considerably improved experience of top quality cultural events, larger conventions, scientific meetings, educational activities, commercial presentations and social gatherings, whilst at the same time providing creators and organisers with a more modern base for the development and execution of their activities. The idea came to life and prospered... Investment in the construction of Cankarjev dom, with its constant multi-faceted creative activities, surpassed even the most optimistic expectations and forecasts. The pleasant environment and the Centre’s technologically outstanding equipment made it the central meeting point and scene of various cultural and artistic creators as well as scientific, political and economic services. 

The creators and constructors of Cankarjev dom looked at similar institutions abroad in their search to the answer of how many years it would take for visitors and organisers to accept and get to know all the dimensions of Cankarjev dom. But the wider the Centre’s doors opened during the construction period, the more they were surprised by the response of people, who had been sorely lacking such a centre for so many years. One of the reasons for Cankarjev dom’s popularity was undoubtedly the unique and unusual structure of its programme, architecture, function and administration.

The genesis of Cankarjev dom first appeared in an idea that was proposed on 14 November 1975, during a sitting of a committee for the celebration of Ivan Cankar’s centenary, led by Mitja Ribicic. From that time on the Socialist union, cultural communities, the Municipality of Ljubljana, as well as other municipalities, republic bodies, businesses, administrative offices and the media hosted lengthy discussions about the idea, programme and financial opportunities of such a cultural centre. Public opinion was firmly in favour of construction.

On such a basis, between 14 April and 19 May 1977, the competent republic, municipal and city organs and companies confirmed an agreement on the construction, the programme, the project plan and the working bodies for the realisation of the project.

Besides the Republic of Slovenia and the City Municipality of Ljubljana, the participation of Radio-Television Ljubljana, Ljubljanska banka, Iskra, Emona Ljubljana and PTT Ljubljana was extremely important. An Investment Fund established for the construction of Revolution Square (Trg revolucije) also complemented the programme and the planned opportunities of the centre.

Five versions of the programme scheme were prepared. Nine locations for the centre were proposed in various parts of Ljubljana. The most important suggestions were published for discussion, some even in 50 000 to 70 000 copies. During the construction, 35 of the most important Slovenian and foreign companies prepared suggestions for individual technical solutions. All the works and equipment orders were submitted as invitations to tenders, or with calls for works.

Several hundred workers, technicians, engineers, and over two hundred companies who took part in project, construction, installation and craft works, constructed the centre in three years.