Key words: art guide, architectural monuments, modernist architecture, Nova Gorica, town hall, Vinko Glanz, Slavko Pengov, Boris Kalin, Tone Žnidaršič
The authors of the book on Nova Gorica Town Hall are Dr. Alenka Di Battista from the Nova Gorica Regional Office of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, and Dr. Katarina Mohar, Assistant Professor of Art History at the Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor. Both are also employed at France Stele Institute of Art History ZRC SAZU. Alenka Di Battista specializes in Slovenian modernist architecture, while Katarina Mohar’s research interest focuses on visual arts commissioned for public buildings throughout the 20th Century.
As one of the results of the project Mapping the Urban Spaces of Slovenian Cities from the Historical Perspective: Modernism in Nova Gorica and its Contexts (L6–8262), the book presents the reader with the ambitious design for the new Slovene Littoral town of Nova Gorica which – according to architect Edvard Ravnikar – was intended to “shine over the border”.The author of the plans for the Town Hall, architect Vinko Glanz, and painter Slavko Pengov, who was entrusted with painting one of its main halls, were among the most coveted executors of public commissions both before World War II and after 1945. With its specially commissioned artworks and outstanding architecture the Nova Gorica Town Hall is an artistic masterpiece, the pride of the young town, and a testament to an exciting time in Slovenian history.
