Of the many students of Viennese architect Otto Wagner Jože Plečnik (1872-1957) surely was one of th

Of the many students of Viennese architect Otto Wagner Jože Plečnik (1872-1957) surely was one of the most gifted: buildings like the Zacherlhaus and the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Vienna, the renovation of the Prague Castle or the numerous iconic buildings in Ljubljana are testament to the overabundant creativity he unfurled all over the former Austria-Hungary and its successor states. Among the most prominent experts on Plečnik was Tomáš Valena who untimely died in 2019 and whose significant book „O Plečniku“ from 2013 finally was released in a German translation earlier this year: „Jože Plečnik: Für eine humanistische Architektur“, published by Birkhäuser, is a collection of essays that provide novel perspectives on the architect’s work under the auspices of space and landscape. Valena through the examples of the Prague Castle, his plannings for Split and the urban redevelopment of Ljubljana poses new questions to an architecture that is still capable of providing contemporary impulses: Plečnik, who was deeply rooted in tradition, took up the different strands that a particular place or site provided and joined them in his designs and buildings. Well-versed in history, philosophy and politics the architect e.g. with the Prague Castle transformed a historic building into a symbol of newly gained freedom and democracy. In an equally complex historical context Plečnik also transformed Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, with a clear idea in mind: to put the people in the center of his plannings. Through the renovation of bridges and the river banks, park and plazas as well as market buildings and several unrealized, very ambitious projects he gave the city a modern and decidedly civic identity. Tomáš Valena supplements these plannings with a genealogy of the architect’s ideas and their relation to history and philosophy.

Despite its high scientific value the present volume is a highly readable and thought-provoking addition to the overall Plečnik literature that once again proves that contemporary questions posed to historic architecture can yield surprising results. Highly recommended!