The national style in architecture appears in the second half of the 19th century, at the time when nation states were being established. Artistic styles encompassing national differences flourished in the period of nationalism and faded after World War 1. The first hint of the search for a national style in Slovenia is given by the national centres built in the large Slovene towns in the late 1890s, in neo-Renaissance style, following the Czech model, mainly by Czech architects. In addition to theoretical attempts by Dušan Grabrijan, the modern universality and nationality particularity were best linked in practice by Plečnikćs and le Corbusierćs pupil Edvard Ravnikar, who even enthused the Venetian Slovene architect Valentin Simonitti for a modern, open Sloveneness. Only when we distinguish between national passion and national awareness, a destructive wave from a creative movement and cult from culture is space created for nationality, for the free use of the national pace Hölderlin, which no longer slides into nationalism. Among the first to ask the question of how to stand and keep standing was Trubar. Like every culture for its nation, Slovene culture, with its profoundest movements in language and space, can be a model for creativity and the best possible assurance of the survival of a cosmopolitan Sloveneness.
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