Slovenski arhitekt Ciril Metod Koch v evropski perspektivi

The Slovenian architect and urban planner Ciril Metod Koch (1867–1925) worked in Ljubljana’s town office for almost three decades. He received his degree in Vienna, where he probably studied under the architect Karl von Hasenauer. Especially at the beginning of his career, Koch was influenced by Baron Hasenauer, who was one of the most important architects of the Vienna court. Hasenauer was very close to Emperor Franz Joseph I (with plans for the Art History Museum, Natural History Museum, Imperial Court Theater, Lützow Palace, etc.), and had already established his name when Koch came to Vienna. This article also addresses some specific similarities between these two architects, which can be seen on the facades of some buildings today. After Koch finished his studies, he immediately returned to Ljubljana, where he first worked in a private office for the successful builder Filip Supančič. After the 1895 earthquake, he designed many secular buildings in Ljubljana (inns, apartment buildings, detached houses) and also worked in the countryside (detached houses, a church, and a bridge). Today his life and work is known only from letters; on the basis of archival reports, more than fifty buildings can be attributed to him. He started with buildings, where he remained committed to the more conservative tradition of historicism. A characteristic feature of his architectural activity is stylistic variety and eclecticism. While Ivan Hribar was mayor of Ljubljana at the turn of the century, Koch was ambitiously developing his sensitive and original form of expression. In his modern works, Koch took international European currents as a model, thereby considerably moving towards the esthetics of the Viennese Secession. At that time Koch probably followed modern trends with the help of international journals: Ver Sacrum (a leading and very popular Austrian journal, the mouthpiece of Vienna Secession) and Der Architekt (an important journal for art and architecture). In iconographic terms, he used a mixture of historical ornamentation (he followed the very popular Handbook of Ornament by Franz Sales Meyer, a German architect and professor) in combination with geometrical, floral, and figurative decorative forms