Description

[Map of Ljubljana and Surroundings. The Condition of Ljubljana, if there was no Railway Obstacle]

Photographic whiteprint, colour pencils and black ink, on thick paper, 100 x 163 cm (39.3 x 64.1 inches) (margins with small stains and tears, upper and lower margins with tiny rusty holes and traces of old mounting on wooden rollers, slightly dusty, otherwise in a good condition). 

A stunning large art-deco wall map, made in the technique of manuscript over a photo-reproduced draft, represents one of the planned solutions for the modernisation of the railway system in Ljubljana in 1935. 

The text under the title explains the map was based on the contemporary cadastral maps, which were photo-reproduced in small scales on this sheet. The image in purple whiteprint was then used as the basis for the manuscript map.  

The map was made as a part of an extensive project to lower the level of the rails under the surface in order to modernise the city’s traffic, as the 19th century rails, leading to the main train station in the city center, were by the 1930s interfering with the street traffic and pedestrian zones. The project was interrupted by WWII and only partial solutions were made decades later.  

The map is signed by Milan Gjud (1902 – 1987) and Dušan Svetlič. Gjud was an engineer, working for the Yugoslav railroads, and Svetlič was a technical drawer. In the 1930s he worked for the conservation center, where he sketched numberless historical monuments in water colours, a valuable technique for the history of art before the development of colour photography on the field. In the mid 1930s, Dušan Svetlič participated on the projects of modernisation of the Ljubljana rails. 
 
References: Miha Dešman, Poglobitev v Ljubljani: uvodnik. AB. Arhitektov bilten (2007), 37, 173/174. Aleksander S. Ostan – Andrej Hrausky. Predstavitev razstave, AB. Arhitektov bilten (2007), 37, 173/174.