Mighty Guardians of the Past exhibition was awarded the regional Big SEE Interior Design Award!

Mighty Guardians of the Past exhibition, designed by Sanja Jurca Avci  was awarded the regional Big SEE Interior Design Award in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It is also shortlisted for the Slovene Interior Design Award in the Installation/Exhibition Category; the selection is pending

The award was given as part of the BIG ARCHITECTURE festival that takes place in Ljubljana, Slovenia on October 9th 2019. The festival includes a trade show, lectures, business-architectural forum, a conference, talks, an awards ceremony and exhibition opening.

Ljubljana Castle is one of the main attractions of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. This year it is hosting the exhibition Mighty Guardians of the Past where visitors can explore the castles of Slovene lands. The exhibition was co-conceived and designed by Sanja Jurca Avci of Avci Architects.

From the sunlit castle courtyard of the Ljubljana Castle the visitors descend into the dark underground space and are greeted by five glowing castles placed within exhibition “castle units” that describe their history and inhabitants and show exhibits connected to these castles. The visitors can listen to short imaginary monologues of the historical persons who lived on the castles via an earpiece. Lit panels showing the castles’ images today complete the stories of the castles and show a different face – the castles’ historical images on the way back through the exhibition.

In between these five castle units the exhibition is lined with a horizontal graphic element on which the wealth of over one hundred more castles in Slovenia is shown. Here, too are some interaction units – from a treasure found in the castle toilet to a chainmail shirt that the visitors can put on. Visitors can also take a virtual interactive walk in the Ljubljana Castle throughout the history.

In the depth of the space a myriad of tiny castle models are glowing in the darkness, again showing the wealth and the variety of the Slovene castles.
Children’s interactive – a miniature castle where every opening is hiding a secret is organized at the bottom of the entrance stairs.

Visually rich and layered exhibition of the Slovene castles treats this interesting subject with excitement and imagination it deserves.

For the BIG ARCHITECTURE 2019 program, click here.

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