Jože Plečnik

In 1895 he enrolled in the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied architecture and graduated in 1898 at the top of his class that was taught by Professor Otto Wagner, an architect. On the invitation of his colleague Jan Kotěra he assumed a teaching position in 1911 at the College of Arts and Crafts in Prague (1911 - 1921). After the establishment of the Ljubljana University he was invited by the architect Ivan Vurnik to teach at the Department of Architecture of the Technical Faculty in Ljubljana (1921). At the same time he accepted the appointment to the position of chief architect for renovating the Prague Castle at Hradčani from the President at the time, Tomáš G. Masaryk. This was the onset of two parallel opuses – the Prague opus and the Ljubljana opus – which intertwined and influenced one another for a long time (1920 - 1933). Plečnik was a member of the Masaryk Academy of Labour since 1925. In 1938 he became one of the first members of the newly founded Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 1939 he was declared an Honorary Citizen of Ljubljana. After the war, in 1949, he received the Prešeren Award, the highest Slovenian national recognition for art achievements and was decorated with the Order of Merit for the People Class I. In 1952 he was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of the Vienna Technical University.