Page - 190 - in Die Repräsentation der Habsburg-Lothringischen Dynastie in Musik, visuellen Medien und Architektur - 1618–1918

190 Sektion II: Herrscher, Staat, Nation enabled him to enforce his vision of the development and the so-called ‘Slovenisa- tion’ of the town.2 This vision was clearly reflected in the installation of street signs in the Slovenian language3, but also in the new urban plan of the town, the regulation of the town sewage and water supply systems, the electrification, the regulation of park areas and the renovation of numerous buildings, including the town hall.4 Due to the overall transformation of Ljubljana, the town hall no longer met the basic governmental needs of functionality and representation. Inspired by the idea “that sometimes there is a need for the Slovene town administration in Ljubljana to do what the provincial administration5 failed to do simply because Slovenians did not have the national freedom”6, this led Hribar to follow the suggestion of the head of the municipal construction office, town councillor and engineer Jan Duffé (1855– 1928)7, to commission the complete renovation of the council chamber. This was to be done in a neo-style of the late nineteenth century. Based on the programme out- lined in 1896, which included both the architectural guidelines and estimated costs, the chamber ceiling was raised by the height of one floor and the interior architecture was reconstructed in accordance with the front facade (in late Renaissance style) with a balcony, which was also the reason for the construction of the inner gallery inside the chamber (Fig. 1). In the period that followed the destructive earthquake, the construction of the gallery was an architectural novelty, especially since the ceiling was reinforced with concrete and iron. New windows and doors were also installed and decorated with double glass, which was transparent from the outside and coloured from the inside. Folding doors were installed at the main entrance. The chamber furniture included benches and tables scrupulously made according to the design of Czech architect Jan Vladímir Hráský (1857–1939)8 and amphitheatrically placed. The entrance doors were then accordingly levelled with the first column in the lobby. In total, there were twenty-eight seats for committee members, all placed in pairs of two, distributed in four rows. Every seat – a folding armchair with leather padding encircled by mosaic woodwork – and the appurtenant writing desk equipped with a drawer and ink pot that two members shared, was 120 cm long. The praesidium included the chairs of the mayor, deputy mayor, reporter, town clerk and recording clerk. There were two tables and four seats for the journalists placed in front of the lateral windows and a table for drawing projects and files in front of the presidential space. The walls were clad with wooden wainscoting. All the furniture was made of Slavonian oak. A marble wash- hand basin was placed in the right corner under the gallery. During the decoration of the walls and ceiling, special attention was given to the central line where the main motives were placed – the emperor’s statue, and above it, the town coat-of-arms. The sidewalls bore inscriptions chronologically representing every mayor of Ljubljana,