Page - 201 - in Die Repräsentation der Habsburg-Lothringischen Dynastie in Musik, visuellen Medien und Architektur - 1618–1918

State and National Representation in the Case of Ljubljana’s Town Hall 201 portant is the fact that the same programmes of similar artistic ideas about how to present Slavic nations were widely present among all Slavic nations at the end of the nineteenth century. This exact programme which Hribar set as the mayor of Ljubljana and which was explicitly followed by the painter shows the national image of Slovenians living in various counties, but all with the same centre in Ljubljana. This programme ex- pressed the wish of unity and of greater independence under the crown of the Austro- Hungarian Empire, that is, within the state whose leader was the very same Emperor Franz Joseph I who was depicted in Germ’s painting. Following Hribar’s wishes, the image of the statesman was presented more intimately, while the role of adoration was given to the representative bust in the Town Hall.50 At the end of the nineteenth century, Ljubljana’s Town Hall was an example of a symbiosis of diverse political views, of joint social aims towards a liberal struggle of the nation as an independent entity, which could lean on its own economy and culture. At the same time, this town hall remained the centre where local decisions regarding the meaning of the nation and the country were made, that is, of an (in- dependent) Slovene nation under the Habsburg Monarchy. These two paintings are both the messengers of the commissioner’s programme – which kept its validity all the way to the start of World War I. Only then, the political situation changed in favour of the nation, which meant that Kobilca’s Slovenia Bows to Ljubljana remained a pars pro toto of the presentation of Slovenians, while the country, not as an idea but as a physical setting, changed completely. And it did not allow Germ’s ‘state’ presentation to remain symbiotically united with Kobilca’s allegory as its counterpart. However, comparing them remains crucially essential for a better understanding of both artistic works, of the renovation of Ljubljana’s town hall and of the social and political climate in the late nineteenth century. Endnotes 1 On Hribar see: Igor Grdina, Ivan Hribar, “jedini resnični radikalec slovenski” [Ivan Hribar, “the only real radical Slovenian”], 2nd edition, Ljubljana 2010. 2 Breda Mihelič, Urbanizem in arhitektura avstro-ogrske dobe [Urbanism and architecture in the Austro-Hungarian period], in: Barbara Jaki (Ed.), Slovenski impresionisti in njihov čas 1890–1920 [Slovene impressionists and their time 1890–1920], Ljubljana 2008, 227. 3 See: Stane Bernik/Vlado Valenčič, Ljubljanske ulice [Ljubljana’s streets], Ljubljana 1980; Vlado Valenčič, Zgodovina ljubljanskih uličnih imen [History of Ljubljana’s street names], Ljubljana 1989. 4 For more on the history of the town hall, see: Sergij Vilfan/Josip Černivec, Zgodovina ljubljanske