Trg Leona Štuklja (Leon Štukelj square). People hustle and bustle to run errands, take a walk in the morning or have a relaxed chat over a coffee in one of the cafés. Recently the road traffic was abandoned and a square, intended only for pedestrians, was born. Its form is unusual and originates from the existing plan of this part of the city. Above that it is characterised by sky-high pillars, with their gold colour highlighting the bright star of a man, who lent his name to the square, the Olympic champion Leon Štukelj. The road, which used to stop pedestrians, is almost forgotten when you walk around the square today. And the square immediately became a popular place for socialising. Life has changed.
And what has archeology to do with this? Spatial changes leave traces in the space. But not only material, they also alter its energy, its spirit. Our interventions are recorded in the memory of the space with irredeemable letters and sometimes respect, but sometimes destroy the records from the past. Similar happens with the spiritual aspect of the space, which arises, develops, prospers or dies with the interventions.
What would remain written in a millennium from this moment in the archaeological layers? Rows of houses meeting at a larger unsettled area, various installations and channels, hidden beneath the surface, perhaps a former road or a part of the current pavement? Maybe, if they are not replaced or substituted in a few years with something else. Fragments of broken glasses, a fragment of a coffee cup and a plastic lighter would perhaps tell us about cafés and varied social life, concrete parts of a bench, a broken and demolished metal pillar and a leg of a metal stand for posters perhaps about a square, a promenade and an open air exhibition area. Not that much, if we look around and observe today's vibrancy and playfulness.
Archaeology is on one hand meeting with the most genuine and unforged history. It was not written with a purpose and for a specific recipient, but spontaneously, with life. It meets with the closest objects to a man, which individuals owned and used. But time is inexorable and objects with which archaeologists uncover are always only small fragments of the past. But they are the only things that are preserved and that is why they are of great value. With them we are realizing a dream of time travel, discovering distant people, cultures and traditions. We are building bridges to the past and paving the way for the future.
Join us when we uncover our past …
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HERITAGE REVEALED, (Un)covered Fragments of the Past (Exhibition)
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