Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ised her name from Melanija Knavs to Melania Knauss. Maybe she thought it sounded better to be Austrian. You
know, Sound of Music , Vienna waltzes, the Blue Danube...
And your place in Slovenia? OK, I am Slovene - whatever that means. The official line here is that we are a na-
tion of poets, modest and good. But bad Slovenia is miserly, very Catholic, authoritarian and mean-spirited. An il-
lustration: a fairy appears to a Slovenian farmer and tells him he can have anything he wants but his neighbour
will get double. 'OK, take one of my eyes,' he says.
OK, the meaning of life. Discuss. A philosopher knows that asking the right question is more important than
providing an answer. My first duty is to disturb the commonplace. And to make you understand what deep shit
you are in.
You have quite a following among younger people. How so? Maybe they are tired of postmodern liberal culture
and know change is on the way. Look at Occupy Wall St. Or maybe they think I'm a good stand-up philosopher
and like my references to popular culture. Not everyone thinks being called 'the Borat of philosophy' is criticism.
So nothing to do with the Lady Gaga 'affair' then? A hoax circulated by my enemies and reported in the me-
dia. Imagine me debating the problems of feminist writing with Lady Gaga! But I'm still getting emails from
young men asking for an introduction. I imagine writing back that my friend Lady G has said for them to send a
sample of their writing and a photograph of themselves naked. I love the idea of being the mediator of a mess, to
introduce disorder and then just disappear.
When not in Ljubljana, you might find me in… Škocjan Caves. I once read that Dante used the place as a mod-
el for his description of hell.
Steve Fallon
Painting & Sculpture
The visual arts play an important role in the lives of many Slovenes; the nation counts
some three dozen permanent art museums and galleries, and hundreds more temporary ex-
hibition spaces.
Excellent examples of Gothic painting and
sculpture include the carved altar in the Church
of the Virgin Mary at Ptujska Gora, the fres-
coes in the Church of St John the Baptist in
Bohinj, and the Dance of Death wall painting
at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Hrastovlje.
Important painters of this time were Johannes
de Laibaco (John of Ljubljana), who decorated
the Church of the Assumption in Muljava; Jernej of Loka, who worked mostly around
Škofja Loka; and Johannes Aquila of Radgona, who did the frescoes in the magnificent
church at Martjanci.
Architectural Guide to Ljubljana , by Janez Koželj
and Andrej Hrausky, is a richly illustrated guide to
more than 100 buildings and other features in the
capital, with much emphasis on architect ex-
traordinaire Jože Plečnik.
 
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