The most vibrantly decorated building in downtown Ljubljana, the Cooperative Bank was designed by Ivan Vurnik (1884-1971)m a Radovljica-born architect who studied under Otto Wagner, the doyen of Viennese Art Nouveau. Vurnik was keen to develop a Slovenian national style of architecture by blending traditional folk motifs with the best in modern design; this building is his ideological statement.

Begun in 1921, it represents a unique mixture of ethnographic detail and Art Nouveau, with jazzy chevrons and zig-zags weaving around the oriel windows on the facade. Rich in blues, yellows and brick-reds, the decorative scheme is inspired by the embroidery of rural Slovenia. Vurnik clearly, was also influenced by folk-art patterns found throughout Slavic Europe.

The Cooperative Bank now houses the Ljubljana Land Registry Office.*

*From the Eyewitness Travel Guide to Slovenia