Digitalisation of Plečnik’s Heritage
Ljubljana is Plečnik’s city. His selected works are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and his ideas continue to shape the city today. At Ljubljana Tourism, we wanted to show visitors what they cannot see on an ordinary tour.
We began by bringing five sites of Plečnik’s immovable cultural heritage into the digital realm. Using 360-degree photography, 3D scanning and 3D modelling, we documented them in detail and laid the foundations for experiences that reveal more than a conventional visit ever could.
The Master Builder Plečnik experience takes visitors to some of the architect’s most important works and opens doors that normally remain closed. Through animation, virtual reality and interactive content, it reveals lesser-known stories from Plečnik’s life and career. Architecture cannot be understood from plans alone. Sometimes you need to put on a virtual reality headset.
The free Plečnik’s Visions mobile tour in the Nexto app is available for Android and iOS. It tackles a slightly trickier task: showing something that does not exist. Using augmented reality at selected locations, it brings Plečnik’s unrealised projects to life and reveals what Ljubljana might have looked like had the architect been able to carry out some of his most ambitious ideas. In 2022, the solution received a WEBSI award for the best digital solution.
The project, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, has brought Plečnik’s heritage closer to new generations, visitors from Slovenia and abroad, and people who cannot access all the sites in person. Plečnik designed Ljubljana with the future in mind. Through digitalisation, we have made sure his work has a place in the present too.
