Hostel Celica

Hotel Celica (www.hostelcelica.com) is a former military prison that was deserted after Slovenian independence in 1991, and ultimately taken over by artists and activists in Ljubljana.  The result is stunning.  Where once men (and some women) were incarcerated for their beliefs and ideologies, locked up in barred cells or even thrown into a dungeon for solitary confinement, now is a sun lit building redesigned for travelers to sleep, share meals, listen to music, and rejuvenate.

As an educator who works in the Maine State Prison, this place interests me on many levels. First, it shows the power of the human spirit to reclaim a space and restore its energy.  It also shows how political ideologies can, and do, shift, and good can prevail.  Finally, it shows the important work of artists and activists.

Below is the brightly painted exterior of the building.  You can still see the bars on windows.  These cells have been made into sleeping quarters (more photos of this below).

 The metal bars have been incorporated into the renovation - here a visually inviting doorway.

 Here is a room for sharing coffee with friends, reading, or just enjoying the peace.  More than 80 artists contributed to this project, which involved architects, painters, and poets.

 This cell is the closest to the original furniture, except for clean linens, extra windows, and removed bars.  On the left side of this room, a square has been preserved where we can see prisoners' writing on the wall, doodles, hatch marks (perhaps for counting), and initials.

Here color is banded around the former cell, chairs placed next to the window, with a table for writing.

This cell is an example of how materials from the area were recycled.  The bricks that form this platform were found outside the building, and the artist reconstructing this room used them to elevate this bed, set under an oval window.

The photo below shows the stairs that led to solitary confinement.  This is controversial practice in the U.S, though still widely used (likely not in dungeons such as this).

We shone a flashlight down the stairs to take a picture down here.  There is very little light, except coming from chinks in the walls.

Walking in the total darkness, feeling the cold damp stone, hearing very little sound, really illuminated for me the importance of the transformation of Celica Prison to Hostel Celica.

This is a model, not only for architects and painters, but for life.  Dark places can be reformed and revised.  As we see here, they can become vibrant areas to restore body and spirit.