Slovenia’s capital has been enriched by a new bridge.

Ljubljana’s famous Hradecky Bridge once stood on the site where the Cobblers’ Bridge is now, but in 1931 architect Jože Plečnik moved the cast iron structure to a spot near where Ljubljana’s mortuary used to be and thus the bridge quickly acquired the nickname of Mortuary Bridge, as vehicles carried the dead from Ljubljana hospitals across the bridge to the mortuary at night. In February 2010 the cast iron bridge was removed from its former location and sent for restoration, and in March of this year erected at a new location between Krakovski nasip and Grudnovo nabrežje, with its original old name of the Hradecky Bridge. On the site of the Mortuary Bridge a new bridge was put up, which was opened on Tuesday 20 September 2011 by Mayor Zoran Janković and Deputy Mayor and Professor of Architecture Janez Koželj.

The City of Ljubljana’s project ‘Construction of the Mortuary Bridge across the Ljubljanica’ was a successful candidate in the third public tender of the Slovenian Government’s Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy for ‘Regional Development Programme’ priority guidelines as part of the Operational programme for strengthening regional development potentials for the period 2007-2013, developmental priority ‘Development of the regions’. The Slovenian Government’s Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy granted cofinancing of eligible costs from the EU Regional Development Fund to a total amount of €950,000 of disclosed and paid eligible costs. This funding was acquired by the City of Ljubljana in full - €300,000 in 2010 and €650,000 in 2011.

The contract value of the construction of the Mortuary Bridge is €2,895,081.19.

The design competition for the construction of the new Mortuary Bridge was entered by the architects Jerneja Fischer Knap, u.d.i.a., Jurij Kobe, u.d.i.a., Špela Kokalj, u.d.i.a., Urša Podlipnik,u.d.i.a., Vid Razinger, u.d.i.a., Rok Žnidaršič, u.d.i.a, and Samo Mlakar, graduate in architecture, construction and Miran Vedlin, u.d.i.gr. The implementation plan was managed by the design organisation Arhe d.o.o., where the architectural design was also produced, the project construction was carried out in the offices of Promico, d.o.o., while the traffic and communal infrastructure were done with partners Ljubljanski urbanistični zavod, d.o.o. and Javna razsvetljava, d.o.o.. The project manager was Jurij Kobe, u.d.i.a. and the main contractor Gradis skupina G, d.d.

“The relatively simple concrete construction takes on the silhouette of the removed Hradecky Bridge. The upper plate, which exists only as thickly as necessary to surmount the small span, is supported by a double load-bearing arch and a pair of towers, which rise above the bridge surface as four lights. This – of course in a contemporary interpretation – represents a reminder of Plečnik’s lights, that the maestro designed on the placement of Hradecky Bridge where it used to stand. The double load-bearing arch also carries in its body the relatively demanding communal water installations. The design of the bridge or the embankment directly beneath it also incorporates provision for the future already-planned carefully-designed park with a memorial to fallen railwaymen, and provision for the anticipated diversionary path descending to the banks of the Ljubljanica, which will allow the river to be followed along the entirety of its course through the city” as Jurij Kobe, project design manager for the new Mortuary Bridge explained.