The Vodnik Homestead in Šiška has reopened its doors after a complete renovation. Since 2015, the Divja misel institute has been the program manager of the Vodnik Homestead.

Comprehensive renovation

The renovation of the Vodnik Homestead, which has been underway since January 2023, was necessary from both a construction and functional perspective. The two selected architects from the Genius Loci office were primarily concerned with two key tasks during the renovation – ensuring the static and fire safety of the homestead and providing universal accessibility.

The renovation encompassed all three buildings that make up the Vodnik Homestead: the main building is the Homestead, behind it is the Boiler House and in the courtyard is the House at the Stone Table. We statically renovated the Homestead building, waterproofed the house and thermally insulated the roof. We replaced the facade plaster and roofing and improved fire safety. To ensure fire safety and better functionality, we built a new staircase between the upper floor and the attic and a wooden balcony (in its historic position) with stairs to the ground floor along the western facade.

The House at the Stone Table was completely demolished and reconstructed with the same dimensions and appearance. In the Boiler House, the interior was redecorated, the plumbing renovated and the roofing replaced. As part of the renovation works, we also carried out a complete exterior makeover. The contract value of the construction works was 1.9 million euro excluding VAT, with Lesnina MG Equipment as the contractor. Mayor Zoran Janković said at the opening of the renovated Vodnik Homestead: »Culture is not a cost, it is an investment. Culture changes the philosophy of life, and we spend 12% of the budget of the City of Ljubljana on it annually (excluding investments).« The Mayor added that books are the most powerful weapon in the battle for our ideals!

Books remain at the heart of the program

After the renovation, the House at the Stone Table is becoming a new universally accessible venue with an outdoor-indoor stage that easily opens outwards and inwards. This month it will host the traditional December Illustration Fair. In the spring, this part of the Vodnik Homestead will come to life as a stage, bookshop and bar. The stage will mainly host literary events for adults and the elderly, storytelling evenings, concerts based on good texts, together with the City Cinema Kinodvor they are bringing summer film evenings to Šiška, and they are also preparing two new festivals. The first will be held before the summer holidays when they will dedicate a week to the Adriatic with a variety of events, and in November, the first festival of crime fiction, a literary genre that is also on the rise in Slovenia, will be on the Vodnik Homestead's program. Just as a reminder, two more festivals are held at Vodnik Homestead every year: young people, together with their mentors, prepare the Festival of Engaged Writing Itn. (Etc.), and at the end of the school year, together with publishers, they also prepare the Children's Book Festival.

The stage in the attic will continue to live in the Vodnik Homestead, where many workshops will take place. Among other things, they organize master classes for illustrators, calligraphy for children, reading clubs and educational workshops. The stage under the roof also hosts the regular children's program Nedelce (Sundays) every Sunday morning, inviting children and families to read books. The Vodnik Homestead will support creators in the field of literature and illustration with a free space for writing and illustrating (the so-called writing room, where four workspaces are available), also offering a symbolic grant.

Together with professional partners (Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana – MGML, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts – ZRC SAZU and the National and University Library – NUK), they will continue to promote the interesting and important heritage of Valentin Vodnik. The permanent exhibition will continue to be on display, and the programme will also include cycling tours of Vodnik's Ljubljana, led by Dr. Luka Vidmar, the foremost expert on Vodnik in Slovenia. School groups will also continue to be welcome at the Vodnik Homestead. The Illustration Centre, which presents and connects artists in the field of illustration, and the Ljubljana UNESCO City of Literature Office, which connects literature in the city, organises activities that increase the importance of reading books and promotes local creativity in the field of books at home and abroad, remain part of the program of the Vodnik Homestead even after the renovation.

At the same time, we are announcing that we will host the annual meeting of UNESCO Cities of Literature in Ljubljana in September 2025, with around 70 participants. The main venue will be the Vodnik Homestead.