Oh, sadness. Yesterday was a pretty, sunny day, but today it is overcast and bitterly cold. I thought I would get a walk in the great outdoors out of the way, so I headed for the Tivoli park, which merges with the mountain forest to provide tens of miles of walking paths to dog walkers. Slovenians, like Germans, dote on their dogs and you see all sorts of people walking their dogs, or bringing them into the shops and restaurants. Some even carry a little cushion or padded blanket so Fido does not have to lay on the cold floor. And just to avoid any confusion, Tivoli Park in Ljubljana should not be confused with the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.
It was a nice, brisk walk that warmed me up quite a bit, and I could have gone for a few more miles, but I spotted an interesting building from the trail, came down from the hill to investigate, and found out it was the Modern History Museum. A couple of friendly youngsters welcomed me (I have to say that all the young people I have spoken have an excellent command of English, and are very helpful indeed), and afterward were very glad to discuss my impressions of the museum. In a few words, over the last 100 years someone from outside has wanted to lord over the closely related Slovenian, Croatian, and Serbian peoples. During World War II they were invaded by the Germans, from the north, and the Italians from the west (the latter took the province of Udine, where Trieste is now located, and never gave it back, so my informants joked that when I arrive in Trieste I will still be in Slovenia). Eventually the European war ended in 1945, and the Slavic countries became a part of the Soviet Union. In 1947, as the Cold War escalated, under the direction of Marshall Josip Broz-Tito the countries of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Vojvodina (today Slovakia), created the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Tito spearheaded the notion of a non-aligned bloc, and Yugoslavia declared itself a non-Soviet republic, although still with a socialist economy, a 5-year plan, and rule by the Communist party. Slovenia was a willing participant of the Federation, but entered it as a sovereign state, which it would invoke in 1991 to justify leaving the Yugoslavian federation.
Tito was the strong man of Yugoslavia from 1947 until his death in 1980, and I think he could be labeled a benign dictator. He was the de facto leader of the non-aligned bloc of nations, pushed hard to avoid Soviet influence in Yugoslavia, shepherded the country through the very hard years of reconstruction (the 1950's), and successfully moved the country into the prosperity of the 1960's and 1970's. When he died, however, the economy deteriorated during the 1980's, which triggered dissatisfaction with the communist party and the "planned" socialist economy (at the same time the West was mesmerizing the world with the siren-chant of the free-market economy), and eventually, in 1991, Slovenia and Croatia chose to leave the Yugoslavia Federation. The 5-year war of secession ensued (some call it the 10-year war), and in 2004 Slovenia and Croatia were accepted into the EU and became members of NATO.
A very informative visit to the Modern History Museum!
Afterward I visited a stubby Eastern Orthodox Church, beautifully decorated with Byzantine icons, saw a small part of a baptism, and listened from the distance to the brass band that had come to celebrate the event.
I spent the rest of the day visiting art museums. Modern art is still a bit of a mystery to me, but the National Gallery has some pretty paintings by the Slovenian painters of the Realism and the Impressionism, and some vast landscapes by Marko Prenhart (1860's) that very much reminded me of the work of his Mexican contemporary José María Velasco.
I wrapped my day with a visit to the Ethnographic Museum, which was an eclectic collection of artifacts from Slovenia and the Slavic culture. A particularly fascinating exhibit was a collection of nativity scenes from Krakow. This is an old tradition, where during the year folks work in their dining room tables building these complicated "cathedrals" out of cardboard, papier maché, and tin foil, with the nativity scene at its center. On the first Thursday of December they are brought to the market place for everyone to admire, and they are put in permanent display on a hall, where they remain until Epiphany. Afterward they are discarded and the families start building their following Christmas project.
It was a very good day.
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