French Revolution Square (Ljubljana)

 square, invisible

Trg francoske revolucije (French Revolution Square) was built in 1793. Originally it was named Križniški trg (Knights of the Cross Square) after a German crusading religious and military order of knights who settled on its site in the 13th century. In 1929, a monument to Napoleon's Illyrian Provinces was raised in the middle of the square to a design by the architect Jože Plečnik and the sculptor Lojze Dolinar. The monument consists of a stone column with two bronze portrait reliefs, one depicting Napoleon and the other the female face of Illyria, a plaque displaying verses by the Slovenian poets Valentin Vodnik and Oton Župančič, and the old coat of arms of Slovenia on top of the column. The square is also the site of a monument to the Slovenian poet Simon Gregorčič. The poet's bronze portrait statue was sculpted by Zdenko Kalin in 1937.