Of Garages and Borders

Welcome

to a new edition of #FeelEurope, European Capitals of Culture visiting the hills and the Schöckl region.

This year's selected cities are Nova Gorica/Gorizia/Görz, a border city divided between Slovenia and Italy, and Chemnitz, Germany, which even boasts a Capital of Culture pastor!

Each of the two Capital of Culture partners, Nova Gorica and Gorizia, has a population of approximately 30,000, including the surrounding area.

This thriving small town with its Mediterranean climate was a magnet for nobility, art, and culture, from Casanova to Pope Pius VI.

In 1476, the sickly Paola Gonzago became the second wife of Count Leonhard of Görz. Four famous bridal chests by the Renaissance artist Andrea Mantagna were donated as a Penitential donation to the Order of St. George in Millstatt. Since 1617, two of these chest lids have been in Graz Cathedral, and two more are in the Carinthia Museum in Klagenfurt.

Remaining childless, the Bavarian Meinhardinger dynasty ended in 1500 with the death of Leonhard. According to the inheritance agreement, their possessions passed to the last knight, Maximilian I. During the 400 years of Habsburg rule, wealthy citizens strolled along the wide promenade in Nice, Austria, below the castle of the Counts of Gorizia, lords of the crown lands of Gorizia and Gradisca. In 1919, Gorizia became part of the Kingdom of Italy, the Austrians were expelled, and the Slovenian population faced hardship under Mussolini.

After World War II, the Treaty of Paris established a new border between Yugoslavia and Italy, placing nearby Gorizia outside Yugoslavia's borders and cutting off the Brda River, the Soča Valley, the Vipava Valley, and the Gorizia Mountains. The border ran brutally through a farm and even divided a cemetery. Allegedly, in many barns, cows grazed on one side of the border, while their excrement ended up in the neighboring country.

Construction of the city began in 1947 in the modernist style. However, only a portion of the planned buildings and streets were ever realized, as can be seen in a bronze model of the master plan. Marshal Tito repeatedly clashed with Stalin and the Non-Aligned Movement, was expelled from the government, and consequently lost a great deal of money.

Nevertheless, much of the intended visionary approach remains: a Mediterranean garden city with promenades, open spaces, and pedestrian zones, shops, and residential areas with partially underground access roads to separate traffic from daily life. A high quality of life for the residents, aside from some of the prefabricated concrete apartment blocks.

In the 1980s, a university was established, attracting new residents. Capitalizing on its border location, Nova Gorica was developed into Slovenia's Little Las Vegas by building casinos and hotels.

A Mediterranean garden city with promenades, open spaces, and pedestrian zones, shops, and residential areas, some with underground access roads to separate traffic from daily life, offers a high quality of life for its inhabitants. Numerous projects in Nova Gorica were planned by the architect Edvard Ravnikar, a student of both Jože Plečnik and Le Corbusier. The aesthetics of Yugoslav Modernism spearheaded by Ravnikar were more than just a style; in the 1960s, architecture and design were intended to create a new, classless society. The things people needed for life were to be both practical and aesthetically pleasing.

This style was also referred to as the "architecture of the diagonal." Incidentally, in 1988, five years before his death, Edvard Ravnikar received an honorary doctorate from the Graz University of Technology.

A project by the Goriški muzej Regional Museum is dedicated to the lives of those separated from Yugoslavia and Italy after 1947. It consists of four small museum collections at four locations along the Slovenian-Italian border: Kolodvor in the train station building in Nova Gorica, the military guard tower in Vrtojba, the building in the Miren cemetery, and the Na šverc! exhibition in the buildings of the former small border crossing in Pristava.

The clandestine smuggling of goods across the border was called šverc, derived from the German word "schwarz" (black) – I think you understand what it means?! People tried to improve their standard of living this way.

Even during the time of the Iron Curtain, cross-border exchange took the form of smuggling. Yugoslavia supplied agricultural products; from Italy came coffee, detergent, chewing gum, jeans, and building materials. Today, you can test your smuggling skills on guided tours.

Fortunately, our president Oswald Schechtner no longer has to tread on convoluted smuggling trails when he regularly ensures a supply of excellent wines from the Collio-Brda region for his wine cellar.

The motto for the joint bid as European Capital of Culture is Go! Borderless, connecting the Piazza della Transalpina with Trg Evrope.

When Nova Gorica was awarded the title, an invitation to collaborate was immediately sent to Gorizia, Italy, with its incredibly beautiful old town. The request was accepted without delay.

The emerald-green Isonzo/Soča River, a former river of destiny, with its famous Solkanski Most arched bridge, is important for tourism in both Gorizia and Nova Gorica. It's hard to believe that some of the bloodiest battles of the First World War took place here.

Austria is participating, among other things, through the Carinthian Cultural Foundation, which is bringing Armin Guerino's mirrored and accessible Ingeborg Bachmann Dome to Nova Gorica.

Today, on a large circle on the ground of the Piazza, one can stand simultaneously on both sides of the border, where the "Gorizia Wall" once stood—a fence that was only dismantled in 2004 when Slovenia joined the EU.

— - - -

They were certainly familiar with walls in the former GDR...

Chemnitz's motto for its year as European Capital of Culture is "C the Unseen."

The city is presenting itself together with 38 surrounding municipalities.

Chemnitz, which was called Karl-Marx-Stadt during the GDR era from 1953 to 1990, formerly bore the Slavic name "Kamenec," meaning "stony," hence the "ch" sound at the beginning of the name is pronounced like a "k." Chemnitz lies at the foot of the Ore Mountains and is the third-largest city in Saxony, with approximately 250,000 inhabitants today, despite further incorporations in recent years.

Chemnitz is located at the foot of the Ore Mountains and is the third-largest city in Saxony, with approximately 250,000 inhabitants today. The former Karl-Marx-Stadt was the center of East German mechanical engineering and reached a population of 315,000 by the end of the 1980s.

The Saxony region has an 800-year mining history.

In the 17th century, more than 30 percent of the population worked in textile manufacturing, made possible by the mass production of looms, as the Industrial Revolution had taken hold here very early.

Factory-scale production using machines in the second half of the 18th century brought about a major boom. The industrial city was considered the "Saxon Manchester" in the Kingdom of Saxony.

Almost completely destroyed after World War II, Chemnitz was rebuilt in East Germany according to socialist architectural principles and remains an industrial city to this day, with a focus on mechanical engineering, the automotive industry, and microsystems technology.

The factory work created a new demand for housing. Entire residential districts sprang up, and some of the social housing developments are worth seeing for architecture enthusiasts, such as the Gablenzsiedlung garden city or the Fritz-Heckert housing estate, which at the time comprised over 32,000 apartments.

Perhaps the name FEWA rings a bell. The abbreviation stands for Feinwaschmittel (fine washing detergent) and was developed in Chemnitz in 1932 by the chemist Heinrich Bertsch. This first fully synthetic detergent in the world washed far more gently than anything that had come before and sold so well that three production plants were immediately put into operation.

As you approach Chemnitz, a tall tower catches your eye. The Bunte Esse (Colorful Chimney), a painted former chimney, is, at 302 meters, probably the tallest work of art in Europe. The oldest building is the Red Tower, dating back to the 12th century, but the city's landmark is the portrait bust of Karl Marx, known colloquially as "Nischl," unveiled in 1971. Marx, however, never actually visited the city.

There's a saying: "Chemnitz is a bit like New York. There's always something going on. You just have to know where it is and how to get there."

One of these European Capital of Culture venues is Villa Esche, an Art Nouveau building designed and built in 1902 by Henry van de Velde.

The successful hosiery manufacturer Herbert Eugen Esche gave him complete creative freedom. He designed practically everything, from the facade and room layout to the lamps, music room, and furniture, right down to the letter opener. This makes Villa Esche a unique testament to van de Velde's work.

The first European Capital of Culture concert in the Piano Salon series also took place at Villa Esche. The pianist Alexander Gadjiiev, originally from Gorizia, performed. He also served as a cultural ambassador for his hometown in 2025 and gave a concert there during the summer.

In 1834, a new instrument, a "new type of accordion," was presented in the Chemnitz newspaper, the Chemnitzer Anzeiger. Its inventor, the musician and instrument maker Carl Friedrich Uhlig, had named it the German Concertina.

Heinrich Band further developed it into the bandoneon. In 1870, it was brought to Uruguay and Argentina by emigrants. The Alfred Arnold company exported over 50,000 instruments and achieved worldwide fame with the voice of the Argentine tango.

Another project in this year of cultural celebrations is called "3,000 Garages," and the goal is to have around 30,000 garages in and around the city of Chemnitz. The garage is a familiar concept to all of us; we know the myth surrounding today's giant computer companies that assembled their first prototypes in garages. For many, the garage is considered the breeding ground for technological innovation, but also the first stop for many aspiring bands.

To build one, you had to find suitable state-owned land, obtain the necessary permits, and organize building materials. Garage communities with rules and membership fees were formed.

Starting in the 1970s, they were built by the owners themselves in collective weekend work sessions. You didn't even need to own a car to participate. A place on the waiting list for the Trabant or Wartburg, which would only be delivered many years later, was enough.

Among other things, photographer Maria Sturm visited dozens of garage complexes in Chemnitz and portrayed more than 170 owners for her exhibition. The garage project aims to encourage residents to share their stories and participate in their city's cultural capital.

But garages were also places of community. Not least, the garage complexes were havens where the SED dictatorship had no say.

A recent quote: "Well, it was ideal for a Trabant or Wartburg; you could easily walk around it and park a moped next to it. But many people who buy an SUV today have a problem: they can drive in, but they can't get out again."

Zum Schluss noch ein kleiner Sprachunterricht.

Ich hoffe, Sie hatten bei der Herfahrt for ihr Mäffdl wohl den Flebben mit? Denn wohlgemerkt: kein Autofahren ohne Führerschein!

Und falls Sie doch mit der Polizei zu tun bekommen, seien Sie bitte kein Diggnischl !

Wir hören zum Abschluss noch ein kleines Stück, - danach gehen mer was kuttln und katschn ne Bämme.

Was so viel heißt wie: wir genehmigen uns draußen am Buffet ein Brötchen.

Bleibt noch zu sagen: Vielen Dank! Sie waren ein bomforzionöses Publikum!

Finally, a little language lesson.

I hope you had your license with you on the way here to your little one? Because, mind you: no driving without a license!

And if you do happen to have a run-in with the police, please don't be a jerk!

' ... We'll listen to a short piece to finish off.

—then we'll grab a roll from the buffet outside.

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