Photo. Metelkova Mesto.
Metelkova Mesto, called Avtonomni kulturni center Metelkova mesto in Slovenian, is an ex-army garrison that’s evolved into a popular spot for clubs and nightlife.
In the evenings people flocks to Metelkova for drinking, smoking, listen to alternative music and socialise. The music, atmosphere, people are amazing. Admired the special art on the walls.
A person selling a kind of Vanilla wine, he told me several story about the life her. The barracks here were originally commissioned by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 19th century, and during its tumultuous history has been occupied by soldiers from Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany – before becoming a stronghold for the army of the authoritarian Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For information about what`s on in Metelekova, see the website Metelkova Mesto.
Every year Metelkova Mesto hosts more than 1,500 alternative events in its illegally occupied buildings, catering to a wide spectrum of subcultures, from theatre performances and punk concerts to disability workshops and LGBT club nights. At Metelkova City a range of activities have been held. These include an art gallery, bars, artists studios, space for designers, offices of cultural organisations and concerts featuring different types of live music from Free Jazz, Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Punk rock, Heavy metal and Noise to Dub and Techno.
TheGuardian has an interesting article about Metelkova: How an abandoned barracks in Ljubljana became Europe’s most successful urban squat: Metelkova maintains a fine balancing act: this illegally occupied alternative capital of culture is autonomous but not anarchistic, liberal but not lawless.
Stein Morten Lund, 4th November 2015