Slovenian community centre being renovated in Trieste
Trieste, 12 May - After the foundation was laid for returning Slovenian community centres in Trieste to the Slovenian minority with a minority protection law more than two decades ago, one of these centres, National Hall at St John's, should be fully renovated by the end of the year, the newspaper Primorski Dnevnik reports online.
The efforts to renovate the building started 19 years ago, but the actual renovation works started in January 2021, according to the Trieste-based newspaper.
Now, the works on the exterior are to be concluded in the summer months, which is when the National and Study Library and its department of history and ethnography, and the Slovenian Research Institute, which are the main users of the centre, and two other local associations, should be able to start fitting the interior.
These organisations told the press today they expected to be able to move into the new multi-purpose centre at the start of next year. By mid-June, they plan to file a request for funds for the equipment to the regional government of Friuli Venezia Giulia.
According to the head of the Slovenian Research Institute, Devan Jagodic, the ideas for the new centre are ambitious, will pose a big challenge but will also be an investment into new generations that will strengthen the presence of Slovenians not only in the neighbourhood but also in the wider Trieste area.
National Hall at St John's has been picked strategically as the young gather in the area, given that Slovenian schools are near-by and so are a stadium, the seats of various associations and the University of Trieste.
A network of educational, study, sports and recreational centres is to be created in the area, a kind of campus, where potentially some 1,000 young daily visitors could be expected, he said.
The centre spreading across 1,300 square metre will feature a library and a reading room, a study room, a room for didactic activities, a conference room, exhibition space, research centre and the seats of the two associations, said the head of the National and Study Library, Luisa Gergolet.