Celje Hall

The Celje Hall (Slovene Celjski dom, meaning Celje Home) is a community center in Celje, Slovenia.

Overview

It was built in an eclectic style by the Viennese architect Peter Paul Brang between 1905 and 1906 as the main seat of ethnic German associations in town. At such, it was intended to contrast with the Slovenian Community Center (Sln. Narodni dom), which had a similar function for the local Slovenes. The building's original name was the "German Center" (German Deutsches Haus) and it was used as the main community center for the purposes of the local German-speaking population and by those that identified with German culture.

In 1919, after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the building was confiscated from the German community by the new Yugoslav authorities and renamed the "Celje Hall." Several cultural associations were placed in the building, including the prestigious Hermagoras Society publishing house, which had been expelled from its original location in Klagenfurt, Austria, after the Carinthian Plebiscite. Throughout the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the German community tried to get back the property and the building, but they were unsuccessful. After the Nazi German occupation of northern Slovenia and Lower Styria in April 1941, the building was again restored to its former use. With the defeat of the Nazi regime in May 1945, most of the ethnic Germans fled the town together with the occupying German armed forces, while the others were expelled by the Yugoslav Communist authorities. The building was again renamed the "Celje Hall."

Today it hosts several cultural associations and the town's tourist information centre, and is a venue for concerts and theatre.