The foothills of the Julian Alps will open in Slovenia next year. Muzej lah, named after its founders, Slovenian philanthropists Igor and Mojca lah, will house the Fundacija lah art collection.
On its website, the Switzerland-based nonprofit foundation said on its website that it “supports and promotes local and international projects throughout the cultural field, including visual arts, drama, film, dance and music.”
The couple has built about 800 works over the past 30 years. It includes works by over 100 international and Slovenian artists, including Joseph Beuys, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Anselm Kiefer, William Kentridge, Zoran Mušič and Neue slayenische kunst. It also features works by contemporary artists Anne Imhof, Thester Gates and Hito Steyerl. Many of them have never met the public before.
Founded by Sir David Chipperfield, the architect David Chipperfield, was founded by British architect Sir David Chipperfield, who designed the 55,000 square foot museum in the medieval town of Bled. It will occupy spots embedded in the hillside below Bled Castle, which was built in 1278 and not far from Lake Bled.
“When we built the FundaCija Lah art collection for thirty years, we also dreamed that one day we could create a space where these art can be shared and discovered,” Igor and Mojca Lah said in a statement. “We wanted to establish an institution in Slovenia where visitors can come together to think and be inspired, which is the local community and international visitors celebrate the art and bring together some of the greatest artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is the labor of love, it is our dream, it is our dream, it is our dream, it is a home full of melancholy and a place of deep reflection.”
Sir Chipperfield said in a statement that the museum “is defined by a series of rooms, courtyards and terraces that all create the ideal environment for the collection and give visitors a strong understanding of the surrounding landscape.”
Igor Lah, founder and chairman of FundaCija Lah, is also the president of Vaider Group in Switzerland, owner of Steklarna Hrastnik, a glass maker in Slovenia, owner of high-quality glassware, and owner of Srpska Fabrika Stakla, glass maker in Selbia. His wife Mojca is the co-founder of the foundation and is the treasurer of the Swiss glass packaging company Vaider Group.
