I Spent The Night In Ljubljana's Former Political Prison

The Slovenian capital of Ljubljana might be one of Europe's most refined capitals but that doesn't mean that it doesn't still grapple with its not so distant Yugoslavian past.

I spent the night in Hostel Celica when I visited Ljubljana a few years back on my travels around Europe, and this hostel is accommodation renovated from the debris of a former Yugoslavian political prison!

Hostel Celica, A Former Yugoslavian Political Prison

Hostel Celica is part of Ljubljana's Metelkova art district. This hippy-ish, artist driven part of the city was formerly a Yugoslav army barracks, and housed a military and political prison on site.

Following Slovenia's independence in 1991, as the iron curtain of communism crumbled, the Yugoslav arm left during the short and decisive Ten Day War.

As the country moved towards democracy, the now vacant barracks and prison were swiftly occupied by vagrants and the homeless of the city.

But it really is incredible what they have done with this old political prison in the decades since.

The new Slovenian authorities weren’t too happy with these hippy, artsy inhabitants of the old prison though, and they began to try and remove the new inhabitants and presumably destroy any evidence of the former prison that could make them look bad.

A wrecking ball was smashed through the front of the prison in an effort to demolish it, but this didn’t really stop anyone from leaving. The people held onto their new homes, and 10 years into independence, they began to turn the site of the prison into a hostel.

The hostel preserved a darker side of Ljubljana’s history, keeping the prison cells as rooms, including the original iron bars.

The beds though, are rather comfier than the previous occupants of the prison would have enjoyed though I imagine.

The room I stayed in had a giant lump of rock on the floor, and the window was the original wreckage where the wrecking ball smashed through the wall.

Each prison cell has an individual design and theme crafted by a different artist to make it unique.

For hotel rooms, they may look sparse, but compared to their previous designs and purposes as political prison cells, they are positively luxurious now.

The artists were allowed free reign over their designs and each tackled differing themes, from Slovenian history and culture to general ideas on hope, freedom and democracy.

The cells are about as close to a former political prison as the guests would care to be, and the ground floor has been converted into a bar and social area for like minded guests interested in Slovenian history to meet and drink.

Hostel Celica is designed to represent Slovenia’s move to democracy after year's of being part of Yugoslavis, while showing the building’s dark past as a political prison. It’s a place that remembers what might well have otherwise been forgotten, but also shows the vast progress this small country has made since its time as a part of communist Yugolsavia. And Lonely Planet named it the hippest hostel in the world.

All Words And Photos By Richard Collett

This article originally appeared on my website Travel Tramp in an edited format!