Hang the new inside the old.
Behind a former sugar refinery’s rows of windows, new gallery volumes hang within the old shell. Ljubljana’s Cukrarna keeps the building’s history visible around contemporary art.
SI SloveniaIn practice. Cukrarna Gallery opened in September 2021 after a renovation designed by Scapelab for the City of Ljubljana.
What to keep in view
This is a completed cultural conversion, not evidence that reuse is impact-free. Exhibition admission and individual events have their own terms.
Look between the old walls and the new rooms
The refinery began operating in 1828. After an 1858 fire ended sugar production, the building became accommodation for workers, soldiers and poorer residents. Writers including Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn lived there; its history extends well beyond industry.
The 2018–2021 conversion by Scapelab retained the outer walls, their 318 windows and the roof’s appearance. A steel structure supports four gallery volumes suspended within the shell, leaving a legible separation between the retained building and the new exhibition rooms.
The space around the art
The large interior is part of the encounter. You can read the distance between the old enclosure and the inserted volumes, rather than seeing the past reduced to a decorative façade.
Cukrarna’s programme includes exhibitions, performance, sound and music. The architecture offers different scales of experience, but the event or exhibition determines what you encounter on a particular visit.
Check the gallery’s current exhibitions, events and visiting information before setting out. Different programmes offer different ways into the building.
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