The Bishop's Palace is part of the ensemble of St Nicholas Cathedral, which is connected to it by a covered gallery. However, its history and architectural features make it a separate object of tourist interest.
The history of its appearance is connected with the strongest earthquake that occurred in Ljubljana in 1511. At that time, a large part of the city's buildings were destroyed, including the beautiful Baroque bishop's palace. The author of the project of the new palace was the architect Augustin Prigl, a well-known in his time and a versatile scientist. A year later, a new palace was built in place of the one destroyed by the earthquake, in the Renaissance style, characterised by nobility and harmony of lines. After some time, it was decided to rebuild this beautiful building with Baroque features, probably to harmonise it with St Nicholas Cathedral, with which it forms a single complex. Only the ground floor remained untouched, which today gives us an opportunity to visualise the beauty of the first building. On the whole, the ensemble benefited from the reconstruction: to connect the Palace and the cathedral, the architect invented an unusual gallery in the form of a bridge, it is very decorative for this part of the city.
The Palace has been noted in the history of Slovenia of different centuries. When Ljubljana was the capital of the Kingdom of Illyria (as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), the Palace was for a long time the royal residence. During the Napoleonic offensive, the Emperor made it his headquarters. And after the victory over Napoleon's troops, Alexander I, the victorious Tsar, stayed here in 1812.
Currently, the Palace is the property of the Slovenian Catholic Metropolis.
