Facades and joinery of the Bee House in Radovljica

The Beehive - a jewel of Art Nouveau along Gorenjska cesta, comes to life again in its original beauty

Along Gorenjska Road in Radovljica stands one of the most recognisable buildings of the early 20th century - a former loan house, affectionately known by its distinctive artistic motifs as the Bee. Designed in 1906 by Ciril Methodius Koch, the building is a symbol of the time when the suburbs of Radovljica began to urbanise and a new architectural expression was born between historicism and Art Nouveau. Its façade, with its remarkable ceramic mosaic, beehive and lively swarm, complemented today by three-dimensional copper bees, still speaks of the aesthetic ideals of the period and the local identity of the area.

In cooperation with the Municipality of Radovljica and the Ministry of Public Administration, ZVKDS OE Kranj has carried out an extensive conservation and restoration survey and renovation over the past two years, which has brought back many forgotten elements from 1906 - from the double-hung box windows, the original sand-tone colour scheme, to the meticulously restored ceramic tiles and the newly made missing bees. Research has also revealed surprising stories of the swell and layers of colour that waited for decades beneath the secondary layers.

The restoration of the Beehive is an important example of good practice, combining meticulous expert research and careful restoration that respects the exceptional nature of a cultural monument. By revitalising one of Radovljica's key Art Nouveau architectures, we have restored an important part of the town's identity, while at the same time reinforcing the value of Gorenjska cesta as one of the finest art-architectural environments of the first half of the 20th century.