Max Fabiani

He died on August 18, 1962 in Gorizia, northern Italy.

The highest Slovenian award for excellence in urban planning has been named after his famous architect since 2008.

Fabiani was born on 29 April 1865 in Kobdil bei Staniel, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and part of present-day Slovenia.

He was born into a well-to-do and cosmopolitan family - his father was a Friulian latifundist of Bergamesque ancestry and his mother a Triestine aristocrat with Tyrolean roots.

As a child, he grew up speaking Italian with his family, Slovene with his peers and German in school.

Along with his 13 siblings, he attended elementary school in Kobdilj, followed by Realschule, a form of secondary school, in Ljubljana.

He moved to Vienna to pursue a degree in architecture at the Vienna University of Technology, completing his studies in 1889.

Between 1892 and 1894, he used a scholarship to travel throughout Europe and Asia Minor over the course of nearly three years, including stays in Greece, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and England.

Following his travels, he returned to Vienna and joined the studio of architect Otto Wagner, remaining with Wagner until 1900.

For his first major plan, he was commissioned to provide urban planning for Ljubljana in the aftermath of the city’s 1895 earthquake, a bid he won due to his familiarity with the city as well as his modern designs.

In 1903 and 1904, he was commissioned to design the national halls in Gorizia and Trieste, largely on the basis of his designs for Ljubljana.

In 1907, he completed the Mladika Palace in Ljubljana, one of the most architecturally acclaimed elements of his urban planning for Ljubljana in that year.

In 1900, he designed the Palace Artaria, one of Vienna’s most emblematic buildings, which serves today as a publishing house.

In 1902, he designed the Palace Urania in Vienna, a landmark of the Vienna Ring Road, which continues to serve today as a public educational institute and observatory, following extensive rebuilding after the Second World War.

In 1904, he designed the National Hall in Trieste, one of his many works that were used for civic and governmental purposes.

In 1919, he was responsible for the general urban development plan of Monfalcone, Italy.