Teaching Learning Activity as a part of the project Art Nouveau – Art Renouveau, Erasmus +, took place from 17th-23rd January 2016 in The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium. The purpose of the seven-day activities was to get to know the Art Nouveau movement in Slovenia and to create new ‘art renouveau’ works of art. Forty-seven students  and teachers from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Rumania and Scotland will study, explored and had fun together with Slovenian participants and their families. The mentor of the project at St. Stanislav’s Institution was Alenka Battelino, teacher of English.

Arrival Day: Sunday, 17th January 2016

This Sunday started in anticipation of the Erasmus guests’ arrival. Everyone at home was nervously cleaning, tidying up and organizing everything so that we could await our guests in the best possible state. The guests were from different countries and so were the scheduled times of arrival in Ljubljana. Since my brother and I were both hosting exchange students from two different countries, we welcomed our German guest at 4:30 pm and our French guest four hours later. The first conversations are always short and awkward so it wasn’t much different in our case. We discussed topics from weather to school grading system in Germany and France. Our guests, who felt rather exhausted from the trip, and us, tired out by the stress, went to sleep at a relatively early hour in keen anticipation of the following week full of new adventures. (Maria Heller, Slovenia)

Day One: Monday, 18th January 2016

The students and our guests arrived at the school in the early morning hours. The guests were welcomed by the headmaster and posed for a group photo in the Matija Tomc Hall. A detailed presentation about Art Nouveau in Slovenia prepared by four Slovene senior students followed. When the introduction to Art Nouveau was over, ReMixed Choir of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium put on a musical performance. The groups of foreign students were taken to the cafeteria to have lunch and then took a bus to the Ljubljana city centre. There, we were divided into four groups, each group consisting of students from all five countries, their teachers and a tour guide. The guides then proceeded to show us around the city, presenting Art Nouveau buildings of Ljubljana such as the Hauptmann house, The Sokol Gymnastic Society Hall, Grand Hotel Union and many more. After lunch, there was some time to explore the city on our own. At a quarter past four the programme formally ended and we were free to leave the city and return home with our guests. (Erna Killer in Lara Grum)

Day two: Tuesday, 19th January

We woke up in now a little better known beds and we drove with our hosts to the big and an easy- to- get- lost place, which is our hosts’ school, St. Stanislav’s. After a short presentation of the history of the Institution we went on a tour around it. We saw the main chapel with a mosaic, the school library, a sports hall, the biology corner, and they told us a few facts about this school from the first hand. After that we had workshops of drawing and microscoping. One was more creative: we were drawing the art noveau motifs. The other was connected to the morning session where we microscoped all sorts of things. The most interesting was to microscope the snakes’ skin.
In the afternoon we had three other optional workshops: living art, jewellery and graphic design. (Kathrin Quick and Anika Odar)

Day Three: Wednesday, 20th January

As usual foreign students met in Matija Tomc Hall, where Mrs. Battelino welcomed us and unfolded the plans for the day. The presentation on Slovenia followed. Later, we all started the workshops which were on graphic design, literature and architecture. In the graphic design workshop students worked on computers. In literature workshop they had to translate poems from English, French and German into their mother toungue or first foreign language. Finally in the architecture workshop, students decided on the basis of a picture of a building, which elements they liked the most so they could decorate some new building decoration. After the workshops hosts picked up their guests and headed home.

Day Four: Thursday, 21st January

On this day the participants in the Erasmus+ project Art Nouveau – Art Renouveau in Slovenia went on a trip to Škocjan Caves and coastal town of Piran, enjoying workshops, related to Art Nouveau.
We set off at 7.45am towards Piran. On the bus, we heard some data about Karst and Piran and soon we arrived to Škocjan Caves, where we descended into the depths of this Karst ruby. In the caves we admired the diversity of the cave system, some beautiful stalactites and stalagmites and were amazed by the stunning underground canyon, which is said to be the biggest in Europe. Through the canyon flows the river River and the guide told us about its past flooding that once reached the height of 140 metres. At our deepest point in the cave, we stood 170 metres under the ground. Upon leaving this wonderful cave system, protected by UNESCO and other organizations, we had lunch and headed towards a beautiful coastal town Piran.
We were divided into three groups, each led by a Slovene student as a guide. First, we visited Tartini Theatre, where we saw some beautiful Art Nouveau ceiling paintings and other elements of the era and then proceeded to Tartini square. There we learned about Giuseppe Tartini, the famous composer, listened to the legend still alive in the red Venetian house and saw the Court, Town hall and the church. Afterwards we walked all the way up to St. George’s Parish church, where we found out a lot about the church itself, enjoyed the magnificent view, the city defence walls and so much more. Some free time followed, but soon after we listened to a presentation given by the Institute for Mediterranean Heritage in Slovenia and then the workshops started. There were three workshops: one on calligraphy, the other on making utensils and the last one on drawing, which eventually turned into drawing the city’s landscape thanks to sunny and warm weather. After these very creative workshops, we took a walk down the coast and headed home. The day has left a lasting memory of a wonderful experience of both Piran and the Karst caves. (Alexander Centa)

WORKSHOPS PRESENTATIONS

Workshop Presentation: Living art
Albrecht Dürer said that »a good painter is full of invention within and were he able to live for ever, he would always have something new to bring forth. « How true is that we found out at the workshop Living art. It was a completely new technique to us and it inspired us because in this case it wasn’t only us who were creating, also bacteria were.
After a short explanation about what and how we are going to work, we took papers and made some sketches. When we came to serious business, we had to comply with safety instructions. With protective masks, gloves and chemistry gown we looked like professionals. In the flame we sterilized special sticks and with them we touched the bacteria of particular colour. We put our sketches under petri dishes, so we were able to see the pattern, we drew by using sticks “infected” with bacteria. We couldn’t see what we were actually drawing, which we found funny. The weakest point was the smell – bacteria stink.
Since we didn’t see the tracks of bacteria, we are excited to see the final result. Our paintings are going to develop day in, day out, which means we really participated by creating living art. (Nadezhda Ivanova Zlatokova, Alper Selim Aliosman, Coman Dumitru-Alexandru, Nanau Bianca-Nicoleta, Francesca Bailie, Marija Poklukar)

Workshop Presentation: Architecture
The architecture workshop started at 9 o’clock in primary school. We were divided into four groups and three students of architecture explained what we were to do. In the first workshop each group got a picture of a Secession building that we saw on Monday in Ljubljana and got various materials from which we had to make a pavilion or a model. They all turned out very well and each one was different form others. In the second workshop (after lunch) each group got a picture of a Secession facade with colourful patterns and a few potatoes. We cut the potatoes in different shapes, thus creating the stamps. We got the colours that were also used on the building in the picture. We dip the stamps in colours and pressed them on the paper, so we got different patterns that were inspired by the building in our picture. The whole architecture workshop was really interesting and fun and I believe we all enjoyed it. (Tinkara Toplak, Tinkara Uršič Fratina)

Workshop Presentation: Graphic Design
Graphic design workshop aimed at teaching the participants how to use the basic tools in InkScape and create a pattern with only one square. The created design was then printed on coffee mugs.
On Tuesday Mrs Nina Malovrh tought us about InkScape. We all created the same pattern. Following her instructions, we tried to do the things she showed. If we did not know how to continue or use something, we consulted two Slovene students who are experts in this field. We finished our tasks in about three hours. Mrs Malovrh also suggested considering Wednesday designs iun order not to not spend too much time only on thinking what to do.
On Wednesday we commenced with some sketches on a piece of paper and we started creating. Everyone was doing a different thing. Some of us made Art Nouveau themed designs with flowers and birds and motives from Art Nouveau buildings, whereas others went in a different direction such as pixel designs or just random patterns. A variety of techniques were used. Some just drew shapes without any references, some searched for inspiration and tried to recreate an image and some took photos and turned them into drawings. The patterns were made in a number of ways, too. Many did the square first and then just copied more squares but most of us simply applied shapes and lines directly on to blank mug print. Some of the young designers finished faster than others, so they were told to create their phone screensaver in order to match their phone and mug designs.

The meeting took place on 12th January 2016 in The Good Shepherd Kindergarten. After the headmistress’ address and a warm welcome given by guardians and children, a puppet Shepherd paid a visit with fresh news from the skiing trip he had just completed. The regular meeting and a common lunch followed. On Saturday 16th April 2016 a joint meeting of guardians and headmasters of all Slovene Catholic kindergartens will take place. The Archbishop of Ljubljana Msgr. Stanislav Zore will address the participants from the perspective of the holy year of mercy.

Sara Stadler was proclaimed the 20th Slovene Queen of Wine on 8th January 2016 after being elected by a commission consisting of professionals and sponsors. The Slovene Minister of Agriculture Dejan Židan crowned the new Wine Queen. The title brings together all Slovene wine regions and in 2016 Sara will represent wines, viticulture, tourism and cultural heritage at home and abroad.
Sara graduated from the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium in 2014 and enrolled at the Biotechnical Faculty in Ljubljana, where she studies agronomy. Students and teachers at the DCG are proud of Sara and compliment her warmly on winning the title. We wish her a successful fulfilment of her mission as a queen of wine, hoping she will spread the brand of quality Slovene wine and its tradition throughout Slovenia and abroad.

Classical antiquity days took place from 13th-16th January 2016 in the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium. The purpose of these three-day activities for first-year students is to discover the world of classical antiquity, recognize it and give it meaning in today’s world, and clarify the concept of classicism. As in classical antiquity, where academic subjects were not strictly divided, students experience intensive interdisciplinary learning on the first day. The second day is meant for practical work in the form of various workshops from sculpturing, painting, to drama, Roman cuisine and sport in antiquity. On the last day students present their work and acquired knowledge in workshops to the entire school community and visitors.

St. Stanislav’s Institution had the pleasure of hosting students, parents and other friends of the school to the New Year’s Concert, which took place on Thursday 7th January 2016 at 7. p.m. in St. Stanislav’s Chapel . The program consisting of popular works from the treasury of Christmas music from Slovenia and abroad was presented. The concert was performed by vocal and instrumental soloists of The Music School of St. Stanislav’s Institution, St. Stanislav’s Music School String Orchestra, St. Stanislav’s Youth Choir of The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium, Chamber Choir Megaron, St. Stanislav’s Student Choir and The Primary School Children Choir.

The Virgin Mary was called to rejoice above all because of what the Lord accomplished in her. God’s grace enfolded her and made her worthy of becoming the Mother of Christ. When Gabriel entered her home, even the most profound and impenetrable of mysteries became for her a cause for joy, faith and abandonment to the message revealed to her. The fullness of grace can transform the human heart and enable it to do something so great as to change the course of human history. (From the homily of Pope Francis at the opening of the Jubilee Year of Mercy on 8 December 2015)
May the spirit of Christmas fill us all with joy of life and gratitude for everything we are blessed with. Let us remain open to the new Life and, like Mary, accept it wholeheartedly and bring it into this world that strives for peace, mutual acceptance, justice, mercy, and tenderness. May the New Year be a year full of sincere and genuine relationships, readiness to help and support each other and blessed abundantly by our merciful Father.
Roman Globokar, Ph. D.
Director

We have the great honour to announce that the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium alumna Petra Kovačič from Tolmin won the first violin tutti audition in Vienna on 18th December 2015. This time all four candidates to make it to the final round were women and Petra is the fifth woman to be admitted to the Vienna Philharmonic since the start of this month. »The times may be a-changing.«, commented Slipped Disc, the world’s most-read cultural website.

Congratulations Petra! You have come a long way!

At The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium in St. Stanislav’s Institution sport climbing has had a long-established tradition since 1993. In these years, twenty-one annual national climbing championships for high school students in Slovenia have been organized. Each year about 150 contestants from all over Slovenia take part. National championship is held every year at the end of January, this year on 27th and 28th January, 2016.

This season we have decided to expand the competition and invite some foreign climbers as well. The conditions for the participation are the following: foreign climbers must be enrolled at a secondary school in the academic year 2015/2016 and born between 1997-2000. The competition runs separately for registered contestants who are lead-climbers and for those who are tope-rope climbers.

If required, accommodation is available in St. Stanislav’s Institution. For further information adn foreign climbers registration, please contact us by 18th January 2016 at [email protected]

We look forward to meeting you in Ljubljana.

Andrej Kokalj, P.E. teacher, Head of National/International Climbing Championship for High School Students in Slovenia
phone: 00386 41 569 530
[email protected]

On 8th December 2015 the inauguration of the Jubilee of Mercy took place in Rome when Pope Francis opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica. In St. Stanislav’s Institution, there are many opportunities to pay more attention to God’s mercy toward all of us  and to be thoughtful of everyone in everyday life.
Mercy does not mean haughtiness, indulgence and lenience, but the ability to accept other people’s needs, embrace their fate in order to help each other at a moment, when a step forward cannot be taken. Mercifulness means being ready to enter the chaos of another person. The logo provides a fitting summary of what the Jubilee Year is all about. The logo, which is to be used worldwide throughout the jubilee year, is the work of Jesuit Father Marko I. Rupnik and presents the Son having taken upon his shoulders the lost soul.

Fr. Rupnik made two mosaics in St. Stanislav’s Institution: the major one in St. Stanislav Chapel and another one in the Chapel of Wisdom of God, situated in the Janez F. Gnidovec Residence Hall.

The Congregation for Catholic Education has organized for the first time a world congress entitled Educating Today and Tomorrow – A Renewed Passion with 2000 delegates responsible for Catholic education. It took place in Rome from 18th-21st November 2015. The conference was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration Gravissimum Educationis and the 25th anniversary of the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae.
The purpose of the conference was to direct the Catholic education into the new era through cooperation among different educational institutions. Catholic schools and universities, who act in the name of the Universal Church, are there for others. They propose the faith and offer pastoral accompaniment, while resolutely defending human dignity and diffusing knowledge. This is done in dialogue with others, allowing for mutual enrichment as we contemplate that light of hope and faith lies at the root of all education. One of the key challenges of the congress was to answer the issue of the new forms of poverty, which in particular reminds the Church of its primary mission. A similar point was made also by Pope Francis who addressed the participants in the Plenary Session saying: “The greatest failure of a teacher is to educate within boundaries – those of a selective culture, secure culture or within the boundaries of a rich social sector.”
Dr. Roman Globokar, the director of St. Stanislav’s Institution, who participated in the congress with three other Slovenes, accentuated that the meeting has been meaningful also for Slovenia, where Catholic education should be more often presented to wider public, which would enrich the educational and cultural section of Slovene society. A better understanding of Christian pedagogy, which opens up the individual in his freedom, thus enabling him to live his life to the fullest and contribute to the common good, would contribute to the same cause. In this perspective the continual formation of teachers is of utmost importance. According to Dr. Globokar they should be bearers of gospel’s authentic spirit and not only conveyers of knowledge.