Destinations and events

Europe square

The municipal administrations of the towns of Gorizia and Nova Gorica decided to honour the entry of Slovenia into the European Union in a very special way, not with a common plaque or monument, but with a new joint square in front of the Nova Gorica Railway station.

The area in front of the Nova Gorica Railway station, the former Northern Railway station of the town of Gorica (Gorizia), is the most urbanized spot where the two towns come into contact. The by the architect Max Fabiani monumentally designed urbane composition of buildings and the streets that end radially in the square, were many years divided by the border line in two. The opportunity arised to unite this urbane site once again. Among the diverse propositions of the architects from Gorica (Gorizia) and Nova Gorica, the two municipal administrations have selected the solution suggested by the architect Romano Schnabl from Gorizia. The removal of the border fence and the new set-up of the square over the border line has united and linked together the joint area of both towns, and with the installation of the huge circular mosaic in the centre a new extremely attractive joint site came into existance.

The motif of the mosaic, elaborated by the artist from Triest Franko Vecchiet, has been selected on an international art contest. On the mosaic there are two steel-plates (one on the Slovene side, the other one on the Italian side of the border-line), with the inscription of the name of the mosaic: »Mosaic of the New Europe«.

The square with the Mosaic of the New Europe became at once symbol of the coexistance of the two towns - Gorizia and Nova Gorica, the symbol for the elimination of the contrasts, as well as symbol of the European unification.