About the Project
The Digital Archive of Nova Gorica and the Digital Archive of New Towns are open digital archives dedicated to researching the history, urbanism, architecture, and everyday life of Nova Gorica and other new towns in twentieth-century Europe. The platforms bring together historical research, archival materials, photographs, maps, and personal stories of residents of towns that were built ab initio — from scratch — as the result of the political, ideological, industrial, or urban ambitions of their time.
The Digital Archive of Nova Gorica is dedicated to researching and presenting the history of the town and the wider Gorizia region. It connects professional historical research, urban analyses, photographs, newspaper sources, archival materials, and the personal memories of people who built the town, live in it, or continue to shape it today. The entries include accessible expert texts, photographs, and testimonies collected through interviews, ethnographic workshops, public discussions, and existing archival collections.
The Digital Archive of New Towns presents other new towns, their urban concepts, cultural practices, histories, and collective memories, while also exploring the similarities and differences between them. Particular attention is given to questions of identity, modernist urbanism, post-war reconstruction, and the ways in which new towns shape their own stories and collective memory over time. Developed in collaboration with the International New Town Institute.
Both platforms are conceived as open and long-term digital archives. In addition to research and documentation, they also encourage public participation. Visitors can contribute their own stories, photographs, documents, or other materials related to Nova Gorica or other new towns. All contributions are editorially reviewed before publication.
Ab Initio – Urban Utopia
The digital archives were created within the framework of the project Ab Initio – Urban Utopia, a research and cultural platform dedicated to Nova Gorica and other European new towns. The project brought together research on urbanism, architecture, history, memory, and everyday life in new towns, and was part of the official programme of the European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica–Gorizia 2025.
Part of the research and collected stories is also presented in the guidebook Nova Gorica – A New Town on the Border, published in Slovenian, Italian, and English. The author also leads historical and urban walking tours through the town.
Project lead: Zavod Magistrala
In cooperation with: ZRC SAZU, Goriški muzej, Pokrajinski arhiv v Novi Gorici, Društvo humanistov Goriške, International New Town Institute
Project leader and principal researcher: Blaž P. Kosovel
Researcher and interviewer: Jasna Fakin Bajec
Entry authors: Jaša Bužinel, Ana Perne, etc.
Design: Saša Nikić
Web platform: ARCTUR
Contribute Your Stories and Photographs
We welcome unique and compelling memories — in text and image — that can enrich the digital archive. If you would like to become part of it, click here and share them with us!
Interested in More?
You are also warmly invited to join the historical–urban walking tour of the town and to purchase the guidebook Nova Gorica – A New Town on the Border.