Ljubljana has inaugurated its first indoor Olympic-sized swimming pool, part of a large sports complex on the edge of the city's central park at the site of the iconic Ilirija swimming pool.

At the final price tag of €62.5 million, Ilirija is the biggest investment in the city sports infrastructure since the Stožice Stadium and Arena opened nearly 15 years ago.

Spanning 43,000 sq metres, the complex features 50 m and 25 m indoor pools, two outdoor baby pools, as well as indoor ball games court, and martial arts and gymnastics halls, outdoor courts and an all-weather running track.

The complex has its own underground car park and is connected to the Tivoli Park and the sports centre there with a railway underpass.

It also features a small museum dedicated to Stanko Bloudek (1890-1959), an athlete and engineer best known for designing ski jumping hills, who initiated the construction of the original Ilirija swimming poll.

The front facade of the legendary pool, which opened in 1929, has been preserved, adorned with a replica of the original 1942 bronze statue of a woman swimmer by France Gorše, which was stolen in 2007.

The historic front is tucked under a giant roof covered with solar panels that will make the facility nearly completely self-sufficient energy-wise, according to the city authorities.

Controversy over size and cost

Due to its size as well as delays and cost overruns, the project has raised its share of controversy.

The foundation stone for what was to be a swimming and gymnastics centre at the site was laid in 1999, but construction of the present complex did not start until 2022.

The complex was designed by Austrian architect Peter Lorenz of Lorenz Ateliers, who won an international call at the turn of the century that Slovenian architects largely chose to boycott because they opposed such a large construction at the site.

The opening of the complex had been delayed several times for various reasons, including missing permits and an arson on the construction site in April 2024, which caused €300,000 in damage.

The cost of the project, built by Koper-based company Makro 5 Gradnje, increased from €53.1 million to €62.5 million through a series of annexes, which raised allegations of opaque spending of public funds.

Mayor Zoran Janković has been insisting the increase in the price tag was not the result of price hikes but of additional work. The city has also won a €4 million subsidy from the Eco Fund for what is an energy neutral facility.

The complex was inaugurated with a high-profile ceremony on 18 March with the speakers noting the importance of the facility for Ljubljana and Slovenia as a whole.

The public will be able to view the complex during the open days on 20 and 21 March, while swimming will be possible starting from 24 March.

Just before the opening a small protest was staged by the Pirate Party to draw attention to what they see as a lack of transparency in the city's investment projects.

"The Ilirija sports centre was first budgeted at €36 million. Then in a few years this rose to €62.5 million in what I see as a completely opaque way," the leader of the non-parliamentary party Jasmin Feratović said.