METELKOVA STREET is located in the centre of Ljubljana, in the immediate vicinity of the main bus and railway station. Without doubt the most infamous of all the addresses in the street is Metelkova 3 where the old military barracks of Austro-Hungary still stand to this date. The area in question has been subject to different military forces for over a century and the barracks have been demilitarized only after Slovenia's independence and the departure of the Federal Yugoslav Army.

At the time of construction, Ljubljana was indeed much smaller than it is today. Both the water supply and the sewage system were being built with great fatigue and it was not until the celebrated mayor Ivan Hribar that Ljubljana began its slow modernization. In addition, a severe earthquake seriously damaged the city in 1895, leaving however no marks on the barracks. Given all that, it is also not to be dismissed that due to its favourable geographic position on the crossroads between north-east and east-west, Ljubljana has stood as an important strategic point from times of antiquity.