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1 GORGEOUS GORENJSKA 2 LIFE IS A PRISON, TIME A MERCILESS EXECUTIONER 3 BUILDING CASTLES IN THE CLOUDS 4 THE PROVINCE OF CARNIOLA HAS NO TOWN MORE BEAUTIFUL 5 I´LL GO A-WANDERING WITH YOU 6 THINGS WILL LOOK BRIGHTER FOR THE CARNIOLANS 7 THE IRON IS COMING NEARER 8 LONG LIFE TO ALL NATIONS 9 BE MINE, BE MINE 10 THE WOMEN OF UPPER CARNIOLA HAVE LONG BEEN FAMED FOR THEIR BEAUTY 11 PROJECTION HALL: Good Luck, Kekec!

12 ATTIC AS I RESTLESSLY WANDER HERE AND THERE, FRIENDS KEEP ASKING “WHERE, OH WHERE?”

12.1 EARLY 20TH CENTURY 12.2 WORLD WAR ONE 12.3 BETWEEN THE WARS 12.4 SECOND WORLD WAR 12.5 TITO’S YUGOSLAVIA 12.6 THE NEW SLOVENIAN STATE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THE CREATION OF THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION “BEAUTIFUL GORENJSKA” IN KHISLSTEIN CASTLE

1 BEAUTIFUL GORENJSKA

2 LIFE IS A PRISON, TIME A MERCILESS EXECUTIONER

3 BUILDING CASTLES IN THE CLOUDS

4 THE PROVINCE OF CARNIOLA HAS NO TOWN MORE BEAUTIFUL

5 I’LL GO A-WANDERING WITH YOU

6 THINGS WILL LOOK BRIGHTER FOR THE CARNIOLANS

7 THE IRON IS COMING NEARER

8 LONG LIFE TO ALL NATIONS

9 BE MINE, BE MINE

10 THE WOMEN OF UPPER CARNIOLA HAVE LONG BEEN FAMED FOR THEIR BEAUTY

11 PROJECTION HALL: Good Luck, Kekec!

12 AS I RESTLESSLY WANDER HERE AND THERE, FRIENDS KEEP ASKING “WHERE, OH WHERE?”

12.1 EARLY 20TH CENTURY

12.2 WORLD WAR ONE

12.3 BETWEEN THE WARS

12.4 SECOND WORLD WAR

12.5 TITO’S YUGOSLAVIA

12.6 THE NEW SLOVENIAN STATE

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

THE IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITON CREATING PROCESS

THE EXHIBITION IN IMAGES

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BEAUTIFUL GORENJSKA

GUIDE TO THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION OF THEGORENJSKA MUSEUM IN KHISLSTEIN CASTLE

CIP - The catalogue dataNational and University Library, Ljubljana

719(497.4Kranj)(036) 069(497.4Kranj)(036) GORENJSKI muzej (Kranj) Beautiful Gorenjska : permanent exhibition Regional Museum Kranj, Castel Khislstein / [authors Tatjana Eržen Dolžan ... [etal.] ; English translation David Limon ; photographs Tomaž Lauko ... etal.]. - Kranj : Gorenjski muzej, 2014

ISBN 978-961-6478-56-4 1. Gl. stv. nasl. 2. Dolžan Eržen, Tatjana 271799296

Conceptual team mag. Tatjana Eržen Dolžan, dr.

Globoènik, Beba Jenèiè, dr. Verena Perko, Helena Rant,

mag. Monika Rogelj, mag. Marjana Žibert

External collaborators dr. Milan Sagadin, mag. Darko Knez

Editor-in-chief dr. Verena Perko

Deputy editor-in-chief

Technical editor

English language revision

Graphic design

English translation

Photographs Hodaliè, Tomaž Hladnik, Željko Kovaèiæ, Mirko Kunšiè, Franc Oderlap, Franc Perdan, Janez Pukšiè, Igor Pustovrh, dr. Milan Sagadin, Marjan Smerke, Andrej Štremfelj, mag. Jože Štukl, Marko Tušek, Rafko Urankar, Nejc Zaplotnik, Marija Žerjal, Jože Dežman, mag. Tatjana Dolžan Eržen, dr. Damir Globoènik, Helena Rant, mag. Monika Rogelj, Tone Stojko, Tomaž Lunder, Andraž Gregoriè, Marko Habiè, Irena Jagodic, Jelena Justin, Jože Miheliè, Žiga Miljavec, Janez Medvešek, Marija Smrke, Silvo Kokalj, Slavko Smolej

Review team Janez Bizjak, Ljuba Brajnik, Matija Jenko, dr. Milan Sagadin, dr. Andreja Valiè Zver, Majda Žontar, dr. Jože Žontar

dr. Damir Globoènik

mag. Barbara Kalan

Claudia Marchesi

Željko Kovaèiæ

David Limon

Tomaž Lauko, Drago Holynski, Arne

Damir

Published By Regional Museum Kranj, Marija Ogrin, Director

5

INTRODUCTION

Gorenjska is exceptionally rich in cultural and natural

heritage. It was here that the greatest Slovenian poet,

Dr France Prešeren, was born. The longest Slovenian river,

the Sava, begins here; and Mount Triglav, the highest

mountain in Slovenia as well as a symbol of the Slovenian

people, is also here, in the heart of the Julian Alps.

Due to its location, Gorenjska has since the earliest

archaeological periods been economically and culturally a

part of the South-Eastern Alps area. Ever since people first

came here, its natural riches have allowed for economic

development: hunting, iron-making, mining, forestry,

farming and tourism. Iron ore deposits brought about

the development of iron-making, which was an important

economic activity until its decline in the 20th century. Wood

served as a raw material for charcoal-burning and in the

construction of buildings, while the very fertile soil enabled

the growing of food and the development of stock rearing.

Across Gorenjska and its mountain passes ran trade

Khislstein Castle during renovation work.

(Photo Ž. Kovaèiæ)

Khislstein Castle during renovation work.(Photo H. Rant)

6 7

routes and with the construction in the 19th century of the

Karavanke–Bohinj railway, which connected Central Europe

with the Adriatic, the economy received another boost.

Through the centuries, spiritual and material life shaped

the cultural heritage that was passed from one generation

to another, and which nowadays is also safeguarded in

museums and studied in professional institutions. The

Gorenjska Museum, which is the central museum and gallery

institution in Gorenjska, keeps a large proportion of the rich

tangible and intangible heritage from this area and displays it

in accordance with the most modern museum presentation

methods. Since the establishment of our museum in 1953,

a considerable number of permanent exhibitions have been

presented which have been gradually, in response to public

needs, replaced by others or modernised. Ten years ago

we opened the permanent archaeological exhibition The

Iron Thread in the Town Hall and at that time the Prešeren

Memorial Museum in Kranj was given a new look, together

with an accompanying exhibition. There are permanent

exhibitions in the Pastoral Farming Culture Museum in Stara

Fužina, at Oplen House below Mount Studor and on folk art

in the Town Hall, whose Gothic corridors are decorated with

the permanent Dolinar collection of statues. In the Tomaž

Godec Museum in Bohinjska Bistrica there is a presentation

of 20th century history.

In spite of the attraction of the permanent exhibitions, there

was a gap, since Gorenjska as a whole was not presented in

any single location. This is why in 2008 the announcement

by the then director Barbara Ravnik about the renovation of

the Khislstein castle complex was received by the employees

of the Gorenjski Museum with great enthusiasm, as well asKhislstein Castle during

renovation work. (Photo H. Rant)

8 9

In the spring of 2008, the Gorenjska Museum curators

responded with great enthusiasm to the news of the

renovation of Khislstein Castle and the opportunity to stage a

new permanent exhibition there. From the very beginning, it

was agreed that we would design it as a story about people,

the countryside and iron-making. And as we are also the

museum of the national poet Prešeren, we also wanted it to

be about being Slovenian. Another goal was to ensure that the

exhibition responded to the needs of our public. After careful

consideration and on the basis of successful cooperation

in previous years, we chose the acclaimed Zagreb architect

Željko Kovaèiæ to lead the renovation.

A demanding task lay ahead of us. The exhibition had to

adhere to strict heritage protection requirements, as well

as the architectural characteristics of the building and the

THE CREATION OF THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION“BEAUTIFUL GORENJSKA”IN KHISLSTEIN CASTLE

a sense of responsibility. A new challenge lay ahead, which

also provided a unique opportunity to place into the newly

renovated premises a permanent exhibition of the best that

the rich cultural heritage of the whole of Gorenjska has to

offer. A museum project group was formed with the aim

of putting together the exhibition “Beautiful Gorenjska” in

accordance with the most modern methods. The long-held

dream of the renovated Khislstein Castle began to be realised

and now we have this indispensable guide to the “Beautiful

Gorenjska” permanent exhibition, which follows the layout of

the exhibition. The editing of the catalogue was taken on by

Dr Verena Vidrih Perko, with the help of Dr Damir Globoènik

and other colleagues.

I am certain that with the renovation of Khislstein Castle

and by using modern museum approaches and acting with

utmost responsibility towards the public, Gorenjska Museum

will become a setting for cultural events at the local, national

and international levels, thus contributing towards the

preservation of our identity in Europe, of which we are an

integral part.

Marija Ogrin,

Director

10 11

paintings it contained. The exhibition concept thus took as its

starting point the most beautiful part of the castle, the Blue

Hall, with its 19th century frescoes. The hall offers a unique

historical framework for the central exhibition setting featuring

four important Slovenians: Žiga Zois, France Prešeren, Janez

Bleiweis and Jakob Aljaž. All four are connected with Kranj

and Gorenjska, and without their great acts and committed

endeavours there would be today no independent Slovenia.

We focused particularly on the importance of the Slovenian

language and the struggle for nationhood. The central

exhibition scene consists of a temple with four columns and

the “altar of the homeland”. On it, we have placed an illustrated

edition of Prešeren’s poem Zdravljica (A Toast), printed in late

1944, thus emphasising the importance of Slovenian culture

for the emergence of the present-day state and the existence

of Slovenians. The romantically decorated Green Hall also in

a sense selected its own exhibition content. Here, we have

re-created a town house salon where, as an echo of the

political strivings of the great men of that period, cultural life

would unfold, organised by educated women. And because in

the Blue Hall we encounter Lovro Toman with the Slovenian

tricolour, the love story involving him and Josipina Urbanèiè of

Turn Castle, who as a poetess and intellectual personified the

role of the 19th century towns woman, presented itself to us

almost on a plate. But as town dwellers were just one aspect

of the Gorenjska past, we dedicated the adjacent room to the

story of a girl from a farm and her trousseau, using painted

furniture from the rich treasury of our collections.

All the other exhibition scenes were based on this core in the

Blue and Green Halls. In order to satisfy local people and to

draw the attention of foreigners to the beauty of Gorenjska,

the story begins with a model showing the past and present of

our region through texts and pictures. The story about the land

that has since ancient days fed and clothed ordinary people is

presented in the second room. It goes back to the time when

our oldest villages first appeared. The chosen archaeological

objects bear witness to nearly three millennia of iron-making

tradition, which left its mark on the modern Gorenjska

economy. There follow scenes about castle and church

nobility, with the stories of Pusti grad and Khislstein castles

supplemented by images and sculptures from the Gorenjska

churches. Next comes a walk past well-known Kranj houses,

where visitors can get a glimpse of life and death in old Kranj.

They also become acquainted with transport and trade.

Maria Theresa’s reign brought compulsory education, and

Photograph of the exhibition(Photo T. Lauko)

Photograph of the exhibition(Photo T. Lauko)

12 13

more knowledge signified progress. The bitter stories of the

Kropa blacksmiths are encapsulated in the handful of iron-

making money that the workers could spend only in the shop

owned by their master.

The arrival of a railway, accelerating the development of

enterprise and trade, included Kranj in the general flow of

development. This is the period when industry developed in

Kranj, marking the expansion of Gorenjska’s economy in the

last century. And that is the beginning of the multifaceted story

of the 20th century, which was allocated space in the castle

attic, among the original roof construction’s labyrinth of beams

and supports. Our tale ends with Slovenia’s independence.

The extensive castle attic presented a great challenge. With

the addition of a staircase it was changed into an attractive

exhibition space for all those objects for which there was no

room in the permanent exhibition, but which we felt it would be

a shame to keep hidden in the museum’s storage depot. This

is where we hoped that our visitors would be able to relax, to

sit down for a moment, have a coffee from a vending machine

or simply to socialise, sharing their exhibition stories. But

because of a complex of problems connected with the castle

renovations and self sufficiency of the main project manager,

the large attic, to our great disappointment, remains empty.

The renovated rooms on the second floor are intended for

occasional exhibitions and for the inclusion of the local

community in museum events. In one of the large rooms we

will be able to hold occasional museum evenings, which have a

long tradition at the Gorenjska Museum and are a popular form

of conveying new knowledge to the public.

We have forged close links with our visitors from the very

start of the preparations and so it was not difficult to tailor

the permanent exhibition to their needs. During the entire

process we kept asking for visitors’ opinions and filling in the

gaps where they appeared. We invited selected reviewers, who

represented our museum public, for a talk. We sent them texts

to read and took their comments into consideration. We would

like to thank them for their contribution.

Through objects from our heritage we wished to relate happy,

sad and serious stories about our predecessors, their wisdom

and knowledge. This is why the exhibition is a selection of

stories about the people who have lived in Gorenjska through

its long history. It attests to their love of the soil and the region

and their unshakable faith in the future of the Slovenian nation.

We hope we have managed to succeed. Do pay us a visit some

time and judge for yourself!

Dr. Verena Perko,

lead curator of the permanent exhibition

Kranj, 29th September 2011

Photograph of the exhibition(Photo T. Lauko)

GORGEOUSGORENJSKA 1/from a song by Slavko Avsenik with lyrics by Feri Souvan/

Phot

o J.

Mih

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Phot

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Milj

avec

THE RIVER SAVA WAS ONCE CALLED THE SAVERKNA

1716 The Gorenjska landscape that we admire today was shaped over

many millions of years. Glaciers and rushing waters carved out

canyons, valleys and river beds, while lakes were also formed.

But the oldest traces of humans in Gorenjska date back only a

few tens of thousands of years. Prehistoric settlements and burial

sites of these original inhabitants have been discovered in many

parts of Gorenjska. With the arrival of the Slavs, who intermixed

with the indigenous people, the Slavic language prevailed. The

wealth of ancient wisdom and customs was absorbed into the new

culture, but the old names of rivers and mountains were retained.

Importantly, the skill of iron-making, which has been present in

Gorenjska for 2800 years, was also retained.

Thanks to its forests, rich iron ore deposits and iron working

skills, fertile fields and busy trade routes, Gorenjska (historically

Upper Carniola) was economically vibrant. Its sense of regional

awareness and of Slovenianness is rooted in thriftiness, a sense

of attachment to the land, faith and the native language. This is

why the homesteads of Gorenjska have produced so many learned

people.

In 2005, a stone with a dedicatory inscription, erected by

one Steven (Stefanus in Latin) and his family in honour of the

River Saverkna, was found on a heap of rubble from a cottage

in Podkoren. Because of the proximity of the sources of the

river in nearby Zelenci, it is thought that the name Saverkna

refers to the divine forces of the sources of the present day

River Sava. Two thousand years ago the Romans incorporated

what is now the Gorenjska region into their Italian territory

and made good use of the fertile fields, mineral riches and

the trade routes over the mountain passes.

Panorama of GorenjskaPanart d.o.o., Lesce

Janez Vajkard Valvazor, Ljubelj 1679, copper engraving. In his Topographia ducatus Carniolae modernae the Carniolan nobleman and scholar Janez Vajkard Valvazor (1641–1693) published copper engravings of many places in the then province of Carniola.

A dedicatory stone to the Saverkna from Podkoren, early 2nd century AD(Gorenjska Museum collection, photo T. Lauko)

18

Ljubelj in 2010(Gorenjska Museum collection)

Jožef Wagner, Ljubelj 1842, lithograph (Gorenjska Museum collection)

Between 1842 and 1848 the sketcher, topographer and publisher Jožef Wagner (1803–1861) from Klagenfurt had lithographs of Gorenjska printed.

/France Prešeren/

2/France Prešeren/

The exhibition Gorgeous Gorenjska is a tribute to the region and

its inhabitants. But it is also a call for us to have the determination

to carefully preserve what we have inherited from our forebears.

LIFE IS A PRISON, TIME A MERCILESS EXECUTIONER

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In the past, the land meant everything to people. The farm, the nearby church and castle – that was their world. The lives of the children differed little from those of the parents.

Between the 10th and 15th centuries, the lords divided the land into

individual farms that in Gorenjska were passed on in their entirety

from one generation to the next. The peasant worked the given

land, giving a large share of the produce to the feudal lord and

performing the obligatory socage or feudal duties. Working the land

demanded a great deal of toil and drudgery. The feudal lord also

governed the peasant's private life, among other things granting

permission for marriage and deciding on inheritance. Families had

large numbers of children, often more than ten, but due to hunger,

illness and war very few survived. The farm was inherited by only

one child, while the others married in the neighbourhood or went

to work as farmhands or maids.

THE SETTLEMENT OF SLAVIC NEWCOMERS IN THE

GORENJSKA REGION

The settlement of Slavs on the territory of the present day

Gorenjska began in the second half of the 7th century AD.

This can clearly be seen from the burial grounds and the rare

remains of settlements, such as the one at Pristava in Bled,

at Dobro Polje and at Šmartno near Cerklje. The already

cultivated plots of land were very inviting for the newcomers.

They erected numerous new settlements, best illustrated by

Blejski kot. Occasionally, they buried their dead in the ruins

of Roman villas, such as at Britof near Kranj and at Rodine.

The contacts between Slavs and the indigenous population

are attested to by the material culture, such as pottery and

some types of jewellery, as well as by folk traditions, such

as tales about mythological giants known as Ajdi, about the

Fates and fairies known as “white women”.

The old settlements built after the collapse of the Roman

empire were located on difficult to access heights. These

settlements, such as Ajdna, Sv. Lovrenc and Gradišèe

above Bašelj, Sv. Jakob above Potoèe, and Trnje near Škofja

Loka, became deserted after the arrival of Slavs. In Kranj,

the biggest and most important walled settlement from the

late Roman period, life continued as before. The early Slav

settlers did not encroach on the town; rather, they built

new settlements around it in Gorenja Sava, Spodnji Bitenj,

Drulovka and Mlaka near Kranj.

Only when the population converted to Christianity in the

9th century did Kranj, as the seat of a large parish, become

an administrative and religious centre. Alongside the church

there was a large graveyard for people from the wider area.

Kranj became the centre of the Duchy of Carniola and later,

following the Frankish administrative reforms, the seat of

government of the border province.

Dr. M. Sagadin

A significant proportion of Gorenjska’s economy

consisted of iron-making, which is a very old skill.

On the Gorenjska hills people began searching for

iron ore more than two millennia ago. At the same

time they herded livestock, so iron-making has long

been connected with mountain pasturing. From the

very beginning, iron was a source of strength and

power belonging to the ruler. The locals benefited

mainly indirectly from the large quantities of world-

famous Noric iron that were produced – earning

money through charcoal-making, mining and carting,

which provided a solid basis for Gorenjska's

economy.

2322

In 2007, near Lesce, during the construction of the Gorenjska

motorway, workers came across three iron ingots – semi-

finished casting products dating from 2000 years ago. It is

almost certain that these objects were made by the iron-

makers in this area and that they were intended to go to an

unknown Roman centre for further processing. In antiquity,

Noric iron (Ferrum NoricumI), an iron with steel-like qualities

that was made in Carinthia and the present day Gorenjska,

was famous far and wide. The high quality of the products

was made possible by local iron ore rich in manganese, as

well as the special skills of the local iron-makers, who further

improved the various types of pig iron by re-forging and using

the most appropriate coal. The increased carbon levels in the

iron from these processes made its characteristics closer to

those of steel.

Iron ingots from Lesce (Gorenjska Museum collection,photo T. Lauko)

Smoke kitchen, hiša and monotonous food

The medieval houses in these areas were wooden, consisting of a

single space while the entrance was protected from rain and snow

by a shed-like structure. On the other side of the roofed area in

front of the entrance there was a stable.

Smoke spread throughout the single room and escaped through

the uncovered part of the thatched roof. The fireplace was the

heart of a peasant home – fire provided light and warmth, and

the food was cooked on it. Planned settlements, such as those in

Bitnje or Šenèur near Kranj, were built following a unified model

and probably had built-in stoves with a fireplace.

Roughly 500 years ago, fireplaces were relocated to the entrance

chamber, which is known as a smoke kitchen. The now smoke-

free space with a stove became the main family room. With time,

houses with more than one room began to be built.

The diet was simple, consisting of home-grown or gathered

produce, and based on grains in the form of kasha or flour. The old

peasant saying Eighteen times kasha, then Sunday is an illustration

of this. Because of kasha (kaša in Slovenian), the places below the

mountains from Begunje to Žirovnice are known locally as Kašarija

(Kashaland). Sometimes, instead of kasha, people would eat a

gruel of flour and water.

The origin of the village of Rodine

In Roman times, a number of villae rusticae or country villas

appeared in Gorenjska. They consisted of a residential part and

outbuildings, surrounded by the fields and meadows that belonged

to the villa. One such villa was discovered at the village of Rodine.

Later, new settlers built their homes around the remains of these

villas and mixed with the indigenous population. The last to settle

here, 1400 years ago, were Slavs. Graves from that time have

been found in Rodine, Smokuè, Doslovèe, Begunje and Moste.

In the 10th century Rodine became a parish centre under the

patronage of St. Clement. At that time there were at least two

farms in the village. This was also the time when the land began to

be distributed by the feudal lord resulting in the system of working

The fireplace in a shepherd’s dwelling in

Velopolje, photographed in 1978. The fireplace

was built from a wooden frame, stones and sand. This is the simplest type of preserved fireplace in Gorenjska, once typical

of wooden houses.(Photographic library of the

Gorenjska museum, photo D. Holynski)

24 25

land on farms of 15-20 hectares, known as hides. Over time, the

number of farms increased. Each peasant received a plot of land

for a house and outbuildings, while the fields and meadows were

in different locations around the village. In most of Gorenjska, land

was usually divided into units (gruda) of varying sizes and shapes.

As the population grew over the centuries the existing land was

divided into new cultivated units, while new land had to be found

outside the initial nucleus, often by clearing forest. The result of

these centuries of development involving inheritance and small

purchases can be seen in the cadastral map produced during the

land survey carried in the 19th century under Emperor Franz I.

MENTIONS OF GORENJSKA VILLAGES IN WRITTEN SOURCES

From the 11th to the 15th century, the Middle Ages shaped

in a multitude of ways the Gorenjska landscape and its

economy, as well as the social structure that survived for a

number of centuries. There appeared villages bearing names

that are still in use. And in these villages, one-family farms

known as hides appeared. In Gorenjska, the earliest records

in written sources are mainly from settlements in the Škofja

Loka and Radovljica areas.

973 Škofja Loka, Selca, Žabnica, Suha pri Škofji Loki

1002 Stražišèe pri Kranju

1004 Bled

1029 Dovje

1050 Kranjska Gora

1050 Begunje, Brezje, Krnica, Želeèe in Mužje pri Bledu

1050 Bistrica pri Tržièu, Kovor, Leše, Visoèe pri Kovorju

1060 Preddvor

1063 Koritno

1065 Bohinj

1075 Sebenje, Selo pri Bledu, Zasip pri Bledu, Zgoša

1085 Mlino pri Bledu

A cart on a medieval fresco

of Holy Sunday in Crngrob, which

shows the washing of linen cloth.

(Fresco reconstruction, Slovenian Ethno-graphic Museum, photo M. Habiè)

MEDIEVAL ŠKOFJA LOKA

Škofja Loka is one of Slovenia’s most beautiful medieval

towns. Originally it was called Loka, whilst in medieval

documents the following forms of the name appear: Lonca,

Loka, Lack.

In 973 the Roman-German Emperor Otto II donated the town

and its surroundings to the Freising Bishopric and so it gradually

became known as Škofja Loka (škof is the Slovenian word

for bishop) or by its German equivalent Bischoflack. The Loka

estate was the largest in Slovenia and survived until 1803.

The administrative centre of the Loka estate was constructed

by the Freising bishops on a hill above the confluence of the

Poljane Sora and Selca Sora rivers. The oldest part is the

tower-like castle on Krancelj. In the 13th century, a lower

castle in a more favourable economic and transport location

was added. Below it there grew a settlement of craftsmen and

merchants, first mentioned in 1248 as a market settlement

and then in 1274 as a town. The town and the castle were

surrounded by a wall with five town gates. Space within the

walls was limited, so the townspeople built tall houses with

narrow streets in between. There was more space only on

what is now Mestni trg (Town Square). In the Middle Ages,

townspeople made a living from crafts and trade, and

partly from agriculture. Škofja Loka was located next to an

important trade route running from Styria across the Tuhinj

Valley, past Kamnik and Smlednik, to the Primorska region

and past Ilirska Bistrica to Rijeka.

The Freising bishops relocated settlers from Bavaria, Carinthia

and Tyrol to the Sora Plain, the Poljane Valley and the Selca

Valley because around the year 1000 these areas were only

sparsely populated. To provide the new farms with sufficient

land, extensive woodland areas were cleared. On the Sora

Plain, the settlement and the emergence of new farms that

began in the 11th century ended before the late 13th century. In

the two valleys, however, new villages and isolated farms

continued to appear until the late 15th century. It was at that

time that Železniki became an iron-making centre.

Nine strips comprising 47 scenes are arranged around

the suffering Jesus. The scenes show activities with which

believers would be torturing the Saviour again if they perform

them on a Sunday or a holy day. Torment in hell, pictured

bottom right, awaits all those who disobey. The fresco is

interesting due to the depiction of medieval activities and

crafts, such as hunting with a falcon, shoeing a horse,

growing flax, spinning and weaving, dyeing linen, bathing,

going to the inn, dancing and so on.

BUILDING CASTLES IN THE CLOUDS

/France Prešeren/

3Fresco of Holy Sunday, mid-15th century, the workshop of Janez of Ljubljana, the western facade of Crngrob church.(A reconstruction of the original kept by the Škofja Loka Museum, photo J. Štukl)

Fres

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28 29

While he serf was dependent on the feudal lord, the lord was dependent on the serf ’s labour, for the only guarantee of strength and riches was carefully tended land. Landed estates were also owned by the Church, which was deeply ensconced in the feudal system, and also controlled the spiritual life of both the lord and the serf.

The castle was the fortified home of the lord of the manor, the

centre of his estate and of legal and judicial power over the serfs.

The oldest preserved castle in Slovenia is Bled, which is mentioned

in written sources from the year 1011. Between the 11th and

16th centuries hundreds of castles and manor houses were built

in Gorenjska. The earliest castles were fortified towers built on

strategic points to guard roads, crossing points and people. The

lord of the manor was answerable to and subordinate to the

higher feudal lord who granted him land. His power and fate were

dependent on ties of kinship, triumphs and defeats.

Almost every village had a church. Many were painted with

frescoes and are among the most beautiful monuments to this

time in Slovenia.

At the time of the Turkish incursions, churches were also places of

refuge for the local inhabitants, so many of them were surrounded

by a defensive wall.

Medieval estates

In the late 10th century the ruler began to distribute land among

the important noble families and bishoprics. In the early 13th

century the most powerful were the Counts of Andechs, who

were based in Kamnik but who also established the town of

Kranj. The remaining land was divided between the bishoprics

of Freising and Brixen, and the noble Ortenburg family. Around

1400 the Ortenburgs were at the height of their power, which

was based partly on iron-making; they owned a number of

castles, including Pusti Castle above Lipnica. When the Andechs

and Ortenburgs counts died out, their estates and castles in

Gorenjska passed to the Celje counts.

Bled depicted on a copper engraving from Janez Vajkard Valvazor'sTopographia ducatus Carniolae modernae, printed in 1679.

In the early 11th century, the inhabitants of the old Slavic district of Bled were included in the Bled estate. The castle became the administrative, economic and cultural centre of the estate belonging to the Bishopric of Brixen.

Estates in Gorenjska in the early 13th century(Milko Kos, Historical Institute, Scientific Research Centre, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts)

30 31

Pusti grad or Lipnica Castle or Waldenberg

Pusti Castle is also known as as Lipnica Castle or in German

as Waldenberg. The estate was managed by the Ortenburg

family, who in the early 12th century acquired the land below

the Karavanke Alps, Kamen Castle near Begunje and Pusti

grad near Lipnica. The first mention of the latter in historical

sources is in 1228, when it was taken over by Count Frederick

of Ortenburg. His family lived here until 1418 or the death of

Frederick III, who was responsible for the development of iron-

making in Gorenjska.

The story of Pusti Castle

The death of the last Ortenburg left its traces in the folk tradition

of the Lipnica Valley. A legend tells of the count and his unfaithful

wife. The cuckolded count gets to know a beautiful girl and begins

living with her in Pusti Castle. When she bears him a son, his wife

gets her revenge by slyly sticking a needle in the baby's head. She

offers the count half an apple that she has cut with a knife poisoned

on one side of its blade and eats the other half. Only when he finds

his dead son does he realise what his wife has done. In his final

agonies he throws her from the castle battlements and sets fire to

the castle. The wife changes into a snake, which still today slithers

through the ruins. She will be rescued by one who, as a baby, lay in

a cradle made from the wood of a lime tree that grows among the

ruins and the countess will show him where the treasure of Pusti

Castle is hidden.

THE OLDEST CASTLES IN GORENJSKA

The first stone castles in Gorenjska were erected in the

11th and 12th centuries in difficult to access or naturally

protected locations. Many medieval castles appeared as the

result of the arrival of foreign church and secular feudal lords

in Slovenia and are mentioned in connection with them in

various documents.

1011 Bled Castle

1074 the castle in Stara Loka

1075 the Brixen fortification in Kranj

1136 Smlednik Castle

1147 Preddvor Castle

1154 the castle at Sora near Medvode

1156 New Castle above Preddvor

1174 Gradišèe above Bašelj

1178 Gorièane Castle

1192 Wartenberg Castle below Šmarjetna gora

1202 Old Castle and Small Castle in Kamnik

1228 Pusti Castle near Lipnica

1250 Mengeš

1262 Škofja Loka Castle

1263 Kamen Castle

1268 Jablje Castle

1278 Strmol Castle

The Ortenburg Mining Regulations

The Ortenburg Mining Regulations is a medieval legal document. It

was issued in 1381 by Count Frederick of Ortenburg and is one of

the oldest such documents in Slovenia. It was created as a result

of the changed social and economic conditions in the 14th century

in the Jesenice and Upper Sava River Valley area. Agriculture and

The ruins of Pusti Castle(Photo T. Hladnik)

3332

animal husbandry were badly developed there, and the feudal lords

were unable to collect the same taxes as elsewhere in Gorenjska.

The planned economic policy introduced by the Ortenburg family

improved conditions. Overgrown and marshy areas were settled

and turned into fertile fields. In addition, the iron smelting method

was changed: iron ore was no longer smelted in simple smelting

pits near the location where it was found, into which air had to be

conducted. Instead, blast furnaces were built in the valley, using

the power of water, combining furnaces, bellows and hammers.

The owners had to employ large numbers of people for different

tasks. The Ortenburg Mining Regulations laid the foundations for

the legal regulation of relations between furnace owners, skilled

craftsmen and workers. In addition, it represents the point when

the old fashioned iron making in higher locations above Jesenice

ended and the procedure was relocated to the valley.

WALL PAINTINGS

Frescoes in churches helped people to learn Bible stories

and understand religious teachings, for at this time most of

the population was illiterate and the mass took place in Latin,

which they could not understand.

The succursal church of St Leonard at Breg

near Preddvor

is famous for its medieval paintings. The frescoes in the presbytery

and on both triumphal arch walls are among the most beautiful and

best preserved medieval paintings. They were most likely painted

around 1420 by two Friuli painters, whose names are unknown.

Most of the medieval churches in the central part of Slovenia

(Carniola) were painted in a similar way. The altar space was

meant to symbolically represent heavenly Jerusalem on earth

as described in the Book of Revelation. On the vault, there is a

depiction of Christ in Glory, Christ the Judge or the Saviour, and he

is surrounded by the evangelists or their symbols, or sometimes by

the Church fathers. On the walls below there are depictions of the

Apostles, signifying the twelve supporting pillars of Christianity.

Sometimes there are also depictions of angels singing, praying or

The Rateèe Manuscriptnamed after its place of origin, is of historical importance to Gorenjska as it is the second oldest document in the Old Slovenian language. The Lord's Prayer, Apostles' Creed and Hail Mary are written in a mixture of Gorenjska (Upper Carniola), Dolenjska (Lower Carniola) and River Gail valley dialects. The manuscript dates from between 1362 and 1390, when Rateèe still belonged to the parish of Maria Gail, near what is now Villach in Austria. As it was discovered in Klagenfurt, it is also known as the Klagenfurt manuscript.(Provincial Archives in Klagenfurt)

Breg near Preddvor,

the succursal church of St

Leonard(Photo D.

Globoènik)

34 35

playing musical instruments. This type of the painting of the altar

vault became known as the Carniolan Presbytery.

The manner in which the part of the church intended for believers

is painted and known as Slovenian Gothic. It is characterised by

the depiction on the upper part of the arch wall of the offering of

Cain and Abel, whilst at the sides there is the Annunciation, and

above the side altars there are usually saints or scenes from their

life. Along the whole of the northern wall there is a depiction of the

journey and adoration of the Magi, who are shown moving towards

the altar.

On the northern and southern wall there are often depictions of

the Passion of the Christ, legends associated with the church’s

patrons and other saints or scenes from the life of Mary. The

horrific image of the Last Judgement is painted on the western

wall.

On the outside of medieval churches there was usually a portrayal

of St Christopher looking out at passers-by. Usually, this appeared

on the side facing the settlement. According to popular belief,

looking at this image offered protection against sudden death.

The eating and drinking habits of the wealthy

The diet and eating habits of the nobility were faithfully described

in the diary of Paolo Santonino, who was secretary to the Patriarch

of Aquileia. Between 1485 and 1487 Santonino travelled in

Carinthia and Styria, visiting on the way some places in Upper

Carniola (Gorenjska). In priests' houses and monasteries he

would be given boiled or roast fowl, fish, game, beef and lamb,

with a variety of sauces. Santonino also mentions various soups

and cabbage with bacon. His hosts were similarly generous with

desserts, fruit and cheeses, white bread and excellent wines. At

larger banquets, they were served with as many as seven courses.The Velesovo Madonna on a postcard from 1920s (Gorenjska Museum collections)

The sculpture of Mary in the pilgrim church in Velesovo is the oldest in Slovenia and at the same time all that remains from the original pilgrim church. The statue, dating from the early 13th century, is said to perform miracles and has since the late 14th century been dressed in valuable clothing in liturgical colours.

Maja Šubic and Irena Romih, a depiction of a

medieval meal according to

Santonino.(Photo T. Lunder)

The statue of the Pieta originates from Bistrica near Tržiè. It is wooden and would once have been painted in lively colours. It was made around 1510 by an unknown master, nowadays usually referred to as the “Master of Mary from Trboje” after another statue of Mary in Trboje near Kranj.(Gorenjska Museum collections,photo T. Lauko)

36 37

MEDIEVAL KAMNIK

The oldest traces of a settlement in Kamnik have been found

at what is known as ‘Small Castle’. The dwelling remains

go back to the New Stone Age, i.e. the 4th millennium BC.

In the early Middle Ages, an old Slavic settlement stood on

the same spot and the mayor may have been based there.

Next to the settlement there was a cemetery with a chapel

that stood on the same spot as the present day Small Castle

chapel. From around 1000 onwards, Kamnik was the seat

of the Sempt-Ebersberg Margraves. Their estate lay north of

the River Sava, between Trojane and Kokra. Kamnik enjoyed

its greatest renown under the noble Andechs family, who

granted the town its rights. The townspeople of Kamnik are

mentioned for the first time in a document from 1229. The

Andechs ensured solid economic foundations by introducing

a forced transit route through Kamnik and the Tuhinj Valley

which replaced the former route along Èrni graben. Kamnik

was also the centre of the Carniolan Mark and acquired a

mint, which minted coins for the noble Spanheim family,

who acquired the Kamnik estate in 1248 and succeeded

the Andechs. The main trade route between Styria and

Carniola past Kamnik was controlled by two castles. Both

were erected by the Bavarian Counts of Andechs. Old Castle

stood on a rocky ridge, while Small Castle was built above

a steep cliff. Small Castle was destroyed by an earthquake

and fire in the 16th century and was not rebuilt, but a two-

storey castle chapel from the 12th and 13th centuries with a

beautiful Romanesque portal has been preserved.

Dr. M. Sagadin

The threat from the Turks

The most violent Turkish attacks came in the period after 1470.

The incursions were aimed at Carinthia, so Gorenjska (Upper

Carniola) was pillaged less than the other provinces. In spite

of this, local farmers set up fortified encampments or refuges

to which they could flee with their animals and belongings. The

building of these encampments was supervised by the feudal lords

and local princes, for defending farmers was also in their interests.

There were more than 30 such encampments in Gorenjska, with

that in Podbrezje being one of the smallest. Its location on a rise

above level ground gave the defenders a good view to all sides.

Lighting bonfires on exposed hilltops was the quickest way of

warning of an imminent Turkish threat. The bonfire at Ljubljana

Castle very quickly and effectively passed on a warning to

Gorenjska, where bonfires were then lit on the hills of Šmarna

Gora and Šmarjetna Gora, at St Peter's above Begunje and in Bela

Peè near Rateèe. These signals were followed by the lighting of

many small local bonfires on the surrounding hills, where a great

deal of firewood was brought by cart, while mortars were put in

place and guards posted.

The anti-Turk encampment in Podbrezje(Photo H. Rant)

38

JANŽ KHISL

(born aroun 1530, died in1593)

Janž Khisl from Fužine near Ljubljana was a successful

businessman, the owner of a paper making plant and the then

only glassworks in Carniola. The paper bore the watermark of

the Khisl coat-of-arms. As a Protestant, Khisl supported the

publication of Slovenian Protestant hymn books. In addition,

he was a benefactor to and supporter of art and science. His

son Jurij also supported the Protestant Church in Carniola.

After Jurij’s death in 1605, the Khisl family in Carniola died

out.

Khislstein Castle in Kranj

Where Khislstein Castle now stands, as early as 1500 years ago

there stood a defensive wall. This plot of land was acquired in

1256 by the Ortenburgs, who built a fort on it. When the family

died out in the 15th century it passed into the ownership of the

Celje counts and, after the death of the last of the line, to the

Habsburgs. In the mid-16th century the fort was bought by Janž

Khisl of Fužine (now part of Ljubljana) and in 1578 he rebuilt it as

a residential manor house. From that time on it has been known

as Khislstein Castle, although since 1592 it has had a number of

different owners.

THE PROVINCE OF CARNIOLA

HAS NO TOWN MORE BEAUTIFUL

/aft er France Prešern/

4Janž Khisl’s coat-of-arms. On 12 December 1561 Emperor Ferdinand I improved Khisl’s coat-of arms with a diploma, granted him a noble title and the right to use a red wax seal.(Janez Vajkard Valvazor: Opus insignium armorumque, 1687–1688, page 38)

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40 41

Kranj, a town with four names: Carnium – Creina – Krainburg – Kranj. A medieval

settlement, whose name is unknown,

was followed by Antique Carnium, then

medieval Creina, then Krainburg and today

Kranj. The name and appearance of the

modern town conceal an uninterrupted

history of six millennia.

The oldest homes revealed by numerous archaeological studies in

the old Kranj town centre were built on a safe rocky prominence

above the confluence of the Sava and Kokra rivers in the Neolithic

period. Upon the collapse of the Western Roman Empire a

Germanic military stronghold grew up here, the name of which

1400 years ago was first written in Latin as Carnium. When the

Langobards and other Germanic tribes moved into Italy at the

end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century, the original

inhabitants were joined by Slavs. Through this intermingling of the

peoples and cultures the foundations of the Slovenian culture and

language were laid.

Kranj played an important role in the creation of the province of

Carniola, as a military and administrative centre with the seat of

the margrave. The town lay along a trade route, mentioned in

973 as Via Chreinariorum or the road of the Carniolans. Another

name for the town was Creina, which first appeared in 1060 in the

documents of the Brixen bishops.

Kranj started to develop as a real medieval town in the 12th century.

It is one of the oldest Slovenian towns, having been given its town

privileges by the Andechs counts. It was mentioned in 1256 as

civitate Chreinburch or the town of Kranj.

In the 14th century the town passed into the ownership of the

Habsburgs, who placed it in the hands of feudal lords, including

the Celje counts. Until the mid-18th century, Kranj was the only

princely town in Upper Carniola, directly subordinate to the

Emperor. The towns of Škofja Loka, Kamnik and Radovljica were

Craftsmen

In Kranj there were many

craftsmen supplying the

townspeople and tho-

se living nearby. There

were millers, blacksmi-

ths, butchers, potters,

tanners, shoemakers,

tailors and others.

Around 1400 there were

15 bakers. They were

joined together in a

guild, one of the town's

instead subordinate to their feudal lord. At the time of the French

occupation from 1809 to 1813, Kranj became a municipal centre

or mairie and in 1810, for one year, it became the home to a

lower secondary school in which the language of instruction was

Slovenian.

In the 19th century, it was one of the smaller towns of the Austrian

Empire, with the German name Krainburg. In 1918, after the

formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, it finally

took on the name Kranj. Use of the Slovenian name was interrupted

only by the Nazi occupation during the Second World War.

A copper engraving published in 1649 in the Topography of Austrian Provinces by Matthaüs

Merian (1593-1650), is the oldest known depiction

of Kranj, showing the noticeable regular pyramid-

like form of the town's outline, with the central bell tower of the parish church.

The copper engraving served as the basis for

the coloured graphic that appeared in the Great

Atlas published in 1672 in Amsterdam.

(Gorenjska Museum collections,photo D. Holynski)

Maja Šubic and Irena Romih, a depiction of a carpenter, 2011. (Photo T. Lunder)

42 43

Protestants in Kranj

Kranj is linked to Protestantism. Primož Trubar, a Protestant

clergyman who wrote A First Reader and Catechism, the first

Slovenian books, published in 1550, lived for a short while in

Kranj and at Brdo Castle. He was a guest of the Egkh counts, the

owners of Brdo Castle and the ossuary chapel next to the Kranj

parish church. Kranj was also the birthplace of his wife Barbara.

In the 1670s the Church of the Holy Rosary in Kranj, where

the main preacher was Gašper Rokavec, became a centre of

Protestantism. But due to the strength of the Catholic Church, in

1601 the Bishop of Ljubljana, Tomaž Hren, had Protestant books

burned on the main square in Kranj. The only book excluded was

Jurij Dalmatin's Slovenian translation of the Bible.

oldest. In line with its rules, all the bread was put by the bakers

into a “bread chamber” from where it was sold. In this way they

tried to ensure quality and a uniform price. The aim of the guild

was not only to turn a profit, but also to guarantee a good living

for its members and to protect the socially threatened families of

guild members.

Carpenters were important craftsmen, engaged in the building

of houses, which were largely of wood and until the 18th century

most were covered with wooden shingles. Carpentry tools did not

change greatly from the oldest times right up to the appearance

of electric tools.

THE NOBLE EGKH FAMILY

The Egkh counts owned extensive estates around Kranj,

including Brdo Castle. In the town itself, they had a house

next to the parish church. In 1463, between their house and

the church, on the site of an old ossuary, they built a chapel

of the Holy Mother. In front of the chapel was the family tomb

with their coat-of-arms and an inscription of the year 1475.

Kranj townhouses

The economic success of the townspeople was reflected in their

everyday life. Townhouses were better furnished and contained

a variety of kitchenware. There was usually an open hearth in

the kitchen with fire-tongs for picking up pots, some of iron and

tin, the rest earthenware. Dishes, plates and jugs were kept in

wooden racks on the wall. Houses were lit with candles and tallow

dips on simple ceramic or metal candlesticks and bases.

Layer’s House

The painter Leopold Layer (1752-1828) had his studio in house

built in the early 19th century. His successors also worked here.

The façade features

Classicist and Baroque de-

coration with Biedermeier

influences. Attention is

drawn to the eminent fa-

mily by the reliefs on the

façade. One of them is a

bust of the artist with his

painting requisites. The

house interior is richly

painted.

Layer’s House(Photo D. Globoènik)

A golden earring in the shape of a snake swallowing its tail, from the Egkh family tomb, 15th or 16th century. (Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

44 45

The graveyard next to the Kranj parish church

The oldest graveyard appeared around an early Christian church

dating from the 6th century. The original town inhabitants were

buried there and later also Slavic incomers. The graveyard

remained in use until 1789, when subsequent burials moved to

the location of the present day Prešeren’s Grove. It is one of the

most important medieval graveyards in which burials took place

uninterruptedly for nearly 1300 years. Extensive archaeological

research has shown that this was the most important graveyard in

Slovenia from the time of the settlement of Slavs in this region.

Many typical Slavic and Old Slovenian jewellery items and knives

have been found in the early graves, while the later graves, in

addition to the remains of clothes and some jewellery, also held

numerous crosses and holy medals, which indicate frequent

pilgrimages to holy places undertaken by the Kranj inhabitants.

During construction work in

1970, a number of painted

wooden coffins from the

second half of the 18th

century were found in a

tomb of the parish church

of St Cantianus and his fellow martyrs in Kranj. The coffins are

painted with black and white crosses and other symbols

connected with death and resurrection.

A ROSARY FROM A GRAVE BESIDE THE PARISH CHURCH –

A HOLY OBJECT BROUGHT BY A PILGRIM FROM

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

A rosary of jet beads with two hands carved from bone was

discovered in one of the numerous graves around Kranj parish

church. Rosaries of black beads were common in the 17th

century, but the beads were usually made of wood. Even the

crosses at the end of the rosary were usually made of black

wood. Rosaries made of jet and with hands carved from bone

– a symbol of Jesus Christ – are a rare find. They used to be

brought by pilgrims from Santiago de Compostela and we

are assuming this is the case with the deceased in the grave

next to the parish church. The rosary probably accompanied

him as a precious holy object and a memento of the long

pilgrimage to St Jacob in Santiago de Compostela.

Mag. D. Knez

Tin kitchenware, plates, dishes and jugs, 17th century. (Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

Ceramic candlesticks, cups, goblets and a plate from a potters kiln, 16th century, found between Khislstein and Lovski castles. (Gorenjska Museum collections, photo R. Urankar)

Temple rings and finger ringsare the most common jewellery items found in the graves of Old Slavic women buried in the graveyard around the Kranj parish church in the 9th and 10th centuries. This burial ground is the largest site of this kind in Slovenia.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

Gold jewellery and a Venetian coin found in graves around

the Kranj parish church, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

A jet rosary with hands carved from bone, 17th century.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

4746

The parish church of St Cantius, Cantianus,

Cantianilla and Protus

The parish church is not only of great cultural value but is also

an important witness to the development of the town. The first

church on this site was already here around the year 500. There

remain only the foundations of the octagonal baptistery, which

can be seen in the ossuary beside the church. In the 10th century,

under the Patriarch of Aquileia, a large parish seat was established

here. At this time a pre-Romanesque church was built, which was

later demolished for the building of a Gothic church.

The Kranj church is a key example of Gothic architecture in

Slovenia. The long chancel was built at the turn of the 15th century,

while the nave with its Late Gothic ceiling and bell tower were

probably created between 1440 and 1460. The church became a

model for building other churches of the single chamber type, for

example in Škofja Loka, Radovljica and Crngrob.

The vault, supported by four octagonal pillars, is decorated with

frescoes from around 1460, which have been ascribed to the

Žirovnica Master. Above the central eastern door is a late 15th

century bas relief depicting the Mount of Olives.

THE KRANJ ALTAR

Only the painted wings remain of the Late Gothic altar

commissioned by Matija Operta, a Kranj priest, archdeacon

of Carniola and doctor of canon law, around 1500 for the

parish church. The painter who decorated the four panels is

known as the Kranj Altar Master or as Vid from Kamnik, and

signed himself as VF.

The altar contained statues, most likely of the church’s

patron saints, and could be closed with the two painted

wings. On workdays, when the wings were closed, scenes

depicting Christ on the Mount of Olives and the Resurrection

could be seen. On holy days, when the wings were open,

scenes from the legend about the church’s patrons could be

seen. the panel on the left depicts the flight of the Aquileian

martyrs Cantius, Cantianus and Cantianilla, as well as their

teacher Protus, and on the right is their martyrdom. The

saints died a martyr’s death in a place called Aquae Gradatae

(now Škocjan ob Soèi) and were highly revered on the

territory of the Aquileian Patriarchate.

The right panel shows a law officer dragging Cantius from the

arms of his brother, while their sister Cantianilla is forced to

worship an idol, depicted by the painter on a Renaissance

pillar. In the bottom left there is the beheaded teacher Protus

and in the bottom right Sisinnius. The scene is witnessed by

a large group of onlookers. The figure looking towards the

viewer is a self-portrait of the Master of the Kranj altar.

Above the two scenes there is tracery which at one time

continued into carved arches above the gilded statues of the

saints in the central part of the altar. The whole altar was

probably over five metres tall.

These precious works of art from around 1500 were lost to

Kranj in 1886. In an effort to raise money to renovate the

town’s churches, the

two Gothic wing pan-

els were sold for 800

florins to the Court

Museum in Vienna.

The wings are today

on show in the

Austrian Gallery in

the Lower Belvedere

in Vienna.

The death of Cantius and his fellow martyrs on the wing of the late Gothic altar of the parish church,around1500(Vienna, Österreichische Galerie, Museum mittelalterlicher Kunst)

48 49

ILLUMINATED

MANUSCRIPTS

The Kranj Antiphonary

is a collection of

liturgical chants from

1491. It is written in

large Gothic script and

richly decorated with

miniature illustrations.

Among them is the

oldest colour depiction of the Kranj coat-of-arms with an

eagle on a silver background. The manuscript was created by

Johannes von Werd from Augsburg, probably during a visit to

Carniola.

The Book of Morals of St Gregory the Great consists of writings

interpreting the Old Testament book of Job. It represents one of

the most important examples of Gothic illustrated manuscripts

created at the request

of a patron in Slovenian

lands. The manuscripts

were created in 1410 at

the behest of the Kranj

priest Koloman de

Manswerd.

KRANJ, A FAIR TOWN

Kranj was a meeting point of trade routes and the economic

centre of Upper Carniola, with weekly markets and annual fairs.

From 1839 onwards the town had five annual fairs. The first

An antiphonary from Kranj (Ljubljana Archiepiscopal Archives,

photo M. Smerke)

The Book of Morals of St Gregory the Great(Ljubljana Archiepiscopal Archives, photo M. Smerke)

A fair day in Kranjon a postcard from the early 20th century(Gorenjska Museum collections)

A document from 1650 with which Emperor Ferdinand granted the right to a new annual livestock fair in Kranj.(Gorenjska Museum collection, photo. D. Holynski)

50 51

THE MARKET HAND

The gloved hand represents the ruler who granted fairs to the

town and the sword the market judiciary that ensured order

at the fair, so that all could conduct business undisturbed.

The hand in Kranj was hung in a ceremonial fashion,

accompanied by the ringing of bells on the eve of each

annual fair, and was then festively taken down again at the

end. During weekly markets, the hand was not hung.

was St Mark's on 25th April, then 1st August, St Tilen's on 21st

September, then 28th October and finally St Martin's on 11th

November. The fairs attracted people from across the Austrian

Empire. The weekly grain market was the largest in Carniola and

Inner Austria.

As early as the 13th century tolls were charged in Kranj for all

the goods those passed through the town or were sold there.

Both buyers and sellers had to pay a toll on the grain, livestock,

cloth, linen, salt and small goods sold at weekly markets and

annual fairs. These tolls covered taxes; the wages of the town

administration and courts; and maintenance of buildings, bridges

and roads.

Town hall

Today's town hall came about through the fusion of two older

buildings: the old town hall and a mansion house on the right.

On the ground floor of the original town hall is a Late Gothic

«pillared hall« from the early 16th century. This once served as

a town warehouse for goods; in front of it was an open porch,

where townspeople gathered to discuss various matters.

The mansion house is one of the most important examples of

17th century architecture in Slovenia.

The interior Renaissance hall has two inlaid doors showing

the year 1638. The second floor of the mansion was damaged

in the large fire that struck the town in 1811. In 1921 the

mansion was bought and renovated by the municipality, and

combined with the neighbouring old town hall.

The market hand with a sword as a symbol of justice that from the 15th century onwards hung from the Town Hall in Kranj. (Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo D. Holynski)

Town hall(Photo D. Globoènik)

53

THE KRANJ MEDIEVAL DEFENCE WALLS

The oldest rampart in Kranj appeared over 2700 years ago,

in the early Iron Age. Upon the arrival of the Romans 2000

years ago, a new defence wall was built. After the collapse

of the Roman Empire, just before the arrival of Slavs in the

6th century, Carnium was surrounded by an even stronger

defence wall with towers. In the same place there appeared

the later medieval wall, first mentioned between 1065 and

1077 in connection with the Carniolan stronghold of the

The tollman's house

Among the most interesting Gothic-Renaissance buildings in

Kranj is the tollman's house, which was first mentioned in 1527.

The building is a good example of an early form of townhouse with

an overhanging first floor supported by a stone pillar. The façade

is decorated with restored paintings from the first half of the 16th

century. The house got its name from the toll collectors who lived

in it in the 18th century.

Brixen bishops. Documents from 1221 mention the name of

the town as Creinburg (‘burg’ means a fortified settlement).

The town moat is first mentioned in 1404 and the wall

appears in historical writings before the mid-15th century.

Historical sources from 1483 mention the northern or upper

town gate. The town walls and moats took on their final shape

in connection with the defence against Turkish raids, when in

1478 Duke Frederick III ordered the additional fortification of

castles and towns in Carniola. A large Renaissance fortress

was built as part of the Kranj town wall on Pungart hill, a

tower within the Khislstein Castle complex, another tower at

Škrlovec and a new line of defence walls on the north side

of the town. The fortress on Pungart hill was demolished in

1879.

The final shape of the town’s defence walls can clearly

be seen from the oldest depiction of Kranj by Merian

from 1649. The added parts have the characteristics of

Renaissance fortifications that show the increased role of

artillery in warfare. This is reflected in the slanting ground

floor of the fortification, the stone bulge that separates the

ground floor from the first floor, the thicker walls and their

modest height. Ramparts had brick or stone walls on both

sides and were reinforced with moats. The northern wall, still

preserved between the street known as Reginèeva and the

Jelen Hotel, was ten metres thick. The lower part of the wall,

which had a moat nine metres wide and four metres deep

plus a drawbridge was on the square known as Maistrov trg.

The tollman's house (Photo D. Globoènik)

The town wall with a

moat and the quarries for

millstones on the location

of the old JelenHotel, destroyed

during construction

of a new building in

2011(Photo

M. Sagadin)

54

THE FIRST TOWNS IN UPPER CARNIOLA

From the 13th century onwards, on the initiative of the

feudal lords, the first towns with town rights appeared in

Upper Carniola (Gorenjska). The status of a town brought

with it a great deal of prestige and was granted by the

provincial ruler. A town had the right to a wall. It became

the centre of the judicial district and an economic centre

for the wider area. The inhabitants of towns were free. The

first written mentions in sources of the oldest towns in

Upper Carniola are:

1256 Kranj

1267 Kamnik

1310 Škofja Loka

1478 Radovljica

The foundations of a large entrance tower were also found,

which dominates the northern part of the town on Merian’s

1649 depiction.

The Špital defence tower was positioned outside the town

and, judging by the building method, is older than the

Renaissance fortifications from 1478. Within the scope of

the new defence wall, it functioned as a pre-fortification that

protected access to the drawbridge in front of the northern

town gate.

Dr. M. Sagadin

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Since prehistoric times, many paths have run across Gorenjska’s mountain passes and along its river valleys, connecting the Mediterranean with Central Europe and the Baltic with the Balkans. Life alongside such routes and involvement in long-distance trade led to the people of Gorenjska becoming well-informed and prudent.

Passing trade offered a living to many in Gorenjska. Beside busy

roads appeared inns with large stables; where the gradient was

steep, farmers offered extra draught horses; in the villages there

were blacksmiths, saddlers, wheelwrights and road menders.

The traffic also provided a living for collectors of bridge and road

tolls. Thanks to their skills, craft products or produce, many locals

became directly involved in long-distance trade.

Three hundred years ago goods carriers from Kropa or Bohinj

needed up to three weeks to make their way to the Friuli region

(now in Italy). On the way there they would carry nails, wood and

charcoal, and on the way back wine. They could transport up to

150 kilos of nails on a single horse. Carters from the villages below

Mount Stol and from Jezersko would take a week to transport a

ton and a half of timber to Trieste on their heavy wagons. The

path alongside the River Sava from Kranj up to Rateèe took three

days on foot.

Such trade contacts brought news, skills and experience, while

the money earned made a significant contribution to a better life.

Manual carrying of goods

Wooden carriers were used to carry firewood, tools and goods for

sale. With a large carrier placed on a padded ring on the head, up

to a hundred kilos of goods could be carried. This was the only

method that could be used to carry goods up the steep paths to

Alpine dairy farms.

In the winter sledges were used to bring down iron ore, charcoal,

wood and hay from mountain meadows. In deep snow, snowshoes

would be worn and in icy conditions

crampons. Skis were not used in

Upper Carniola until soldiers brought

them during the First World War.

With the coming of the railway in 1870, the settlements along

the tracks developed rapidly, while places further away began to

stagnate.

A belt bag that belonged to Lorenz Pezhar, a wealthy farmer and innkeeper, occasionally also livestock dealer, second half of the 19th century.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

With a large carrier placed on the head up to one hundred kilos of goods could be carried.

(Gorenjska Museum collections)

58 59

Carting or furmanstvo

Carting was a very important additional activity in this area for two

hundred years. First to Trieste, after 1850 to Ljubljana, and after

1870 to railway stations in Kranj and elsewhere there travelled

long lines of heavy carts pulled by a pair or four of horses. The

carter's life was described in a novel by the writer Janez Jalen.

TRANSPORT USING OXEN OR HORSES WOODEN TRANSPORT CONTAINERS

Wood lost its primacy for storage containers less than fifty

years ago and was replaced by plastic. In the past, liquids

and other goods were transported in barrels and other

vessels. Carriers who transported nails from the ironworks in

Kropa or Železniki to Italy carried their goods in barrels. It is

thought that they transported nails to Italy and wine back

home in the same barrels. Butter was transported from

Bohinj to Trieste by cart in tall vessels made from small

wooden panels that were narrower at the bottom and closed

with a wooden lid at the top. Smaller vessels were used for

lard. And in the smallest vessels, only ten centimetres high,

carriers transported food for themselves – lard, sausage or

just cottage cheese. Water was carried in low barrels with

shoulder straps, while wine was transported in small barrels

with a more triangular shape. They were made by barrel

makers as an additional activity to farming, particularly in

Bohinj and the Selca Valley, where in 1902 a cooperative

was founded that had around 130 members.

Wayside shrines

A typical feature of

Gorenjska are wayside

shrines at crossroads, at

entrances to settlements

and in their centres, beside

churches, alongside passes

and on bridges. They

Wax horses as a votive offering, Štefanja Gora,19th century. The great economic importance of carting is shown by the age-old tradition of blessing horses on St Stephen's day, when owners carried round the altar holy images and wooden or wax horses.(Gorenjska Museum collections,photo J. Pukšiè)

Carts were most often pulled by oxen, which were slower but cheaper than horses. Cart horses for long distance transport were bred in Jezersko, around Kranj and Radovljica, and elsewhere in the area.(Gorenjska Museum collections)

A wayside shrine in Martuljk, photographed

by J. Ravnik.(Ilustrirani Slovenec, 1926)

marked the site of a murder or an accident or were erected to

protect the passers-by or to serve as signposts. Often, they would

mark the border between two parishes. In addition, they

symbolised the wealth of the households that erected them.

Roads built for motorised traffic

Due to an increase in motorised traffic the road between Ljubljana

and Bled was modernised before World War One. The new road

was at that time the only surfaced road in Slovenia. It was built by

the successful firm owned by Josip Slavec of Kranj. The section of

the road on the Gaštej incline which bridges the railway line was

from a construction point of view the most demanding part of the

whole road. THINGS WILL LOOK BRIGHTER FOR THE CARNIOLANS

/France Prešeren/

6

The Gaštej incline in Kranj, 1937(Gorenjska Museum collections)

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After 1750, influenced by the new

philosophy and scientific ideas of the

Enlightenment, the Austrian Empress

Maria Theresa and her son Joseph II

shaped a state with a powerful army and

effective taxation. Their reforms influenced

every aspect of life.

Although the Empress tried to tackle economic and cultural

backwardness, everyday life did not markedly improve. The lives

of families were marked by bad harvests, fires, epidemics and

high child mortality. Priests and teachers in particular tried to

encourage new ways of farming and the cultivation of new crops.

To this end, the first farming associations were formed. In 18th

century Upper Carniola, there were successful foundries with more

than 2,000 workers, producing more than 10,000 tons of raw

iron per year. They also forged semi-finished products, nails and

tools. The export of grain, linen cloth, horsehair sieves, iron and

iron products grew. Wholesale merchants appeared in addition to

small farm shops.

Economic development was greatly dependent on the improve-

ment of roads, especially to Kokra and Ljubelj. Roads were also

important to the postal service, which was improved by new post

stages; the first two were in Kranj and Tržiè.

Iron foundries

In Kropa, Kamna Gorica, Železniki, Bohinj and Radovna, iron

produced from local ore was hand forged into more than a hundred

kinds of nails, mainly for the Italian market. In Tržiè excellent steel

was produced and farming implements, especially scythes.

Gorenjska iron products also include chains and window meshes.

Most owners of foundries and forges provided accommodation for

their employees in their own homes. Workers were paid with

special coins marked with the owner's initials. In this way the

workers were obliged to buy fo-

odstuffs in the employer's shop

and drink in his inn. But in spite

of this slave-like relationship

there was no shortage of willing

workers, because by working in

the iron-making trade they

were excused the long military

service.

FARMING AND OTHER TOOLS

Old postcards show that many overgrown areas around

Gorenjska villages were once fields. In the 18th century every

bit of cultivated land offered the chance of producing food,

of which there was a great shortage. The soil was worked

using iron tools with wooden handles, and even ploughs were

wooden with iron ploughshares. Various hoes, picks, spades,

forks, axes and ploughshares were forged by town and village

blacksmiths from Antique times onwards. From the end of

the Middle Ages, nails and iron rods for export, as well as

farming tools, were produced in centres such as Kropa. The

town of Tržiè was renowned for its workshops producing

scythes and sickles. In the late 19th century two factories

developed there: in 1881 a factory producing scythes,

sickles and spades, owned by Karl Globoènik, and in 1883 a

factory making scythes and sickles owned by Kajetan Ahaèiè.

The Tržiè manufacture of farming tools was the largest in

Upper Carniola and most products were exported to Italy and

the Balkans.

Iron foundry money with which workers were paid and which could be used only in the owner's shop.(Iron Forging Museum in Kropa, photo T. Lauko)

64 65

Education

In 1774 a state decree was issued on the introduction of

schooling for children aged 6 to 12. Its primary goal was that

children learn German, because of military service which required

the understanding of German commands. At the same time,

knowledge of the language was expected to improve contacts

between the authorities and the people. An educated farmer

would be more economically successful and would therefore pay

more taxes. In country parishes single class technical schools

were set up. Only a few pupils from these went on to continue

their education in the schools that were gradually established in

towns.

The postal service

The oldest post stage in Upper Carniola was beside the road from

Ljubljana to Graz, at Podpeè near Lukovica. In the 18th century the

postal service was nationalised. The postal messenger was done away

with and a regular service was established between Ljubljana and

Klagenfurt, and later between Ljubljana and Villach.

The main post stage was in

Kranj, with others in Tržiè, at

Otok near Podvin, at Sava near

Jesenice and in Podkoren.

Potatoes

The first few baskets of potatoes were grown at the castle farm at

Brdo in 1787 and five years later a bushel of corn was planted for

the first time. That it took so long for the potato to be accepted

was due to general ignorance. For instance, some people were

poisoned after eating the leaves and stems, rather than the

underground tubers. Farmers began sowing corn, which spread

to these areas from Turkey, which is why it is in Gorenjska usually

called turšca. In the Upper Sava Valley corn is also known under

the name sirk and potatoes as èompe.

Diet

From the New World, as America was then called, there came the

potato and corn (maize), which became established only under

the pressure of Maria Theresa's reforms. Potatoes and corn

offered a much larger harvest than cereal crops, thus helping to

alleviate hunger. New farming methods included three-year crop

rotation: every third year clover was sown, which brought better

harvests and animal husbandry.

Slate pencils and writing tablet, still in use in the

20th century. (Gorenjska Museum

collections, photo T. Lauko)

Portrait of postal officer Lovrenc Razinger with a postillion’s hat and a horn, postage stamps from Razinger’s post stage in Podkoren and a letter, 19th century.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

Food cupboard, Golnik area, mid-19th century(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

Food cupboards began to be used in farmhouses in the second half of the 18th century and normally had only one key. This tells us about the times of hunger when there was barely enough food to survive on and parents told their children that the locked up bread was «asleep«.

A statue of Empress Maria Theresa, erected in 2008 in Šenèur, in honour of her efforts to encourage farmers to grow potatoes. The area around Šenèur was until recently well known for its production of high quality potatoes. (Gorenjska Museum collections, photo M. Rogelj)

KAMNIK

The Habsburg court and the provincial princes granted the town of

Kamnik numerous rights. The memory of these is preserved by the

Book of Privileges of the Town of Kamnik from 1528. The

townspeople of Kamnik had tenancy of various tax revenues in the

town, permission to elect a judge from their own ranks and the right

that they could only be judged by the town judge. They were also

granted the right to cut wood in the forests around Kamniška

Bistrica. This right was at first a personal one, but later became tied

to the ownership of a house in the town. Both the woods and the

town were owned by the provincial prince. During the reign of Maria

Theresa, the town became the owner of the Bistrica forests.

Townspeople were allocated firewood and timber on the basis of

the land tax they had paid. The ownership of the forests led to the

formation of the class of burghers. In the second half of the 19th

century, membership of this class represented being part of a

tradition rather than bourgeois wealth. The people of Kamnik

demanded equality in the distribution of firewood and wood and in

1886 achieved this right. At that time, economic conditions in the

town were changing. Burghers were mostly craftsmen, handymen,

traders, sometimes farmers, who could no longer make money in

the town. Many a burgher house was thus abandoned; they were

bought by newcomers, entrepreneurs and officials working at the

district prefecture.

Rumford's soup

The recipe for Rumford's soup, as it appears on the board from

Stražišèe: In Stražišèe near Kranj there is preserved a board

with a recipe for Rumford's soup, which is a reminder of the

last famine affecting these lands, in 1816. The soup was named

after its inventor, the American-born Benjamin Thomson, Count

Rumford (1753-1814). In 1847, the recipe was published by

Dr Janez Bleiweis in his journal for farmers and craftsmen

Kmetijske in rokodelske novice. Recipe for soup for 24 people: water 20 pounds*and 16 lots**; vinegar 26½ lots; salt 11 lots; potatoes 5 pounds and 10 lots; peas 1 pound and 26 lots; barley 1 pound and 14 lots; bread 1 pound and 20 lots(*1 Viennese pound is 0.56 kg, **1 lot is approximately 0.02 kg)

THE IRONIS COMING NEARER

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68

In the 19th century, Upper Carniola was dramatically affected by the arrival of the railway, the harbinger of progress, announcing a new industrial age. Distances were reduced and the new era brought with it radical changes in ways of thinking and living, altering relations and communication among people.

The 19th century began with a brief French occupation. Upper

Carniola became a part of the Illyrian Provinces, which

encompassed the territory from western Carinthia and a part of

eastern Tyrol including Lienz to southern Dalmatia. This period

has lodged itself in the common memory particularly because of

the introduction of Slovenian in schools and high taxation.

In the first half of the 19th century, rich Carniolan merchants

founded the first small industrial companies, among which were

the manufacturers of woollen blankets, Valentin and Konrad

Pleiweis, and the leatherworks belonging to Karl Florian and later

Jakob Pollak.

In 1849, the Southern Railway connected Ljubljana to Vienna and

was later extended to Trieste, while the section from Ljubljana

past Kranj and Jesenice to Tarvisio was built in 1870. Cheaper

raw materials and industrial products were brought by train, which

accelerated economic development and consumption. However,

within a few years it also caused the collapse of home crafts and

iron foundries that were not close to the railway. Iron-making was

preserved in Jesenice, where the Carniolan Industrial Company

modernised the workshops. Craftsmen who were losing the battle

with imported industrial goods became involved in trade, re-selling

products they used to make themselves. Due to the arrival of the

railway, the trade in timber flourished even more in the mid-19th

century.

Sieve-making

From the 16th century until the mid-20th century the villages

between Kranj and Škofja Loka were the largest centres of sieve-

making in Europe. Using naturally coloured horsehair, sieve-

makers wove mesh on special looms. Over 200 different meshes

were produced with checked and striped patterns. Most were

sold by locals to other European countries and even to Russia,

North Africa, Asia Minor and America. The rest were bought by

craftsmen making wooden wares, who attached them to frames

and then sold them around Slovenian-speaking areas and

neighbouring countries. As early as the 19th century, the sieves

made here also appeared at international craft fairs and industrial

exhibitions.

DYEING

Around Škofja Loka the weaving of linen was such a common

home craft that in 1486 Paolo Santonino, the secretary to

the Aquileia Patriarch, wrote in his diary that in these places

both men and women spin in the winter. Peasants usually

traded the homemade linen themselves and also exported it;

some was dyed for home use. Dyers from Škofja Loka, Tržiè

and Radovljica, who joined the dyers’ guild in Ljubljana, are

first mentioned in 1673. In the 19th century, various patterns

Because of their colourful patterns, and

the tools and knowledge involved in making

them, sieves represent a valuable part of

Slovenian and European heritage.

(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

70 71

were hand-printed onto the linen, from which scarves and

aprons were made. Towards the end of the 19th century,

linen-making declined because of the cheaper imported

cotton and so the dyeing craft also receded, completely

disappearing in the early 20th century. Nowadays, one of the

rare preserved dye works is Pirc’s Mangle in Kranj, while this

craft is also presented in the Škofja Loka and Tržiè museums.

The Majdiè family business

Peter Majdiè from Jarše came to Kranj in the 1870s, when he

bought the mill by the bridge on the River Sava from Leopold

Jugovic. Majdiè’s son Vinko extended and modernised the mill so

that it became one of the biggest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

He imported grain from Vojvodina and Russia, exporting his

products to many European countries and even further afield. In

the 1890s he produced electricity for his own needs. In the first

decade of the 20th century Vinko bought a steam mill in Zagreb

and his brother Peter bought a rolling mill in Celje. After World

War One, the Majdiè family gave up milling and enlarged its power

plant, from where it supplied electricity to the newly emerging

industry in Kranj.

Kranj merchants

During the construction of the railway in Upper Carniola, a number

of traders relocated to the towns. There were many small shops

selling a wide range of goods. The best known Kranj merchant

families were: Sajovic, Pirc, Killer, Roos, Pollak, Krisper, Marenèiè

and Omersa. In 1864, Franc Omersa moved to Kranj from

Žužemberk. He was one of the first to open a small shop offering

mixed goods: ironware, groceries, glassware, porcelain, paints

and varnishes. His daughter Ivana married Franc Berjak, who took

over the shop in 1911.

BEEHIVE PANELS

Beehive panels are painted wooden panels that were used as

decorative front covers for the simple beehives popular in

this area. The practice of beehive decoration reached its

peak in the 19th century. Initially, beehives were decorated

only in the wider Kranj and Radovljica areas, but then the

custom spread to Carin-

thia and the Upper

Savinja Valley.An advertisement for Vinko Majdiè’s

rolling mill in Kranj, early 20th century

(Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo T. Lauko)

The display window of the shop in Kranj belonging

to Franc Berjak, who succeeded Franc Omersa from the 19th century. The

photograph of Berjak’s shop, which stood in the

square Glavni trg in Kranj, was created in the 1930s.

(Photographic library of the Gorenjska Museum)

The more than 600 different images to be

found on beehive panels attest to the rich artistic

creativity of the rural population

(Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo T. Lauko)

72

The timber trade

Forests brought wealth to the region, as timber sold for a good

price. As early as the 18th century, masts were supplied to

shipyards in Trieste and Rijeka. Owners of ironworks also owned

large areas of forest, as wood was needed for the production of

iron. When ironworks became less successful, their owners in the

wider Radovljica, Bled, Tržiè and Kokra area became involved in

the timber trade. The largest owners of forests and sawmills were

the Born family from Tržiè and the Fuchs family from Jezersko, as

well as the Carniolan Industrial Company. In the late 19th century,

the latter sold its extensive forests on the Pokljuka, Jelovica and

Mežakla plateaus to the state and they later became the property

of the Church fund. The early 20th century saw the establishment

of two large local timber merchants, Franc Dolenc and Ivan

Heinrihar, who within two decades took over most of the timber

trade in Upper Carniola.

LONG LIFE TO ALL NATIONS8

/France Prešeren/

Kranj, showing the railway station, on a postcard from the early 20th century. (Gorenjska Museum collections)

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74

The 19th century in Europe was marked by

national movements across the continent.

In contrast to larger European nations, the

Slovenians desire for their own state was

realised only in 1991.

The Habsburgs, one of the most important European ruling

families, ruled over Slovenian lands for over 600 years. In Carniola,

they achieved control after the Celje counts died out in the mid-

15th century. In the early 16th century the whole Slovenian ethnic

territory was under their authority. In the mid-15th century, the

Habsburgs took on the title of Holy Roman Emperor, retaining it

until 1806. There followed a half-century long period of the

Austrian Empire, which in 1867 became the Austro-Hungarian

Empire. Many nations lived in the Habsburg monarchy. The

inability to resolve national issues after 1848 halted the

monarchy’s development and in 1918 resulted in its collapse.

A sense of Slovenian national awareness became established

between the reforms introduced by Empress Maria Theresa and

the revolutionary year of 1848. Between 1867 and 1871, through

general gatherings or 'camps', this awareness spread among all

Slovenians. In the central Slovenian land of Carniola, the term

Carniolan was increasingly replaced by the term Slovenian.

After the March revolution in 1848, the Slovenians created their

first political programme, United Slovenia, which signified a

turning point in national development. The programme was

formulated by Slovenian intellectuals living in Vienna who were

members of the Slovenian Society. They demanded the political

unification of all Slovenian lands within the Habsburg monarchy

and the use of the Slovenian language in public life. In June,

general elections for the national assembly were held throughout

the Empire. The right to vote was granted to all men over 24 who

were either craftsmen or owned land. The proponents of United

Slovenia were elected. Another new development was the

establishment of municipalities as the basic unit of political

administration, in which Slovenians could realise their national

and economic interests.

Baron Žiga Zois

(Trieste, 23 November 1747 – Ljubljana, 10 November 1819)

Baron Žiga Zois was a successful businessman and ironworks

owner in Ljubljana and Upper Carniola. He was a mineral collector

and the mineral zoisite was named after him. His collection was

the foundation of the Carniolan Provincial Museum, the first

museum in Slovenia, opened in Ljubljana in 1831.

Zois was also a mentor of and benefactor to many Slovenian

literary figures and scientists. He got Anton Tomaž Linhart

interested in writing drama and history, and Valentin Vodnik in

poetry and journalism. He also supported Blaž Kumerdej's

educational reforms and enabled Jernej Kopitar to study

linguistics. Zois was also the initiator of the first climb to the top

of Mount Triglav in 1778.

Dr. France Prešeren

(Vrba, 3 December 1800 – Kranj, 8 February 1849)

The lawyer France Prešeren is famed as the greatest Slovenian

poet. The height of his creativity is represented by A Wreath of

Sonnets, Sonnets of Unhappiness, Ghazals and The Baptism at

Coffee and tea set with the initials of the members of the Zois family, first half

of the 19th century.(Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo T. Lauko)

76 77

the Savica. The poems

were published in the

collection Poetry in 1847.

The poem A Toast was

published in 1844 and

its seventh stanza now forms the words of the Slovenian national

anthem. In 1830, Prešeren and the poets Miha Kastelic, Matija

Èop and Andrej Smole established the Slovenian poetry almanac

Kranjska èbelica (Carniolan Bee).

Dr. Janez Bleiweis

(Kranj, 19 November 1808 – Ljubljana, 29 November 1881)

Due to his multi-faceted activities as a veterinarian, doctor, politi-

cian and newspaper editor, Dr Janez Bleiweis from Kranj was na-

med “the father of the Slovenian nation” on his 70th birthday. Bet-

ween 1842 and 1881 he led the Carniolan Farmers’Association, which gui-

ded agricultural deve-

lopment and strove for

technical education for

farmers. In 1843 he

became the editor ofthe

then only Slovenian

Jakob Aljaž

(Zavrh pri Smledniku, 6 July 1845 – Dovje, 3 May 1927)

The priest Jakob Aljaž is renowned as a composer and a writer

about mountains, who bought the summit of Mount Triglav for five

goldinars and erected a modest shelter there, today known as

Aljaž’s Tower. He did this in order to prevent the mountain

becoming the property of the German-Austrian mountaineering

society. He was the composer of the song Oh Triglav my home,

which was sung for the first time in 1896 on the occasion of the

opening of the Kredarica hostel.

newspaper, or journal for farmers and craftsmen, Kmetijske in

rokodelske novice. Bleiweis also wrote numerous essays on

veterinary practice, medicine and agriculture.

Prešeren’s Zdravljica (A Toast), published by

the Regional Committee of the Liberation Front for Gorenjska and printed at

the Trilof print worksin Davèa in 1944, on the

centenary of the first publication.

(Gorenjska Museum collections)

Dr Janez Bleiweis’s medals from the second half of the 19th century and the diploma he received upon being granted an aristocratic title in 1881.(Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo T. Lauko)

A silver goldinar(Foto T. Lauko)

The summit of Mount Triglav with Aljaž’s Tower, postcard, late 19th

century.

(Gorenjska Museum collections)

78 79

Janez Puhar

(Kranj, 26 August 1814 –

Kranj, 7 August 1864)

Janez Puhar was the first Slove-

nian photographer and the in-

ventor of photography on glass.

In 1840 he started to use the daguerreotype process, in which the

image appears on a silver-plated surface. Two years later he

invented a new procedure, based on the evaporation of sulphur,

for creating photographs on glass. He did this five years before

the officially recognised inventor, the Frenchman Joseph

Nicéphore Niépce. Only six of Puhar’s original photographs,

referred to as puharotypes, have survived.

Ignacij Borštnik

(Cerklje na Gorenjskem, 1 July 1858 –

Ljubljana, 23 September 1919)

Ignacij Borštnik was a theatre

actor, director and educator, a

poet and playwright, as well as

the founder of artistic theatre in

Slovenia. On Slovenian and

Croatian stages he played over

400 roles. After his retirement,

he taught acting in Ljubljana.

The main annual theatre festival

in Maribor is named after him, as

well as the main festival award,

the Borštnik Ring, which is

awarded for lifetime achievement

in the Slovenian theatre.

Matija Èop

(Žirovnica, 26 January 1797 – Tomaèevo, 6 July 1835)

Matija Èop was a linguist, literary historian, teacher and librarian.

He was a close friend and mentor to France Prešeren. After Èop’s

death, Prešeren dedicated a

sonnet to him, which he self-

published in 1836 together with

The Baptism at the Savica. In the

struggle for the Slovenian

language, a decisive role was

played by Èop’s thesis, written in

German, Slowenischer ABC-Krieg

(Slovenian Alphabet War). This

was his contribution to the battle

which led to Gaj’s Latin alphabet,

which is still in use, becoming the

standard.

Dr. Lovro Toman

(Kamna Gorica, 10 August 1827 –

Vienna, 15 August 1870)

Dr Lovro Toman was a lawyer,

politician and poet. He had a legal

practice in Radovljica. In 1861 he was

elected to the Carniolan provincial

assembly and became a provincial

deputy in Vienna. He was among the

founders of the main Slovenian Society and in 1865 became its

chairman. He published his first collection of poems in 1849

under the title Voices of the Homeland.

Janez Puhar, Self-portrait, around 1850, photograph on glass, the original is lost.(National Museum of Slovenia)

Ignacij Borštnik(National Theatre Museum of Slovenia)

Lovro Toman(National University Library Ljubljana)

Matija Èop(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo I. Pustovrh)

80 81

Leopold Layer

(Kranj, 20. november 1752–Kranj, 12. april 1828)

Leopold Layer was a Late Baroque painter. He is the best known

of the older Carniolan artists. He took over the family painting

workshop in Kranj after the death of his father Marko Layer. He

was assisted in his work by his two brothers Valentin (1763–

1810) and Anton (born 1765). In addition to church paintings

comissioned by people from Upper Carniola, Styria, Lower

Carniola and Carinthia, Leopold Layer also painted portraits and

FROM A PROVINCIAL TO A NATIONAL FLAG

Before 1848, Slovenians did not have their own national flag

as the Slovenian ethnic territory was split into a number of

lands or provinces. Each had its own coat-of-arms and a flag

in the same colours. On the Carniolan coat-of-arms, white

and blue prevailed, with the addition of some red. Around

1830, following the widespread establishment of tricolours,

a white, blue and red flag became the Carniolan provincial

flag. In 1848 the Carniolan tricolour became the symbol of

the struggle for a united Slovenia. Students in Vienna and

Graz adopted it as the Slovenian national flag and on 11 May

1848 brought it to Ljubljana, where on 7 April 1848 it was

unfurled by Lovro Toman and friends. In September of the

same year it was decided in Vienna that white, blue and red

were the colours of Carniola and thus also of the Sloveneian

national flag.

Over the next century and a half, the flag remained the

Slovenian national symbol, including within Yugoslavia. On

24th June 1991 it was redesigned with a new coat-of-arms in

the top left corner and proclaimed as the national flag of the

Republic of Slovenia. The Carniolan provincial flag thus

became the Slovenian national flag. Similarly, in the second

half of the 19th century, the townspeople created the

Slovenian national dress on the basis of the garments worn

for Sunday best by farmers in Upper Carniola.

frescoes. He is also said to have painted chests, beehive panels

and paintings on glass. He was considered one of the most

popular Slovenian painters in the 19th century. His best known

work is the famous image of Mary Help of Christians, which he

painted in the early 19th century for the chapel of the church in

Brezje. After miraculous healings in Brezje in 1864, Layer’s

painting became the most revered Slovenian religious image.

Leopold Layer, Ark of the Covenant, early 19th century. In front of the Ark of the Covenant in the holy tent stand Moses the leader of the Jews and his brother Aaron the priest.(Gorenjska Museum collections,photo T. Lauko)

82

Early societies in Upper Carniola

Reading rooms and reading societies

During the first half of the 1860s, the Slovenian national

movement gradually grew. Reading rooms played an important

part in the strengthening of Slovenian national awareness and the

use of the Slovenian language among townspeople. They were

established in most Slovenian towns and market towns. The local

townspeople, patriotic intelligentsia and rural men of note

gathered in them.

The first reading room in Upper Carniola – the seventh in Slovenia

– was founded in Škofja Loka in 1862. This encouraged the Kranj

townspeople to ceremonially open their reading room on 16

August 1863. In 1866 a reading room was also founded in

Kamnik.

There followed years of Austrian pressure that stopped the

creation of new reading rooms. Even the Liberal Party of the time

did not pay a great deal of attention to cultural and educational

societies. New societies began forming again in the 1880s. A few

reading societies were established in Upper Carniola, which

contributed to the education of their members and organised

cultural and entertainment events.

BE MINE, BE MINE 9

/Slovenian folk song/

Hle

bar h

ouse

, with

the

year

150

6, S

redn

ji vr

h ab

ove

Mar

tuljk

(Gor

enjs

ka M

useu

m c

olle

ctio

ns, p

hoto

J. M

edve

šek)

Mak

sim

Gas

pari,

Gor

enjs

ka w

eddi

ng, 1

937

(Upp

er S

ava

Valle

y M

useu

m, J

esen

ice,

ph

oto

S. K

okal

j)

84 85

In Gorenjska, there were farmsteads of different sizes, some belonging to well-established owners of large farms, some to cottagers with a little land and there were also tenants who owned none. Marriage, children and a home of her own were the dream of every girl. But only a farmer’s daughter could marry a farmer’s son: poorer girls went to a rich farm only as hired labour.

Marriages were usually arranged. Together with the bride, the

farm also obtained her dowry, consisting of either money or

property, and a trousseau involving a painted chest, embroidery

and bedding made from homespun linen. A good housekeeper

was important to the success of a farm. She had to take care of a

large family. She allocated the children and maids work in the

stable, the garden and the fields, and she worked with them

herself. The young bride took over the running of the household

from her mother-in-law. She bore children for the next generation

at the farm – the new labour force. Death in childbirth was

common. Almost everything was produced at home. The

housewife’s success was measured by the money she earned

through selling eggs, dairy products, vegetables and fruit to pay

taxes, buy land and sometimes even to send at least one son to

be educated.

Embroidery from Gorenjska

The oldest embroidery from Gorenjska homes bear witness to the

taste of the time and to a source of wealth, as it was made by

professional embroiders. Sheets used for special days, winding-

sheets and pillow cases were embroidered using a cross stitch,

from which a carnation emerged in the early 20th century as the

Slovenian national motif. Embroidery was taught to girls in primary

school as an compulsory subject or within the family, and carried

on at least until marriage. The most commonly made items were

embroidered napkins for God’s corner (a shrine within the house)

and for covering items taken to be blessed at Easter, and

decorative bedding.

Farm furniture

Until the early 19th century, farm houses contained very little

furniture: benches, a table, a special table with a trough for

kneading dough, a chair, a cradle, a bed or two, a cupboard for

storing foodstuffs and decorated chests. The corner with a cross

in it above the table was decorated with paintings on glass and

embroidery. Only in the second half of the 19th century did

wardrobes and chests of drawers become more widespread. Beds

had a mattress filled with straw, corn husks, hay or even beech

leaves, and covered with a homespun linen sheet. Eiderdowns

were used as blankets. They were made from colourful material,

yarn and old rags. Special scissor-like clasps were used to prevent

the cover from slipping off. Women gave birth on beds covered

with straw, without any bedding.

Chests were used for storing clothing, utensils and foodstuffs.

They were made by carpenters in Škofja Loka, around Kranj and

Radovljica, in Bohinj and in the Upper Sava Valley. The oldest

This embroidered napkin for covering the food basket taken to be blessed for Easter is from 1841. It was embroidered with the then fashionable petite fleur motif.

(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lunder)

A cradle from 1856 is decorated in the classical style and originates either in

Dovje or Mojstrana.(Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo T. Lauko)

86 87

chests were decorated with drawings, while in the late 18th century

they began to be decorated with typical floral and religious

images. In the 19th century, furniture painting became very

popular and other furniture items and even the door leading to the

room were painted in the same way.

THE INTERIOR OF A FARM HOUSE

Farm houses in Gorenjska seem very similar because they all

have a combination of brick walls with a wooden balcony but

in fact the isolated farms in Jezersko or Srednji Vrh and those

on the Kranj plain, the Radovljica plain or in Bohinj are very

different from each other. On the ground floor, the ground

plan of which was repeated on the first floor, there was

always the central living area, which was accessed via the

entrance chamber with a “smoke kitchen”. Most houses also

had an extra room next to the main one and beside the

entrance chamber a storage or living area. Some houses had

barns in which produce and cured meat was stored in chests,

on shelves or hung from wooden posts. In the 19th century

there was more furniture in the houses than before, but still

very little compared to today. The main room usually

contained a stove with a bread oven, covered in clay tiles,

which had benches around it and a simple bed on top of the

stove. In the opposite corner there was a table with a carved

chair for the man of the house and a bench with no back.

Along the whole length of both external walls there were

wide benches on which the members of the family often

slept. Above them between the windows there was at least

one wall cupboard. The bed may have been in this room or a

separate one. The farmer and his wife slept in the bed,

sometimes also the grandparents. Babies lay in cradles, in

some places in the kneading-trough, while other children

slept anywhere, the older ones even in the barn or in the

stable.

The main items of furniture were chests in which were kept

clothes, footwear, linen, grain, dried fruit and legumes. The

painted chest that the wife brought as part of her trousseau

stood in one of the two main rooms, while other chests were

in the entrance chamber or the attic. Pots and other

kitchenware were kept on hanging racks and spoons in

carved wooden boxes hung on the wall next to the table. In

the entrance chamber, i.e. the kitchen, there was a cupboard

with many drawers and shelves, in which bread and other

foodstuffs needed for daily cooking were locked away.

Wealthier homes had other rooms and more painted chests,

a cradle and perhaps another bed and cupboard. In the

Upper Sava Valley, the main roomlooked very colourful due

to the painted furniture, the painted door to the second room

and the painted doors of the wall cupboards.

The Rateèe costume

In Rateèe, near the tri-state border with Austria and Italy, the old

Rateèe costume is still worn on special days. Women pass on

these costumes from generation to generation and keep them

carefully folded in decora-

ted chests as a family

treasure. In the 19th century,

the Rateèe women also

wore the costume when

they got married. Accesso-

ries such as colourful scar-

ves and bows bring this

costume very close to the

Slovenian national costume.

Homespun linen

In Gorenjska homes, material was woven both for home use and

for sale. Flax was grown for different kinds of linen and sheep

were shorn for woollen cloth and knitting wool. Another type of

homemade material was sackcloth, a mixture of wool and flax.

Carefully folded Rateèe costume in a chest.

(Photo D. Eržen)

88

Weaving was often done by

men, some even made a living

from it by selling from house to

house. Around Kranj and

Škofja Loka there was a lot of

cloth woven for sale abroad. In

Begunje woollen cloth was

made, while socks and

stockings were made in Tržiè

and the villages below Mount

Stol.

Crockery

Until the 20th century, earthenware and wooden dishes were used

in rural areas. The best known potters were in Ljubno and in the

villages around Komenda. While Ljubno pottery was common

from the Middle Ages until the late 19th century, the Komenda

pottery has been known for only the last two centuries.

The bed from Podkoren, made in 1846, was dec-orated by the local car-penter Janez Kajžnik. Popular superstition dic-tated that the bed had to be neatly made duringthe day, otherwise an evil spirit, illness or even death might get into it. On holidays, beautifully embroidered sheets with lace edging were used and a number of embroidered pillows with tassels. The bed always had to be positioned in such a way that the occupant’s feet were not pointing at the door because it was believed that only a dead person’s feet pointed that way. Most people slept on benches, on the stove or in chests, and children often in drawers.

THE WOMEN OF UPPER CARNIOLA HAVE LONG BEEN FAMED FOR THEIR BEAUTY

/aft er France Prešern/

10

Spinning wheels began to be used in the late Middle Ages. Carved distaffs decorated with hearts and the wheel of life made a suitable love gift.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

(Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo J. Jeras)

Porc

elai

n fo

rmed

an

oblig

ator

y pa

rt o

f a li

ving

room

in to

wn

(Gor

enjs

ka M

useu

m c

olle

ctio

ns, p

hoto

J. P

ukši

è)An

a M

erk,

nee

Om

ersa

, the

firs

t wom

an c

yclis

t in

Kran

j. (G

oren

jska

Mus

eum

col

lect

ions

, pho

to I.

Jago

dic)

90 91

Most urban inhabitants in 19th century

Upper Carniola were craftsmen, merchants

and the educated. The most economically

successful families created the cultural and

social pulse of the town. Town women

were brought up so as to contribute to their

husband’s success and reputation through

their accomplishments and appearance.

Marriages among townspeople were usually arranged. Through

them, families preserved and increased their assets and

reputation. Girls attended girls’ schools, where in addition to

writing and arithmetic they learned handicrafts. They knew how to

play the piano and speak a number of foreign languages, as well

as learning about art. With regard to their dress, they followed

foreign, cosmopolitan fashion.

In urban homes, the salon was the place where guests were

received, music was played and the family received the outside

world. In the middle of the century, Biedermeier furniture, wall

clocks and Persian carpets prevailed in the homes of the richest.

The walls were covered with paintings of romantic landscapes and

family portraits; towards the end of the 19th century family

photographs also became very fashionable. A piano was an

obligatory item in the salon.

A PAINTING OR A PHOTOGRAPH?

The fine art from Prešeren’s time and environment is mostly

represented by unambitious salon or church works that

satisfied the average taste of the commissioners. Painters

mainly painted portraits and religious compositions. For

townspeople they produced individual or group portraits,

landscapes, less frequently also genre or history paintings.

The period was mostly marked by the popularity of the

portrait, as this allowed for the glorification of the new

patrons from the young up-and-coming bourgeoisie, who

were the most usual purchasers of works of art.

Townspeople decorated their homes with images that suited

their ideals. With family portraits they emphasised the visible

role of the individual and family, while preserving a memory

for future generations. Biedermeier portraits were typical of

the first half of the 19th century. The portrayed person was

idealised while the painted background served as a backdrop.

Only the wealthier social classes, i.e. the nobility and rich

townspeople, could afford a painted portrait. But with the

introduction of photographs, portraits became accessible to

all social classes. In the last quarter of the 19th century,

cheap photography meant that farmers and workers were

able to afford photographic portraits.

Feldmaršal von Günzl with his wife in the salon of their house in Preddvor, late 19th century(private archive)

Portrait of a townswoman, 19th

century, oil on canvas(Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo T. Lauko)

93

A glass cabinet from Turn Castle near Preddvor, 18th century, in which ceramic and porcelain vessels, as well as decorative items, glass and silverware were kept.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

The obligatory inventory of a town

home included various functional items made

of glass, such as vases, containers for

spirits, wicker bottles, carafes, glasses and

candlesticks, most often from Czech

glass factories. (Gorenjska Museum

collections, phfoto T. Lauko)

Silverware held a special place: a

candlestick, a dish for pastries and fruit,

and a vase with a Secessionist pattern.

(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

Although townspeople followed cosmopolitan fashions, until the mid-19th century middle-class women wore silk skirts with a bodice, the style of which resembled that worn by women in rural areas.(S. Košak-Blumer: Sto narodnih nošna Slovenskem, 2009, page 26)

94

JOSIPINA URBANÈIÈ TURNOGRAJSKA(Preddvor, 1833 – Gradec, 1854)

was a writer, poet and composer. She received her extensive

education at home. Among her teachers was Lovro Pintar,

who helped her grow to love the Slovenian language. She

was also a pianist, composing piano pieces and melodies for

Slovenian songs. In 1850 she became engaged to the lawyer,

politician and poet Lovro Toman. Prior to the wedding they

wrote approximately 1000 letters to each other. In addition

to their emotions, they also exchanged many thoughts and

opinions on the turbulent life of the times. In 1853 they

married and moved to Graz because of Toman’s work.

Josipina died there only a year later, soon after giving birth.

PROJECTION HALL 11

A room in the former tower in Khislstein Castle has been turned

into a projection hall where visitors will be able to view Slovenian

films connected with Gorenjska and its people.

The decision to dedicate one of the exhibition rooms to live

pictures was dictated by our rich film history and the many

film directors, cameramen, actors and other film workers who

originate from Gorenjska or have a strong connection with it. In

addition, there are individual films that deal with themes from

Gorenjska or show the region and places in it. Thus, for example,

in 1931 the first Slovenian feature film, V Kraljestvu Zlatoroga

(In the Kingdom of the Golden Horn), directed by Janko Ravnik,

was made in Gorenjska. This was followed a year later by Metod

Badjura's Triglavske strmine (The Steep Slopes of Triglav). The

The letter written by JosipinaUrbanèiè Turnograjska to her fiancé Dr. Lovro Toman(Manuscript collection, National University Library, Ljubljana)

Lovro’s letter to Josipina

(Manuscript collection, National

University Library, Ljubljana)

The projection hall will be further enhanced by an exhibition of selected posters related to film themes.

The Gorenjska Museum can boast of an excellent collection of posters, many of which are connected with

film, such as the one inviting people to go and see the film Sreèno Kekec! (Good Luck, Kekec!)

(Foto D. Holynski)

96

director France Štiglic, who in 1948 directed the first Slovenian

film after World War Two, Na svoji zemlji (On Their Own Land),

was originally from Gorenjska. Moreover, the films about the

children's character Kekec were shot in Gorenjska. The films

made by director Boštjan Hladnik, who was born in Kranj, belong

among the Slovenian classics. And Milena Zupanèiè, the leading

actress in the film Cvetje v jeseni (Blossoms in Autumn) is also

from this region.

Documentary films showing snippets of Gorenjska life are also

of great value. Velièan Bešter and Janko Balantiè Resman were

among those who marked the period between the two world

wars. Short films have been preserved from the post-war socialist

period, which show the production process in various factories in

Gorenjska and visits by high representatives of the then political

authorities. The film showing the first landing of a plane at Brnik

airport in the 1960s is undoubtedly very interesting to many who

still remember the event, as well as younger people.

These recordings are mostly kept by the Republic of Slovenia

Archives and are very rarely shown to a wider public due to their

great value and complex preservation requirements. Our aim is

to supplement the permanent exhibition about Gorenjska with

copies of selected films. In addition, Gorenjska Museum holds a

number of valuable film recordings and copies that are definitely

worth seeing. These include films connected with the poet France

Prešeren, such as the copy of the documentary film made by

Božidar Jakac in 1939 on the occasion of the opening of the

house where Prešeren was born in Vrba.

Our idea of a small “cinematheque” of Gorenjska film is a way

of enriching the permanent exhibition Beautiful Gorenjska with a

new element. After having a look at the exhibition, visitors will be

able to enjoy some film entertainment that will also enable them

to further deepen their knowledge about an important part of film

creativity.

AS I RESTLESSLY WANDER HERE AND THERE,

FRIENDS KEEP ASKING“WHERE, OH WHERE?”

/aft er France Prešern/

12PH

oto

M. K

unši

èG

oren

jska

Mus

eum

col

lect

ions

98 99

In the 20th century a person’s life probably

differed completely from that of their father.

The father, born in the Austro-Hungarian

Empire, would have been a farmer. His son

commuted to his factory shift by bike. His

granddaughter, who worked in an office,

travelled to work on a special workers’

bus. Now in the 21st century, his great-

granddaughter, who has a university degree,

has been looking for some time for regular

employment.

The Gorenjska landscape also experienced considerable and

rapid change in the 20th century. The region belonged to different

states at different times; consequently, the political, social and

economic systems changed and the development of the region

increasingly became a part of global events. During World War

One, Gorenjska was a military area behind the Soèa (Isonzo) Front

and was of vital importance for supply. The life of the civilian

population had to adapt to war conditions. After the war,

Gorenjska finally entered the modern industrial era. In both the

first and second Yugoslavia, it was one of the most important

regions in the country. At the end of the century there began an

often painful search for a transition to the new post-industrial era.

Economic and technological progress changed the landscape and

the way of life.

In the closing decades of the 19th century, iron-making in

Gorenjska declined. It continued only in the newly built plant in

Jesenice, which in the 20th century became the largest industrial

centre in Gorenjska. In Tržiè, shoemaking and timber industries

were established. The textile industry also became important, first

in Tržiè and then in the 1920s in Kranj. Between the two wars,

increasing numbers of locals went into business; some became

owners of small factories, while most of the larger companies

were still in the hands of foreign investors. The growing number of

factories required ever more workers, increasingly including

young women, who worked on spinning and weaving machines.

These workers mainly came from what used to be completely

agricultural settlements around the industrial centres of Jesenice,

Tržiè and Kranj.

With the start of World War Two and during the German

occupation, the main goal of the occupying forces was to make

Gorenjska German and annex it to the German Reich. Many

intellectuals and their families were exiled. Resistance against the

Nazi aggression in the form of armed conflict began in Gorenjska

in late July 1941. Partisans disabled the enemy through sabotage

and small skirmishes. The Germans shot collaborators and

Kran

j in

2008

(Pho

to A

. Hod

aliè

)

The oldest photograph of Kranj, 1860s (Photo Ch. Paier)

100

hostages in retaliation for the deaths of their soldiers.

After World War Two, development in the region depended chiefly

on industry, in which over half the population was employed.

Immediately after the war, the Jesenice steelworks became one of

the most important factories in Yugoslavia and the whole of

Gorenjska played a very important economic role. In the 60s, the

textile industry was becoming increasingly obsolete. The leading

role was taken by the electronics and tyre industries, based in

Kranj. A few of the most successful companies, such as Iskra,

became internationally established through investment in the

development of their own products and brands. But most

companies continued to follow the political orientation towards

the building of large factories and the large-scale employment of

workers. In search of better earnings, large numbers of people

migrated to Gorenjska from less developed regions in Slovenia

and other Yugoslav republics. The growth of towns and population

was not controlled. Factories were built on fertile agricultural land

around the towns; industrialisation reached even remote, formerly

exclusively agricultural areas. Farming was marginalised, and

agricultural land was devalued. A building craze spread across the

whole region, involving badly thought-out incursions into

traditional settlement patterns and the natural heritage. Extensive

residential areas grew in former suburbs, mainly providing

accommodation for immigrant workers. Towns became ethnically

very diverse. Villages acquired a new urban appearance. The way

of life in town and village became increasingly similar, while

centuries-old traditions began to disappear. The importance of

tourism grew. Foreign visitors were particularly attracted by the

countryside and gems such as Bled, Bohinj and Kranjska Gora.

In the early 21st century, Gorenjska's towns and villages are once

more looking to redefine their identity by drawing upon the

disappearing traditions and natural wealth. Some places in

Gorenjska hold a special place in Slovenia’s history and literature.

Particularly after 1991 and the proclamation of an independent

state, they became important in the formation of Slovenian

identity and the strengthening of national consciousness. This is a

major reason why Gorenjska is the best known Slovenian region.

At the turn of the 20th century, most people in Gorenjska worked

on the land. After the decline of iron foundries, industry began to

develop only in Jesenice and Tržiè. The Karavanke–Bohinj railway

line that was built then connected the Jesenice steel works with

the port of Trieste and its hinterland. In Tržiè, the production of

textiles, cardboard and shoes began. The factory owners were

mainly foreigners, who wielded a great deal of political power in

the town. In 1911, the local businessman Peter Kozina opened a

shoe factory which later became the company Peko.

Around Domžale, many companies employing around a thousand

workers in total grew from the old straw hat making craft and

made a million straw hats a year, which were sold in Europe and

America.

Small farms could no longer provide a living for whole families.

Many people left to find work in North America and European

mining centres. Crafts and trading in handmade products died out

/France Prešeren/

EARLY20TH CENTURY

Oh, the golden age now begins for the Carniolan muses!

12.1

In the late 19th

century, a cotton spinning and weaving

mill was established in Tržiè, owned by

Glanzmann&Gassner. Tržiè became one of the

first Slovenian centres of the textile industry.

(Gorenjska Museum collections)

Thanks to its steelworks, Jesenice was in the

early 20th century the most developed part of

Gorenjska. (Gorenjska Museum collections)

102

THE KARAVANKE–BOHINJ RAILWAY LINE

The Karavanke–Bohinj railway line linked Central Europe and

the Adriatic. The Upper Carniolan section ran from Klagenfurt

to Jesenice and then via Bohinj to Gorizia and Trieste. The

complex construction work took place between 1900 and

1906. Numerous bridges and tunnels had to be built, among

them the Karavanke tunnel between Rosenbach and Hrušica,

which is 7975 metres long, and the Bohinj tunnel between

Bohinjska Bistrica and Podbrdo, 6336 metres long.

During construction, many workers of different nationalities

settled in Bohinjska Bistrica. The Bohinj tunnel was formally

opened on 19 July 1906. The railway line to Primorska

helped Bohinj to become a tourist centre, joining the two

already established and popular Gorenjska resorts of Bled

and Kamnik.

due to cheaper industrial products. In order to improve the

position of farmers, cooperative savings and lending banks were

founded, as well as dairy and machinery cooperatives.

When the Soèa (Isonzo) Front opened in World War One,

Gorenjska became a key military rear area that was of vital

importance for supply lines, and a strict military regime was thus

enforced. Large quantities of military equipment and material

arrived on trains. Particularly during preparations for the 12th

Battle of the Soèa in the autumn of 1917, military deliveries

brought other transport to a complete standstill. Thousands of

soldiers representing all the nationalities in the Austro-Hungarian

Empire came to Gorenjska. From there, they were sent to the

front and then returned for medical treatment or rest. Schools,

monasteries and other large buildings were turned into military

hospitals, workshops and warehouses.

The civilian population had to take part in supplying the military. In

addition, many refugees fled here from Primorska, along the

coast. As men were conscripted, women were left to run the

WORLD WAR ONE

… and you will flow full of blood.

/Simon Gregorčič/

12.2/Simon Gregorčič/

Entrance to the Bohinj tunnel before World

War One(Gorenjska Museum

collections)

The furniture used in the room rented to tourists by the Budkoviè family in Bohinjska Bistrica in the early 20th

century.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo D. Holynski)

The terminal of the military railway in Bohinjska Bistrica in the summer of 1916, from where the Austro-Hungarian army supplied its soldiers fighting on Mount Krn and the surrounding mountains.Bohinj was the immediate rear area of the Soèa (Isonzo) front. (Small Military Museum in Bohinjska Bistrica)

105

economy by themselves. There were shortages of everything and

prices went up, so a rationing system was introduced. But what

made people most aware of the war was the news from the front

about casualties and the many wounded who returned.

The 12th German (Silesian) division in Kranj prior to departure for Kobarid where it took part in the breakthrough in October 1917. (National Museum of Contemporary History) The Russian Chapel was

built in 1916 by Russian prisoners of war in memory of their comrades who died in an avalanche while building the road across the Vršiè Pass.(Photo M. Žerjal, private archive of Z. Zupaniè Slavec)

Rudolf Maister - Vojanov (Kamnik, 1874 – Unec, 1934),

general and poet, on 1st November 1918 took over

the military command of Lower Styria and on behalf of the

National Council established the first regular Slovenian army, leading the decisive battles for

the northern border.(The Album of Slovenian Literati, 1928)

A monument in Mojstrana with the names of the dead and the missing.

Slovenian men and boys fought on all the European fronts. In memory of those

who did not return, many monuments have been

erected around Gorenjska. (Photo J. Justin)

Josip Pogaènik, knight, (Podnart 1866 – Podnart, 1932), a photograph of the monument in Podnart. Josip Pogaènik was a politician, government minister, diplomat and businessman. Between 31 October and 1st December 1918 he was the head of the first Slovenian government.(Photo J. Dežman)

106

IVAN FRANKE (Dobje pri Poljanah, 1841–Ljubljana, 1927)

grew up in Cerklje in

Gorenjska. He studied

painting in Vienna

and Venice. In 1873

he set off on a jour-

ney around China,

where he produced

numerous sketches

of the landscape

as well as portraits.

Between 1878 and

1889 he taught draw-

ing at Kranj grammar

school and appeared as a singer and director in the Kranj

Reading Room. In 1882, the Central Vienna commission

appointed him the state conservator for the whole of

Carniola. After 1889, he lived in Ljubljana with his family.

Franke’s artistic output is extensive, encompassing

landscapes, portraits and religious paintings. He belonged

to the circle of Realists. His early work consists mainly of

altar images based on paintings in Venice. He painted in

the church in Predoslje, the Ursuline church in Škofja Loka,

the Franciscan church in Ljubljana, the church in

Bukovšèica, etc. Upon his arrival in Kranj he began to focus

on landscape. In Ljubljana he was attracted by the town

surroundings and Tivoli Park. He produced four different

versions of paintings and drawings based on Prešeren’s

poem The River Man.

The Slovenian part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was economically

the most developed. Jesenice, where 5000 workers were

employed, was one of the strongest industrial centres and in

1929 became a town. Tržiè, with its rich textile, leather and

shoemaking tradition became a town in 1926.

The largest factory, employing 1200 people, was the Cotton

Spinning and Weaving Mill. The workers there were paid better

than in other parts of Gorenjska; the factory owner even built

homes for them.

BETWEEN THE WARS

Grab money in heaps, buy castle keeps.

/France Prešeren/

12.3

THE INDUSTRIALISATION OF KAMNIK

With the dawn of industrialisation, Kamnik flourished. The

railway line, completed in 1891, contributed a great deal to

economic development in the Kamnik area. Even in the mid-

19th century, there were already a gunpowder mill, cement

works and brickworks. The gunpowder mill was operational

until quite recently. In addition to explosives, after World War

Two the factory also processed non-ferrous metal and plastic

materials.

In 1896, the Czech engineer Špalek opened a workshop

making locks and door hinges. After World War One the

workshop grew into a factory making metal products and in

1922 it acquired the name it has retained until now – Titan.

It produced pipe fittings, furniture locks, scales, weights and

kitchen equipment. The factory continued its work after

World War Two and the production of locks, for which the

company is best known, has continued to this day.

108

In 1878, the Schnabl family took over a ceramics workshop

in Kamnik and began making the widely renowned “Carniolan

jugs” and other kitchenware of white clay. After the war and

until recently the tradition of making decorated jugs was

continued by the company Eti Svit.

The greatest economic progress was experienced by Kranj. The

local authorities made use of the favourable economic conditions

in the newly founded state in which new markets appeared. Within

a very short time, Kranj became the second most important textile

centre in Slovenia. Czech and Polish industrialists, assisted by

local businessmen, built large textile factories: Jugoèeška began

in 1924, followed by Intex, Tekstilindus and Jugobruna. In addition,

there was also the largest Yugoslav rubber factory, Vulkan, later

renamed Semperit. Many locally owned businesses were also

established. In Radovljica and the surrounding area there were

knitting plants, in Lesce there was a factory making chains, and in

Kropa the metallurgical cooperative Plamen. In Kamnik, the Titan

factory produced locks, scales, weights, kitchen equipment and

connecting parts used in plumbing. The factory continued

functioning after World War Two. In Domžale, the production ofstraw hats continued in the

Univerzale factory, which

closed its doors in 2003.

Sample books of the materials made prior to World War Two in the Jugoèeška and Jugobruna factories.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo T. Lauko)

In a factory in Kranj owned by the industrialist and wholesaler Ivan Savnik

underwear and other garments were made.

The products under the brand name ISKA were successfully marketed

around the whole of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo D. Holynski)

Numerous workers were able to find work in the new factories, particularly young women. They came from the surrounding villages and this was their first encounter with factory work. In order to get a job, they were supposed to be at least 15 years old, but some were younger.(Gorenjska Museum collections)

The Kranj entrepreneur Franjo Sirc (1891–1950) owned a textile factory in Stražišèe. When the war broke out, the factory was seized by the Nazi authorities. In the new Yugoslav state, Sirc was sentenced to ten years forced labour. He died while serving his sentence(Gorenjska Museum collections)

110 111

DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM IN BLED

Bled was a well known tourist resort even before World War

One. The Swiss Arnold Rikli, who opened a spa there in the

mid-19th century, made the greatest contribution to this.

Between the two wars, Bled became well established as a

resort and the most sophisticated of all tourist destinations

in Yugoslavia. The royal family spent summers in their Bled

residence and many important political and diplomatic

meetings took place there.

The locals demonstrated their entrepreneurial flair in the way

they embraced work in tourism. They built and renovated

guest houses, holiday villas and hotels, and created parks

and promenades. They kept the town clean and tidy, ensured

that there were plenty of sports and social events, including

international rowing and chess competitions, and published

promotional materials. In 1937, there were 17 hotels, 11

guest houses and five restaurants, while rooms were also let

in private houses. Bled was visited by over 20,000 people a

year, more than half of them foreigners, the most numerous

being Austrian, German, Czech and English.

Local entrepreneurs Jula Molnar and Ivan Kenda made a

great contribution to the development of Bled as a tourist

resort. They both embarked on big building projects. Jula

Molnar bought the respected Louisenbad Hotel, situated on

the shore of Lake Bled, and renamed it the Grand Hotel

Toplice. In 1931, she enlarged and completely renovated the

building. The hotel was considered one of the most modern

in Yugoslavia. Next to the hotel, Jula Molnar built the Toplice

cafe, which became the centre of Bled social life; she also

promoted the construction of the Bled golf course. The old

Mallner Hotel was bought in 1917 by the businessman Ivan

Kenda, who also owned Bled Castle, the lake, the swimming

area by the lake and a number of guest houses. He renamed

the hotel Park Hotel and constructed a new building, together

with a swimming area, shops and the Kazino entertainment

centre. Due to over-ambitious and badly planned investments,

Kenda experienced financial ruin a few years before World

War Two.

Holidays in Bled were enjoyed mainly by aristocrats, rich

bourgeoisie and high officials. Staying in Bled for a few weeks

was at that time a matter of prestige. After World War Two,

when elite tourism was considered inappropriate, Bled

became oriented towards mass tourism. Many old hotel

buildings and guest houses were knocked down and modern

hotels were built in their place, often to the detriment of the

natural environment and local tradition.

VALENTIN HODNIK (Stara Fužina, 1896–Bohinjska Bistrica, 1935)

Hodnik was born into a farming family. When attending the

Ljubljana crafts school he was greatly influenced by a

Valentin HodnikTriglav

(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo D. Holynski)

The new Grand Hotel Toplice on a postcard from the 1930s.(Gorenjska Museum collections)

112

teacher there, the sculptor Alojzij Repiè. At the start of World

War One he was conscripted, but soon discharged due to

illness. He returned home, where he painted and

photographed Austrian soldiers in Bohinj. His subsequent

work was greatly influenced by Slovenian Impressionists and

artists within the Vesna Society. He continued his education

at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb under Professors

Kovaèeviæ and Vanka, focusing on figure drawing. Due to

financial difficulties he continued his artistic work at home.

He was most attracted to landscapes, particularly Lake

Bohinj, the mountain slopes of Pršivec, Komarèa, Konjski vrh

and Vogel, the Savica waterfall and Mount Triglav. In 1926,

he built a house in Ukanc. Initially, he depicted mountains

very realistically in his paintings, adding an atmospheric tone

and a soft modulation of rocks and mountain peaks. Later he

began to use his characteristic, slightly stylised formulation

of rocks. Some paintings reflect hardness and radiate a

special expressive power, while others subtly depict the

silence of Mount Triglav, Lake Bohinj or the lonely profession

of Alpine herdsmen. His humorous drawings, depicting life

along the shores of Lake Bohinj, are also well known.

SECOND WORLD WAR

Better sleep in the darkness of the grave, than in bright sunlight be a slave.

/France Prešeren/

12.4

The Nazi occupation of Gorenjska was followed by a process of

Germanisation. German became the official language and the

names of people and places were Germanised. All Slovenian

schools and institutions were closed, all societies were dismantled

their assets seized, as well as those belonging to the Church and

to exiles. Racial tests determined that most inhabitants of

Gorenjska were suitable for inclusion in the Reich. In July 1941,

around 2300 people were exiled to Serbia and Croatia, including

most of the priests and patriotic intellectuals. Between March

1942 and mid-1944 approximately 4200 relatives of hostages

and Partisans who had been shot were deported to Germany from

an assembly camp in Gorièane. Gorenjska was the region in which

people most determinedly resisted the German takeover. Among

the 2200 Slovenian Partisans in 1941, 1250 were operating in

Gorenjska. This is where in late July 1941 first Partisan attacks

signalled the start of Slovenian armed resistance. Partisans

carried out many mostly small attacks on German garrisons and

institutions. In retaliation the Germans punished the civilian

population. The first village to be burnt down due to the Partisans

killing some civilian officials was Rašica below Mount Šmarna

gora in September 1941.

In September 1942, the Nazis granted the Gorenjska people

German citizenship until revocation and in the early 1943 began

mobilisation into the German army. Many of those mobilised

deserted and joined the Partisans. From the autumn of 1944,

Partisan authorities were already administering the Gorenjska

liberated areas. The Partisans took revenge on those collaborating

with the occupiers and anti-communists.

114 115

In 1944, the Gorenjska Home Guard took action against the

Partisan movement by constantly patrolling and ambushing

Partisans across a considerable part of Gorenjska, thus hindering

Partisan access to the general population. At the end of the war,

the members of the Home Guard retreated to Carinthia, but the

British returned them to Slovenia, where most of them were killed

without trial.

IVE ŠUBIC (Hotovlje near Poljanah, 1922–Poljane, 1989)

Between 1940 and 1941, he studied painting at the Zagreb

Academy of Art and between 1945 and 1948 at the Fine Art

Academy in Ljubljana, where he undertook advanced studies

in 1950 under Professor Gabriel Stupica. Šubic painted

figures and landscapes, as well as still lifes. In his depictions

of Partisans and farm life he combined elements of Realism

with others from Expressionism, Cubism and Primitivism. In

addition, he was also involved in graphic art, illustration,

monumental murals and mosaics, such as the Monument to

the Battle of Dražgoše in Dražgoše in 1971.

Ive Šubic, Column in the Snow, 1962, oil on canvas (Gorenjska Museum collections, photo D. Holynski)

The camp uniform and a small knife used by

Franc Mravlja from Kranj in Auschwitz

concentration camp, where he was

imprisoned from June 1942 until the end of

the war.(Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo T. Lauko)

On 22 August 1941 Franc Seško from Bukovica was shot as a hostage in a forest near Smlednik.(Gorenjska Museum collections)

Friedrich Rainer(Šentvid na Glini,1903–Yugoslavija, 1947?), from November 1941 in charge of German civilian administration in Gorenjska. He implemented violent policies against the Partisan movement, including internment, hostage shooting and the burning of villages.(Gorenjska Museum collections)

THE GESTAPO PRISON IN BEGUNJE IN GORENJSKA

A mansion in Begunje held one of the bloodiest Gestapo

prisons in Slovenia, used mainly for Partisans and their

collaborators. The prisoners were tortured in the most

inhumane manner, sent on to concentration camps or shot

as hostages. Shocking inscriptions by those condemned to

death have been preserved on the cell walls. During the war,

the Germans shot 1270 people in Gorenjska, of whom 849

were imprisoned in Begunje. In order to frighten the general

population, posters with the names of those who had been

shot were posted in public places. After the war, the mansion

was used as a concentration camp and, until the early 50s, a

women’s prison; among those held there were female

political prisoners.

All the prisoners in the Gestapo prison in Begunje were listed in a book of records, including their subsequent destiny. Many prisoners were sent on to concentration camps or shot as hostages. (Gorenjska Museum collections, photo D. Holynski)

Men mobilised into the German army leaving for the railway station in Kranj, early 1943.(Gorenjska Museum collections)

A group of Gorenjska

Partisans from the Prešeren

Brigade in the summer of

1943 (Gorenjska Museum

collections)

On the night between the 26th and 27th June 1942 the Partisans from the Cankar Battalion of the Gorenjska detachment burnt down the railway and road bridge in Moste near Žirovnica, the most successful such attack. (Gorenjska Museum collections)

118 119

VICTIMS OF WAR AND REVOLUTION

Of the 180,000 people living in occupied Gorenjska, which

included the Litija area, by the end of 1945 over 15,000

were Partisans, over 9000 were mobilised into the German

army, and around 4000 were Home Guards, Gestapo spies

among the Partisans, workplace security men, armed police

officers and Gestapo officers. Nearly 7000 people were

exiled to Serbia or Germany, many others were sent to the

Ljubljana region, and over 10,000 became prisoners and

internees. Due to mobilisation, internment, exile and flight

around a fifth of the population were driven from their homes.

Among Slovenian regions Gorenjska suffered the second

highest number of deaths. Of approximately 97,500 currently

registered victims of war and revolution in Slovenia,

Gorenjska’s share is 13,344, i.e. 13.7 percent of all Slovenian

victims and 7.3 percent of the Gorenjska population. They

included 4592 Partisans and 741 Partisan activists or

sympathisers, while out of 2631 civilian victims, around

1300 were killed by the Partisans. Of those mobilised into

the German army, 1774 died. Among the Home Guard

members there were 1731 victims, all but 50 of whom were

killed after the war.

(According to data from the Institute of Contemporary History, September 2011)

LJUBO RAVNIKAR

(Ljubljana, 1905–Kranj, 1973)

At the secondary modern school he studied drawing under

the painters Peter Žmitek and Gojmir Anton Kos. He studied

for a while at the Vienna Academy and with the Viennese

portraitist Hans Schachinger. Ravnikar returned to Ljubljana

in 1929. He focused on oil and watercolour paintings and

illustrations; he also produced postcards with social themes,

posters and diplomas. He worked with the Workers’ Stage,

producing sketches for their performances, which places

him among the founders of modern Slovenian set design. In

1937, he published a portfolio of linocuts, Mirror, in which he

tried to critically depict the social reality at the time. In 1938,

he joined the Gruda artistic group founded by young artists

following the example of the Zagreb Zemlja. Landscape

became his main genre.

In April 1941 he was interned in Italy, where he created an

extensive collection of landscapes and documentary images.

In 1944/1945, he returned home with the “overseas”

The return of the Home Guard and civilians from Carinthia to Kranj on 30 May 1945. Nearly all were killed around Škofja Loka and Koèevje.(Gorenjska Museum collections)

LjuboRavnikar, Hunger Strike,

1934, ink drawing

(Gorenjska Museum collections,

photo D. Holynski)

120

brigade of the Yugoslav Army. He documented his journey

with an extensive series of watercolours and drawings.

Between 1946 and 1958, he taught drawing and the history

of art at the grammar school in Kranj. His independent

exhibition in Prešeren House in Kranj was the first staged by

the newly founded museum. In Rome in 1956, he created a

series of watercolours “From a Journey around Italy”, later

he also painted in Greece and elsewhere in the Mediterranean,

including Egypt. In the 60s, there appeared the cycle of

watercolours “Old Kranj” and others of the steel works in

Jesenice. Ravnikar’s painting was influenced by

Expressionism, Symbolism and Social Realism. In 1961 and

1965 he received the Prešeren Award, granted by the Town

of Kranj.

During the first decade after World War Two, in Gorenjska as

elsewhere, revolutionary interventions involving confiscation and

waves of nationalisation destroyed private business and

agriculture. The companies that had existed before the war were

combined and transformed into state companies, later referred to

as social property. Class war divided society into a privileged

communist party elite and the rest, who suffered discrimination.

Gorenjska was shaped by this development of industry at any

price. Industrialisation thus reached formerly remote agricultural

areas such as the Selca Valley. The introduction of mass

production involving conveyor belts and the building of huge

production halls demanded mass immigration of workers from the

less developed parts of Yugoslavia, while many people from

Gorenjska sought work and a better life in Germany and elsewhere

in the West. There followed the rapid construction of concrete

blocks of flats, sadly often on the most fertile land. Farming was

devalued and farmers sought a better income in factories.

The Iskra and Sava factories, with their long experience, reached

beyond the boundaries of Gorenjska and became established in

the West. Top achievements by Gorenjska sportsmen such as

Bojan Križaj and Nejc Zaplotnik contributed to the international

establishment of local brands Elan and Alpina. People from rural

areas commuted to work in nearby factories. They used their

earnings and loans to build new houses, usually in their own

garden or meadow. Villages began to spread to fields. The last

wooden cottages disappeared and the rural areas lost their old

agricultural appearance.

TITO’S YUGOSLAVIA

Who can cast light on the dark night that plagues our soul.

/France Prešeren/

12.5

122 123

ISKRA TELEPHONES

The company Iskra, founded in 1946, became over

subsequent decades one of the leading companies in the

electronics industry in Yugoslavia. Iskra’s main products

were meters, telephone switchboards and telephones,

electric hand tools and until 1971, cinema sound equipment.

The products were mostly developed by Iskra’s technical

experts and designers. In addition to meters, the best known

A worker at an open-hearth furnace at Jesenice steelworks in the Fifties. The largest number of workers, around 7000, was employed at the Jesenice steelworks in the early 1980s.(Photo S. Smolej)

In both towns and

villages the old is giving

way to the new.

(Photo T. Dolžan Eržen)

Blocks of flats, “dormitory estates”, within a few decades completely altered the appearance of Gorenjska towns.(Photo D. Holynski)

Workers leaving the Iskra factory at the end of their daily shift at 14.00, Kranj 1960 (Photo F. Perdan) In 1966 a modern industrial

area appeared in Labore on the outskirts of Kranj, the new Sava factory.(Gorenjska Museum collections)

124 125

product was telephones. Iskra produced its first inductor

telephone in 1949. Initially, they were made under foreign

licence, such as the automatic ATA 11 appliance. In the mid

60s, telephones developed by in-house engineers began to

be made. Gradually designs improved and the ATA 30 and

the ATA 20 appeared. In 1976, the first completely electronic

appliance in the world, the ETA 80, began to be mass

produced. This was followed in 1979 by what is now

considered a cult telephone appliance – the ETA 80. It was

made with either a dial or a key pad (the ETA 85). Iskra’s

phones brought about a completely new design of

telephones around the world and there appeared many

copies. The appearance of the phone was a great

achievement by Davorin Savnik, who won many awards for it

at home and abroad. People became fond of this phone and

gave it a nickname fitipaldi. In the 80s, many improvements

were made in Iskra and it was among the first companies in

the world to develop a digital telephone switchboard, the SI

2000 system. By 1989, just before the collapse of this large

company, five million telephones had rolled off its conveyor

belts.

JANEZ MARENÈIÈ (Kranj, 1914 – Jesenice, 2007)

Among the most important Slovenian photographers of the

20th century. He became involved in photography in the

1930s. In 1935, he joined the Ljubljana Photo Club. in his

early work, genre photographs and landscapes prevail.

During World War Two he accompanied the units of the

IX Corps in Primorska as a photographer. The negatives have

been lost, but on the basis of the four preserved photographs,

depicting a Partisan camp and night watch on the Trnovski

gozd plateau, he made enlargements using the paper

negative technique, and these are considered the artistic

photographic evidence of the war. After the war, he focused

on photographic interpretations of genre themes and

landscapes.

Upon his initiative a photo club was founded in Kranj in 1949.

He became the central figure, mentor and main representa-

tive of the “Kranj circle” or the “Kranj photography school”.

With fellow members such as Mirko Križnar, Tone Marèan,

Miro Kelbel and Janez Murovec he produced photographs of

The ETA 85 telephone made Iskra phones famous around the world.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo D. Holynski)

Janez Marenèiè, Promenade, 1955(Slovenian Photography Room, Gorenjska Museum collections)

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contrasting, ascetic motifs on snow covered surfaces, which

the reviewers described as “the Kranj photographic style”. In

the 1950s Marenèiè discovered the aerial view of landscape.

These photographs, taken from elevated viewpoints, are

considered the summit of Marenèiè’s photographic

expression. With carefully selected framing and an emphasis

on the compositional lines of force and flatness, he produced

an abstract ornament which seemingly continued out of

shot. In the 1990s, he was also involved in colour

photography.

In 1970, he received the Gorenjska Prešeren Award. On his

ninetieth birthday he was awarded a Golden Order for

Service, and he also received the Janez Puhar Award for his

life’s work. Just before his death in 2007, he was made an

Honorary Citizen of the Municipality of Kranj.

After the collapse of communism, the political and economic

crisis in Yugoslavia reached its peak. At a plebiscite on 23

December 1990, 88.5 percent voted in favour of an independent

Slovenia. On 25 June 1991, Slovenia was the first of the former

Yugoslav republics to declare independence. There followed an

armed intervention by the Yugoslav People’s Army at border

crossings and Brnik Airport. After a ten-day war for independence,

Slovenia took control over its territory. The realisation of the

dream of an independent state was accompanied by economic

privatisation and the loss of former markets. Many companies in

Gorenjska found themselves in crisis and thousands of people

lost their jobs. Gradually, private enterprise began to grow,

together with widespread greed and desire for a quick profit.

THE NEWSLOVENIAN STATE

There we shall find a way, where our sonschoose freely their faith and laws.

/France Prešeren/

12.6

In June 1991, two weeks before the Republic of Slovenia’s declaration of independence, mountain rescuers on top of Mount Triglav raised the Slovenian flag which at that time had no coat of arms.(Photo M. Kunšiè)

128 129

Membership of the European Union and NATO, the introduction of

the Euro and unreserved adoption of everything foreign faced us

with a dilemma: what would enable our survival – economic

prudence, inventiveness, wisdom, goodness, thriftiness? These

are the values that have been a part of Gorenjska tradition for a

thousand years, as well as the foundations of Slovenianness.

Members of the Slovenian militia and Territorial Defence putting up new signs at the Ljubelj border crossing, 1 July 1991. (Photo M. Kunšiè)

Slovenia was the first of the new European Union members to take on the presidency over the EU in the first half of 2008. All the political and diplomatic events connected with the presidency took place in Brdo near Kranj, including a meeting between the European leaders and the President of the United States.(Photo M. Kunšiè, archives of the State Protocol Services of the Republic of Slovenia, Brdo)

France Buèar (Bohinjska Bistrica, 1923), lawyer and politician. In 1976 he was forcefully removed from the University. He was among the leaders of the democratisation process and of efforts towards Slovenian independence, and on 9 May 1990, he became the chairman of the first democratically elected Slovenian Parliament.(National Museum of Contemporary History, photo T. Stojko)

Poster of the Slovenian Farmers’ Association before the 1990 elections Ivan Oman (Zminec pri Škofji Loki, 1923), farmer and politician. In May 1988 he became the leader of the Slovenian Farmers’ Association, the first new political party in post-war Yugoslavia. When the United Democratic Opposition of Slovenia (DEMOS) was established, Oman became its vice-president. In 1990, he was elected a member of the Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia.(Gorenjska Museum collections, photo I. Pustovrh)

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ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

It was my great honour to accept the invitation and to

take part in setting up the permanent exhibition ‘Beautiful

Gorenjska’ on behalf of Verena Perko, curator-in-chief. We

had successfully worked together on two other projects, ‘Iron

Thread’ and ‘Carnium Golden Age’, but ‘Prelepa Gorenjska’

offered the opportunity to meet other curators as well. The

themes of this exhibition are complex and cover long periods

of time, from archaeological eras to the present. The narrative

and the context are closely linked with Gorenjska, Kranj, castle

Khislstein, and ironworking.

We also added at least seven layers of museological

presentation. Classical and architectural displays are placed

within the setting of the exhibition, such as the medieval

townhouses of Kranj and the pillars of the imaginative temple

of Slovenian identity. The windows of the castle building and

one of the niches in the wall also serve as frames for the

displays. The niche, for example, presents a window from

France Berjak’s store. The setting of the exhibition is enriched

with jewellery and ceiling paintings from the parish church of

St. Cantianus and companions. Human figures with exhibition

objects are placed between classical pedestals. The original

attic construction is also used as an element of the exhibition.

The narrative is underlined by the symbolic use of colours, lights

and sounds. Such a complex and demanding project as the

realisation of the permanent exhibition ‘Beautiful Gorenjska’

was could not have been carried out without the expertise,

sympathetic understanding and assistance of Branko Filipiè,

manager of the RPS Company and his team.

Željko Kovaèiæ, 2012

General Janez Slapar (Pristava pri Tržièu, 1949). Between 1988 and 1990, he commanded the Gorenjska Territorial Defence. During the war for independence and until 1993 he was the commanding officer of the republic headquarters of the Territorial Defence. He became the first general in independent Slovenia. (National Museum of Contemporary History,photo T. Stojko)

France Tomšiè(Šmarca pri Kamniku, 1937 – Kamnik, 2010), engineer, politician, trade union activist. In December 1987 he organised a strike in the company Litostroj. He proposed the setting up of an initiative committee of the Social Democratic Association of Slovenia, an opposition party whose first president he became in 1989. Between 1990 and 1997 he was the leader of Neodvisnost, the first democratic trade union. (National Museum of Contemporary History, photo T. Stojko)

THE IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITON CREATING PROCESS

THE EXHIBITION IN IMAGES

143

Authors

mag. Tatjana Eržen Dolžan, dr. Damir Globoènik, Beba Jenèiè, dr. Verena

Perko, Helena Rant, mag. Monika Rogelj, mag. Marjana Žibert

Head of permanent exhibition

dr. Verena Perko, Beba Jenèiè

Head of museological concept

dr. Verena Perko

Head of pedagogical program

Magda Zore

Renovation project manager

mag. Barbara Ravnik

Exhibition and graphic design

Željko Kovaèiæ

Sound spaces

Boštjan Perovšek, SAETA - Institute for Cultural and Promotional Activities

Exhibition produced by

Lesnina inženiring D.D; RPS, Ljubljana

Light and sound system

Miran Brumat

Proof reading

Judita Babnik

English translation

David Limon

Photographs

Tomaž Lauko, Drago Holynski, Arne Hodaliè, Tomaž Hladnik, Mirko Kunšiè, Franc Oderlap, Franc Perdan, Janez Pukšiè, Igor Pustovrh, dr. Milan Sagadin, Marjan Smerke, Andrej Štremfelj, mag. Jože Štukl, Marko Tušek, Rafko Urankar, Nejc Zaplotnik, Maruša Žerjal, Jože Dežman, mag. Tatjana Dolžan Eržen, dr. Damir Globoènik, Helena Rant, dr. Zvonka Zupaniè Slavec, Muzej novejše zgodovine Slovenije, Arhiv Republike Slovenije, Mali vojni muzej, Bohinj in Jelena Justin.

Conservation and restoration works

Marjanca Jegliè, Zdenka Kramarmag. Irena Jeras Dimovska

Exhibition reviews

dr. Aleksandra Berberih Slana, Muzej narodne revolucije Maribor Mirjana Koren, Pokrajinski muzej Maribor,Mojca Šifrer Bulovec, Loški muzej, Škofja Lokamag. Zora Torkar in Janja Železnikar, Medobèinski muzej Kamnik

IMPRESSUM OF THE EXHIBITON

BEAUTIFUL GORENJSKAREGIONAL MUZEUM KRANJ, CASTEL KHISLSTEIN