KOSMAČ’S HOUSE, SLAP OB IDRIJCI
THE BIRTHPLACE OF SIMON GREGORČIČ, VRSNO
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM MOST NA SOČI
THE FOUNDATIONS OF A ROMAN HOUSE
The writer, translator and publicist Ciril Kosmač, born in Slap ob Idrijci (1910 – 1980), was one of the most important Slovenian men of letters of the 20th century, whose style of writing has influenced greatly the Slovenian postwar prose. His parent’s house at Bukovica, where he lived until 1931, has been rearranged into a memorial museum. On the ground floor of the modest one-storey house, where there is an entrance hall, a kitchen, a chamber and a bedroom, the way of living and dwelling of the Kosmač’s family before Ciril left home for good is presented. A small display in the attic represents the writer’s diverse life and his rich literary career. The house at Bukovica is one of the stopovers on the Kosmač Nature and History Trail, a marked footpath arranged by the teachers and pupils of the Primary School from Most na Soči, leading from Most na Soči to the house at Temnik. Ciril Kosmač and his house have been included into the extensive international project “Genius Loci” which enabled the renovation and opening for public of various buildings related to important European artists, besides Ciril Kosmač these being Federico García Lorca and Francisco Goya from Spain, Friedrich Novalis from Germany and Giotto di Bondone from Italy. From Slap ob Idrijci to the Kosmač’s house, which is situated on the left bank of the Idrijca River and thus remote from the main road, there leads a two-kilometre long gravel road, passable by car and other smaller vehicles. The key of the museum for individual visitors is obtainable at the house next door, while organized groups should prearrange their visits.
In the village of Vrsno below Krn Mountain, the priest, poet, translator and nationalist Simon Gregorčič was born in a family of a middle-class farmer. In the house in which he was born, and which is a model of a wellpreserved example of an architectural heritage of this region, there has been a memorial museum since 1966. In the rooms on the ground floor the way of living of the people in the villages below Krn Mountain in the second half of the 19th century is presented. On the first floor there is an exhibition revealing facts about the poet’s life and work and about his time; here it becomes obvious how deeply his work influenced the following generations. Only few Slovenian poets have been so admired and popular among people already during their lifetimes, and even more so posthumously, as has been Gregorčič. A number of his poems have been set to music and translated into many foreign languages; especially among the people of Primorska Region they have become a symbol of national awareness and affiliation. His poetry has met with a huge response inside the literary circles, which has often been proved in numerous articles and various literary works.
The permanent archaeological exhibition on the ground floor of the newly built primary school at Most na Soči represents the history of the town and of the archaeological researches that have taken place here uninterruptedly for more than a century and a half. The exhibition emphasizes the importance of the Iron Age St. Lucija Culture named after Most na Soči (Sveta Lucija) that used to be its economic and cultural centre. The exceptionality of the architecture in the Soča Valley is presented by “in situ” preserved stone foundations of a Hallstatt house (5th. cent. BC) and attached to it a wooden reconstruction. The building, which has due to its exceptional length been named simply the “long house”, awakens in the visitor an interest in the forgotten Iron Age architecture of a prehistoric village that had already shown some signs of urbanism.
Not far from the Archaeological Museum, in the middle of a new residential neighbourhood, one can visit the renovated foundations of a Roman atrium house, bearing witness to a highly developed architectural culture of that time. The house was one-storey, built of stone and roofed by roof tiles: tegulae and imbrexes. A Roman building innovation was the use of mortar for cementing. The preserved building included, beside other rooms, a sudarium, i.e. a small square space with waterproof floor, and a stone bench with a furnace underneath. Next to the living section there stretched a roofed backyard - an atrium with an outdoor fireplace. The settlement excavations at the end of the 19th century proved that the inhabitants of the ancient Most na Soči had already been acquainted with central heating of rooms, the so-called hypocaust.
Organized groups should prearrange their visits, while for individual visitors of the exhibition the key is obtainable at the school secretary’s office.
Organized groups should prearrange their visits of the museum, while for individual visitors the key is obtainable at the house next door.
TOLMINSKI MUZEJ Mestni trg 4 SI-5220 Tolmin Tel.: +386 (0) 5 381 13 60 Fax.:+386 (0) 5 381 13 61 E-mail: muzej@tol-muzej.si http://www.tol-muzej.si
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THE TOLMIN MUSEUM
The Tolmin Museum has been based in the Coronini Mansion in the centre of Tolmin since 1950. It explores, collects and houses the diverse and rich cultural heritage of the Upper Soča Valley, and it specializes in the fields of archaeology, ethnology, history and the history of art. The Museum building boasts nicely arranged exhibition rooms. It also houses a specialized library open for the public, and a wedding hall on the ground floor, where occasionally various cultural performances take place. The largest and richest is the ethnological collection, the major
part of which is a display of mostly wooden exhibits from peasant houses. A constituent part of the collection is an extensive fund of peasant chests. The most valuable and precious exhibits are part of the archaeological collection with numerous archaeological finds from sites of the prehistoric, Roman and early Middle Age periods. The Museum systematically collects works of Slovenian 20th century authors. The art historical collection is supplemented by paintings, plastic arts and numerous frescoes that had been removed especially from the areas where the consequences of the 1976 earthquake were the most severe. Besides, the museum also houses an extensive collection of the historical heritage, in which the “rihtar sword” (“rihtar” was a village judge) from the beginning of the 15th century stands out as the oldest exhibit. The exhibits from the First and the Second World Wars and diverse archival
material form a large part of the museum material as well. In the museum one can visit, besides various temporary artistic and museum exhibitions, two permanent exhibitions. The extensive archaeological one presents the earliest periods of the settlement in the Soča River area from the prehistoric era to the early Middle Ages, with a special emphasis on the most important archaeological site of the Iron Age St. Lucija Culture – Most na Soči. The historicalethnological collection is an attractive and instructive display of the period of the peasant uprisings, particularly of the renowned Tolmin Peasant Revolt, and a presentation of the way the local people lived and dwelt in the past. It also acquaints us with the awakening of the national awareness among the people from the Tolmin region and the horrors of war that they endured and survived.
INFORMATION TOLMINSKI MUZEJ Mestni trg 4 SI-5220 Tolmin Tel.: +386 (0) 5 381 13 60 Fax.:+386 (0) 5 381 13 61 E-mail: muzej@tol-muzej.si http://www.tol-muzej.si
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BIRTH HOUSE OF SIMON GREGORČIČ Family Gregorčič Vrsno 27 5222 KOBARID Tel: 05 389 10 92 Tel: 05 389 10 93
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