Page 22 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja, et al., eds. (2015). Stone narratives: heritage, mobility, performance. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 22
stone narratives
the time of great and [...] arrogant complacency destroyed a considerable amount of our historical
heritage, most often disguised in catchwords that it is not modern, that it is unworthy of a
modern man, that it is not ahead of time, that it is obsolete. Unfortunately, this often happened
as a result of inadequate consideration of a proper perception of human progress or our revival
after the independence (Slabe, 1987, p. 9).
This unplanned and uncontrollable modernisation, as described by Nace Šumi, an ar-
chitect and participant of the conference, was the one to cause a distorted, unsophisticated
and professionally unfounded perspective of both project planners, that is architects and
engineers, and administration workers, responsible for space planning and renovation and
adaptation of the housing stock (Šumi, 1987, p. 50). In the late 1970s, the locals came to re-
alize that stone products were valuable, which the ethnologist Naško Križnar confirmed,
explaining:
I noticed already during my research that some people would never for the life of them sell
anything from the house, not a single thing. Even if it just lay there; they would not sell it.11
Figure 2: Kobjeglava, part of stone window frame incorporated into a house wall (Photo:
Jasna Fakin Bajec, 2004).
11 Born in 1941; interview from November 19, 2008.
20
the time of great and [...] arrogant complacency destroyed a considerable amount of our historical
heritage, most often disguised in catchwords that it is not modern, that it is unworthy of a
modern man, that it is not ahead of time, that it is obsolete. Unfortunately, this often happened
as a result of inadequate consideration of a proper perception of human progress or our revival
after the independence (Slabe, 1987, p. 9).
This unplanned and uncontrollable modernisation, as described by Nace Šumi, an ar-
chitect and participant of the conference, was the one to cause a distorted, unsophisticated
and professionally unfounded perspective of both project planners, that is architects and
engineers, and administration workers, responsible for space planning and renovation and
adaptation of the housing stock (Šumi, 1987, p. 50). In the late 1970s, the locals came to re-
alize that stone products were valuable, which the ethnologist Naško Križnar confirmed,
explaining:
I noticed already during my research that some people would never for the life of them sell
anything from the house, not a single thing. Even if it just lay there; they would not sell it.11
Figure 2: Kobjeglava, part of stone window frame incorporated into a house wall (Photo:
Jasna Fakin Bajec, 2004).
11 Born in 1941; interview from November 19, 2008.
20
