Page 24 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja, et al., eds. (2015). Stone narratives: heritage, mobility, performance. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 24
stone narratives
worth mentioning was the exhibition Dediščina stavbarstva Primorske in Krasa [Architec-
ture heritage of Primorska and the Karst] in the Construction Centre of Slovenia in Lju-
bljana in 1988, which focused on the characteristics of the Karst architecture (Uršič, 1998,
p. 15). The exhibition displayed different rocks, a genuine dry stone wall (a wall construct-
ed from stones without any mortar to bind them together), a village well, and three Karst
houses (a thatched one, one covered with slates, and one covered with brick roof tiles).
The exhibited houses also had stone window and door frames, stone gutters, typical Karst
chimneys, and the spahnjenica (a stone recess on the external wall with a fireplace on the
inside). Stonemasons from the Karst exhibited their stone products. The organiser of the
exhibition, Iva Šubelj Kramar, was aware that stone products were expensive at that time;
therefore, in the third part, besides wooden products (window frames and shutters), the ex-
hibition displayed potential substitutes – stone product imitations made of concrete (Pri-
morske novice, 3 February 1998, no. 9, p. 11). Between 2003 and 2004, for the purpose of the
Higher Vocational School for cutting, designing and preserving of stone, the Municipality
of Sežana, with the help of EU funds from the PHARE programme, carried out the pro-
ject Porton − središče za obdelavo, oblikovanje in ohranjanje kamna [Portal − centre for cut-
ting, designing and preserving of stone]. Its principal goal was to restore the position and
the reputation that »the Karst stonemasonry once had and still deserves concerning the
natural resources of the Karst landscape and the tradition of this activity« (Kras, February
2004, no. 63, pp. 26–27).
Another important social factor has to be stressed with regard to the renewed ap-
preciation of stone in the Karst, that is the growing number of people from other parts of
Slovenia, in particular from the central Slovenia, who came to the Karst to build a second
home there and adjusted it to the old Karst architectural style. Not until recently did the
people of the Karst want to admit that it was these newcomers – who settled in the Karst
villages in weekend houses (second homes) or in old homesteads that they either bought or
inherited and started renovating them in the regional/local architectural style – that re-
vived the awareness of preservation, appreciation and restoration of old architectural ele-
ments. Today, the locals admit that this was the case, and explain that the newcomers were
first laughed at, but later on, the locals also realized that it was not so bad. […] And then we
also started looking for stone.12 However, an interviewed man from Komen explains that:
People from Ljubljana [...] came to the Karst with somewhat different desires. [...] Many of them
were educated and saw in this old Karst architecture something which we locals did not see.
Besides, they renovated these homesteads in order to use them as weekend houses and not to live
there the whole year long. [...] That means that they had different criteria from those who would
live there also in winter and windy days. They had some wish or other to maintain the past, but
they also brought new elements with them that we did not know in the Karst before. But I see
all this in a negative way, because they were not, they still are not ready to live in these renovated
houses permanently, not them, nor their descendants.13
Non-autochthonous inhabitants thus experienced the characteristics of the Karst ar-
chitectural heritage as aesthetic. Buying and renovating an old house in the countryside,
usually outside the urbanised environment, and spending their weekends and holidays
12 From an interview with an economist from Volčji Grad born in 1969 (January 27, 2006).
13 From an interview with a retired engineer from Komen born in 1942 (August 22, 2008).
22
worth mentioning was the exhibition Dediščina stavbarstva Primorske in Krasa [Architec-
ture heritage of Primorska and the Karst] in the Construction Centre of Slovenia in Lju-
bljana in 1988, which focused on the characteristics of the Karst architecture (Uršič, 1998,
p. 15). The exhibition displayed different rocks, a genuine dry stone wall (a wall construct-
ed from stones without any mortar to bind them together), a village well, and three Karst
houses (a thatched one, one covered with slates, and one covered with brick roof tiles).
The exhibited houses also had stone window and door frames, stone gutters, typical Karst
chimneys, and the spahnjenica (a stone recess on the external wall with a fireplace on the
inside). Stonemasons from the Karst exhibited their stone products. The organiser of the
exhibition, Iva Šubelj Kramar, was aware that stone products were expensive at that time;
therefore, in the third part, besides wooden products (window frames and shutters), the ex-
hibition displayed potential substitutes – stone product imitations made of concrete (Pri-
morske novice, 3 February 1998, no. 9, p. 11). Between 2003 and 2004, for the purpose of the
Higher Vocational School for cutting, designing and preserving of stone, the Municipality
of Sežana, with the help of EU funds from the PHARE programme, carried out the pro-
ject Porton − središče za obdelavo, oblikovanje in ohranjanje kamna [Portal − centre for cut-
ting, designing and preserving of stone]. Its principal goal was to restore the position and
the reputation that »the Karst stonemasonry once had and still deserves concerning the
natural resources of the Karst landscape and the tradition of this activity« (Kras, February
2004, no. 63, pp. 26–27).
Another important social factor has to be stressed with regard to the renewed ap-
preciation of stone in the Karst, that is the growing number of people from other parts of
Slovenia, in particular from the central Slovenia, who came to the Karst to build a second
home there and adjusted it to the old Karst architectural style. Not until recently did the
people of the Karst want to admit that it was these newcomers – who settled in the Karst
villages in weekend houses (second homes) or in old homesteads that they either bought or
inherited and started renovating them in the regional/local architectural style – that re-
vived the awareness of preservation, appreciation and restoration of old architectural ele-
ments. Today, the locals admit that this was the case, and explain that the newcomers were
first laughed at, but later on, the locals also realized that it was not so bad. […] And then we
also started looking for stone.12 However, an interviewed man from Komen explains that:
People from Ljubljana [...] came to the Karst with somewhat different desires. [...] Many of them
were educated and saw in this old Karst architecture something which we locals did not see.
Besides, they renovated these homesteads in order to use them as weekend houses and not to live
there the whole year long. [...] That means that they had different criteria from those who would
live there also in winter and windy days. They had some wish or other to maintain the past, but
they also brought new elements with them that we did not know in the Karst before. But I see
all this in a negative way, because they were not, they still are not ready to live in these renovated
houses permanently, not them, nor their descendants.13
Non-autochthonous inhabitants thus experienced the characteristics of the Karst ar-
chitectural heritage as aesthetic. Buying and renovating an old house in the countryside,
usually outside the urbanised environment, and spending their weekends and holidays
12 From an interview with an economist from Volčji Grad born in 1969 (January 27, 2006).
13 From an interview with a retired engineer from Komen born in 1942 (August 22, 2008).
22
