Page 73 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja, et al., eds. (2015). Stone narratives: heritage, mobility, performance. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 73
visiting the karst underground: development of cave tourism in slovenia
organized on With Monday soon after the new discoveries of 1818, which had a positive
and important impact on the visit, he also mentions the fact that a greater part of the cave
was discovered long after the Magdalena Cave (Magdalena jama, today part of the Postojna
Cave system). His diary was partly translated (the part about Slovene lands) and published
in 1861 in the paper entitled «Blatter aus Krain« as was later reported in the Slovene pa-
per »Slovenec« (Steska, 1926, pp. 4–5), which can be considered a sign of the importance
of such a description.
While staying in Trieste, he wrote extensively about the city. Šumrada notices that
the city must have made a great impression on him, since he wrote more about it than about
(the boring) Ljubljana. From Trieste he took a trip to the Vilenica Cave, which he describes
in the following words,
»The entrance was not, as I had expected, in the side of a hill, but in the open fields, and sur-
rounded by a wall…we began to descent down some very slight wooden stairs…« which were »not
only slippery, but quite rotten from the continual dripping. The entrance, or hall, is a fine lofty
dark vault, supported in the middle by one enormous stalactite column. Beyond this the cave be-
comes narrower, and the numberless stalactites of all sizes present a greater variety of forms than
it is possible to describe: immense cauliflowers, trunks of trees, fruits, rounds and ovals of all siz-
es…pyramids rising up from below…
Contrary to the description of Fortis, Tobin thought that the entrance and the visit to the
cave itself were quite dangerous (dark) because of the slippery path, as he also had an acci-
dent there, as he slipped and almost fell into the abyss (Tobin, 1832, p. 152; Šumrada, 1984,
pp. 397–398). Such experiences could also have depended on the guides and lightning pro-
vided, as well as on the sole perception of an individual visitor. Fortis had visited more caves
and was perhaps more used to visiting the underground, which could have influenced his
opinion regarding the dangers of such a visit.
The stony caves of Vilenica, Škocjan and Postojna in the 19th century
The presented journeys10 and visits to the Karst underground show a specific interest as well
as the visitors’ personal points of view, perceptions, experiences and background informa-
tion. Their diaries and traveller logs describe their itineraries, distances, road conditions,
economy, accommodation, restaurants and food, the landscape and the people, religion, lan-
guage as well as the way of life, as well as some adventures, accidents and inconveniences that
occurred during their trip abroad. The travellers to the Karst region were mostly attracted
by the natural features of, in our case, the three briefly analysed underground caves of Vilen-
ica, Škocjan and Postojna. The discussed caves were selected as being most representative in
terms of tourism. The stony underground world of the Vilenica Cave had the most favoura-
ble location during the modern period and was the easiest to access. With its location not far
from Trieste, the cave was very often the starting point for visit of travellers to the nearest lo-
cation (besides for example the Cave of Socerb and the Lipica stud farm). Vilenica is situated
in the village of Lokev, which was located along the main post road between Trieste and Vi-
enna. This was an important advantage that played in favour of their popularity among visi-
tors. A positive factor was also the vicinity of the royal stud farm in Lipica established in 1580
by the archduke Charles, which was supposedly also the reason for the visit of Vilenica by
10 In the article only selected cases were presented. A lot of material was also published by T.R. Shaw.
71
organized on With Monday soon after the new discoveries of 1818, which had a positive
and important impact on the visit, he also mentions the fact that a greater part of the cave
was discovered long after the Magdalena Cave (Magdalena jama, today part of the Postojna
Cave system). His diary was partly translated (the part about Slovene lands) and published
in 1861 in the paper entitled «Blatter aus Krain« as was later reported in the Slovene pa-
per »Slovenec« (Steska, 1926, pp. 4–5), which can be considered a sign of the importance
of such a description.
While staying in Trieste, he wrote extensively about the city. Šumrada notices that
the city must have made a great impression on him, since he wrote more about it than about
(the boring) Ljubljana. From Trieste he took a trip to the Vilenica Cave, which he describes
in the following words,
»The entrance was not, as I had expected, in the side of a hill, but in the open fields, and sur-
rounded by a wall…we began to descent down some very slight wooden stairs…« which were »not
only slippery, but quite rotten from the continual dripping. The entrance, or hall, is a fine lofty
dark vault, supported in the middle by one enormous stalactite column. Beyond this the cave be-
comes narrower, and the numberless stalactites of all sizes present a greater variety of forms than
it is possible to describe: immense cauliflowers, trunks of trees, fruits, rounds and ovals of all siz-
es…pyramids rising up from below…
Contrary to the description of Fortis, Tobin thought that the entrance and the visit to the
cave itself were quite dangerous (dark) because of the slippery path, as he also had an acci-
dent there, as he slipped and almost fell into the abyss (Tobin, 1832, p. 152; Šumrada, 1984,
pp. 397–398). Such experiences could also have depended on the guides and lightning pro-
vided, as well as on the sole perception of an individual visitor. Fortis had visited more caves
and was perhaps more used to visiting the underground, which could have influenced his
opinion regarding the dangers of such a visit.
The stony caves of Vilenica, Škocjan and Postojna in the 19th century
The presented journeys10 and visits to the Karst underground show a specific interest as well
as the visitors’ personal points of view, perceptions, experiences and background informa-
tion. Their diaries and traveller logs describe their itineraries, distances, road conditions,
economy, accommodation, restaurants and food, the landscape and the people, religion, lan-
guage as well as the way of life, as well as some adventures, accidents and inconveniences that
occurred during their trip abroad. The travellers to the Karst region were mostly attracted
by the natural features of, in our case, the three briefly analysed underground caves of Vilen-
ica, Škocjan and Postojna. The discussed caves were selected as being most representative in
terms of tourism. The stony underground world of the Vilenica Cave had the most favoura-
ble location during the modern period and was the easiest to access. With its location not far
from Trieste, the cave was very often the starting point for visit of travellers to the nearest lo-
cation (besides for example the Cave of Socerb and the Lipica stud farm). Vilenica is situated
in the village of Lokev, which was located along the main post road between Trieste and Vi-
enna. This was an important advantage that played in favour of their popularity among visi-
tors. A positive factor was also the vicinity of the royal stud farm in Lipica established in 1580
by the archduke Charles, which was supposedly also the reason for the visit of Vilenica by
10 In the article only selected cases were presented. A lot of material was also published by T.R. Shaw.
71
