Page 276 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 276
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
Besides the already mentioned ones, there are no other reliable data
about the organisation of guiding. In Virgil Šček’s notes about the village
of Lokev, Vilenica is mentioned several times, giving also some informa-
tion about the income from the entrance fee, but with almost no informa-
tion about the local guides and the involvement of the local population in
the tourism process (ŽAL, Šček, 1937).
Divaška jama – Kronprinz Rudolf Grotto was discovered much lat-
er compared to the previous mentioned caves. Gregor Žiberna along with
other local peasants Alojz Obersnel, Adalbert Rebec, Peter Sila and Anton
Rešaver from Divača discovered it in 1884 (Edinost 25. 6. 1884, 3; Puc 1999,
17).12 The guiding in Divača cave was organised towards the end of the 19th
century. The array and management was led by the community. With the
arrangement of the visit (paths, guiding, lighting), the tourists could pur-
chase the ticket and guide in the Obersnel restaurant near the railway sta-
tion, as written in Baedekers guidebook from 1888. A known visitor of the
cave was Sigmund Freud in 1898, guided by Gregor Žiberna13: “Strangest of
all was our guide, pretty pickled but quite safe on his legs, gay and humor-
ous.” He considered him as a decayed genius and a neurotic person, but
he gave him a generous tip of “several Gulden” (Shaw 2008, 54, 292–3). In
1886 the speleology division of the Austrian Tourist Club (Österreichischen
Touristen-Klub) acquired a ten year lease of the cave from the community
of Divača (under the Municipality of Naklo) (Edinost 23. 3. 1887, 2). Due to
the slow process of path improvement, lack of visits and irregular payments
(no control from the community) the lease contract was terminated by mu-
tual agreement in 1890. In 1904 the lease was given to the Trieste section of
the Slovene Alpine Society (Slovensko planinsko društvo). The entrance fee
was then fixed at 1 krona (1/2 gulden); a guide with lighting was paid 3 kro-
na (1.5 gulden) (Planinski vestnik 1909, 99). There were only a few persons
mentioned as capable guides of the cave: Gregor Žiberna, who also spoke
foreign languages and actually made his living only upon guiding and also
Anton Obersnel, Valentin Rešaver and Ignacij Čelik (Puc 1999, 19, 23; Žiber-
na 1981, 148–9).14 The supposed reason for such limited participation of oth-
12 The discovery was also reported in the newspaper Edinost, where a notice about the
newly discovered grotto numerous impressive Stalactites, was published in May
1884 (Edinost 24. 5. 1884, 3).
13 He was an enthusiastic researcher of caves, also cooperated with the members of
the German and Austrian Alpine Society, he was supposedly the keeper of the cave
book, which was later destroyed in a fire.
14 In 1897 only the first two are mentioned as capable guides (Puc 1999, 23).
274
Besides the already mentioned ones, there are no other reliable data
about the organisation of guiding. In Virgil Šček’s notes about the village
of Lokev, Vilenica is mentioned several times, giving also some informa-
tion about the income from the entrance fee, but with almost no informa-
tion about the local guides and the involvement of the local population in
the tourism process (ŽAL, Šček, 1937).
Divaška jama – Kronprinz Rudolf Grotto was discovered much lat-
er compared to the previous mentioned caves. Gregor Žiberna along with
other local peasants Alojz Obersnel, Adalbert Rebec, Peter Sila and Anton
Rešaver from Divača discovered it in 1884 (Edinost 25. 6. 1884, 3; Puc 1999,
17).12 The guiding in Divača cave was organised towards the end of the 19th
century. The array and management was led by the community. With the
arrangement of the visit (paths, guiding, lighting), the tourists could pur-
chase the ticket and guide in the Obersnel restaurant near the railway sta-
tion, as written in Baedekers guidebook from 1888. A known visitor of the
cave was Sigmund Freud in 1898, guided by Gregor Žiberna13: “Strangest of
all was our guide, pretty pickled but quite safe on his legs, gay and humor-
ous.” He considered him as a decayed genius and a neurotic person, but
he gave him a generous tip of “several Gulden” (Shaw 2008, 54, 292–3). In
1886 the speleology division of the Austrian Tourist Club (Österreichischen
Touristen-Klub) acquired a ten year lease of the cave from the community
of Divača (under the Municipality of Naklo) (Edinost 23. 3. 1887, 2). Due to
the slow process of path improvement, lack of visits and irregular payments
(no control from the community) the lease contract was terminated by mu-
tual agreement in 1890. In 1904 the lease was given to the Trieste section of
the Slovene Alpine Society (Slovensko planinsko društvo). The entrance fee
was then fixed at 1 krona (1/2 gulden); a guide with lighting was paid 3 kro-
na (1.5 gulden) (Planinski vestnik 1909, 99). There were only a few persons
mentioned as capable guides of the cave: Gregor Žiberna, who also spoke
foreign languages and actually made his living only upon guiding and also
Anton Obersnel, Valentin Rešaver and Ignacij Čelik (Puc 1999, 19, 23; Žiber-
na 1981, 148–9).14 The supposed reason for such limited participation of oth-
12 The discovery was also reported in the newspaper Edinost, where a notice about the
newly discovered grotto numerous impressive Stalactites, was published in May
1884 (Edinost 24. 5. 1884, 3).
13 He was an enthusiastic researcher of caves, also cooperated with the members of
the German and Austrian Alpine Society, he was supposedly the keeper of the cave
book, which was later destroyed in a fire.
14 In 1897 only the first two are mentioned as capable guides (Puc 1999, 23).
274
