Date: 7. August 2024
Time to read: 2 min
A hundred years ago, a lease agreement was signed for the establishment of an Alpine protection park, the predecessor of Triglav National Park. It ranks among the oldest European parks. Located in the northwest of Slovenia along the border with Italy and Austria, it covers the south-eastern part of the Alpine massif. It al-most completely overlaps with the eastern Julian Alps.
The first initiatives appeared in the second half of the 19th century. Efforts to protect the Slovenian part of the Julian Alps were mainly the brainchild of the seismologist and naturalist Albin Belar and his circle of associates.
On 4 April 1924, the Ministry of Forests and Mines in the Belgrade government (in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croatians and Slovenes), at the initiative of the Section for the Protection of Nature and Natural Monuments, which operated within the Museum Society for Slovenia, approved the exclusion and protection of approximately 1,400 hectares in the Triglav Lakes Valley.
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The Tolmin Gorges are the lowest and probably the most beautiful entry point into the Triglav National Park. The circular path leads us through the wild gorges of Tolminka and Zadlascica, which merge into the only confluence in the gorges on the territory of Slovenia. Photo: Michael Matti/www.slovenia.info
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Triglav with an elevation of 2,863.65 metres, is the highest mountain in Slovenia. Oh, Triglav, my home, how magnificent you are is a mountaineering anthem. Triglav is also a national symbol. Photo: Jošt Gantar/www.slovenia.info
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Meeting capricorn on the way to Triglav. Photo: Primož Lavre/www.slovenia.info
With the signing of an agreement between the Directorate for Forests and the Museum Society for Slovenia and the Slovenian Mountaineering Society, an Alpine protection park was established on 1 July 1924. This marked the first legal regime in Slovenia aimed at nature conservation. The lease period was set at 20 years, with the same lease amount. Today, Triglav National Park covers 84,000 hectares, or four percent of Slovenian territory.
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Slovenia is also a signatory of the Alpine Convention, which includes 8 countries, 30,000 animal species, 14 million inhabitants, and 190,959 km2 of area. Photo: Eva Makinen/www.slovenia.info
The Fairytale World under Triglav
At the heart of the park stands Triglav, Slovenia’s highest mountain and part of the national coat of arms, from which the park also gets its name.
Water is an important part of the landscape, flowing as streams, waterfalls, rivers, or existing as glacial lakes. Water dissolves limestone – the most common rock – creating characteristic karst formations such as grikes and grooves.
About 7,000 animal species have found their home here, many of them endemic to Slovenia. Here you can see chamois, ibex, roe deer, golden eagles, capercaillies, and more. In the shelter of the mountains, there is a colourful array of plants, including 19 endemic species. Some flowers are named after Triglav: the Triglav rose, the Triglav poppy, the Triglav buttercup, and the Triglav gentian. The queen among them is the edelweiss.
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The Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) is a strong, thickset and shapely wild goat with greyish hair. It lives in mountain grasslands above the tree line, and in winter it moves to the tree line. Photo: Mojca Odar/www.slovenia.info
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The chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) is the most typical animal species inhabiting the alpine territory. Photo: Aleš Zdešar/www.slovenia.info
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In the territory of the Triglav National Park, individual brown bears are occasionally spotted on the Pokljuka plateau, in the Lower Bohinj Mountains, the Trenta Valley and the area of Tolmin. Photo: Marc/www.slovenia.info
Myths and Legends in the Kingdom of Zlatorog
The most famous legends are about Goldenhorn and the Ajdovska girl. The Triglav rose is associated with the legend of Goldenhorn. High in the mountains, he had a miraculous garden and guarded a forbidden treasure. However, a greedy hunter came, wanting the treasure for himself, and shot Goldenhorng. From drops of his blood grew the red Triglav rose. The hunter was doomed, and Goldenhorn’s kingdom turned into a stony desert. Ajdi were giants in Slovenian mythology, and the Ajdovska girl was a descendant of these beings and a prophetess. This legend is about the girl who prophesied to a boy that he would become a hunter and shoot Goldenhorn. Other Ajdov women became angry because of the bad prophecy and turned the girl into stone. Older people also told stories about Podrta gora, the Giant Ledenc, Vodobrhuc, the Stream in the Little Field, the Mlinarica, the Devil’s Bridge, the Wild Man on Pokljuka, and the Fairy Škratica.
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The Ajdovska Girl, a face in the rock face, can be found on the way to Vršič in the north-ern wall of Prisank and is best seen from the viewpoint near the Poštarski hut on Vršič. Photo: Iztok Noč/www.slovenia.info
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TNP Info Centre Dom Trenta offers multi-vision presentation of the Triglav National Park, exhibition on animate and inanimate nature, cultural landscape, man and nature. Photo: Borus Pretnar/www.slovenia.info
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TNP Dom Trenta presents the cultural landscape, the rich ethnological heritage, the nature and past life of Trento, and the special features of the Triglav National Park, the only national park in Slovenia. Photo: Boris Pretnar/www.slovenia.info
Cultural Heritage
Almost 400 items are listed in the register of immovable cultural heritage, and the park also includes four monuments of national importance: the Aljaž Tower at the top of Triglav, the Pocar Homestead in Zgornja Radovna, the Memorial Church of the Holy Spirit in Javorca, and the Russian Chapel. Among the precious memories of the past are also the Fortress of Kluže, Leskovca – a shepherd's settlement, Planina Javornik Studor in Bohinj – a group of hayracks below the village, and others. This region is also characterised by sawmills, blacksmiths, mills, groups of hayracks, sacral buildings, various archaeological sites, etc.
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Aljaž Tower is a tower, a storm shelter on the summint of Mount Triglav. The tower was designed by Jakob Aljaž, a priest, in 1895. Photo: www.slovenia.info
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High above the bed of the Tolminka River, there is a wooden sacred place, the Memorial Church of the Holy Spirit in Javorca, which bears the European Heritage label. Photo: Jošt Gantar/www.slovenia.info
The Vision of Triglav National Park
The park primarily focuses on the preservation of ecosystems and natural processes, natural values, habitat diversity, animal and plant species, and the quality and diversity of landscapes. In the inhabited parts of the park, emphasis is placed on preserving the cultural heritage and the quality of the cultural landscape, which is a result of the harmony between nature and the locals.
The state provides local residents with conditions for the sustainable development of activities that support and enable the maintenance of settlements, a quality living and working environment, a distinctive identity, and traditional use of natural resources.
