Authors: Diego Martín Fernández & Linnea Brønnum Hansen
When we, as foreigners, first arrived in Idrija, we were first charmed by the nature surrounding the town. Wherever we looked, we saw mountains covered with dense forests, and the trees seemed to act as if they were protecting the valley from external influences. At first glance, it seemed like a fairly remote city that didn’t initially appear to be a former center of technological development.
As we explored the town and admired the elegant buildings in the city center with a strong mining tradition (the entrance building to the Antonijev rov,, miners’ houses, and Gewerkenegg Castle), we quickly realized that this is a city that appreciates the value of its industrial heritage.
However, Idrija should not be seen as a city where industrial and architectural development stopped in the past. When we observed the city’s development and employment opportunities, we quickly realized that it had rapidly transformed from a mining town into a hub of the automotive industry, contributing to an attractive array of job opportunities for engineers.
In the interconnected, rapidly changing world, diversity in economic development is crucial for creating a stable community. The Idrija 2020 Society aims to highlight through its activities that places that have suddenly lost jobs due to the closure of industries can revive without losing their identity.
Diego and Linnea are 2 out of 12 volunteers who are helping with the renovation of the Idrija miners’ house Giser as part of the Youth for Mining Heritage project.
In the world of heritage preservation, there is a fairly important belief that in the renovation and maintenance of monumentally protected buildings, one should strive to stay as close as possible to their original form, forgetting that history is something that is continually created. A good example could be an individual case of a Roman temple that was later renovated and transformed into a Catholic church. Despite not being preserved in its original form, it serves as evidence of how our needs and habits change. The renovation of the temple for more current purposes has kept the building alive.
Our voluntary work towards renovating the Idrija miners’ houses for the 21st century is a way to preserve the exceptional stories that these houses have also created. This is also the purpose of the work of the Idrija 2020 Society. As volunteers, we are truly grateful to be part of such a project and sincerely hope that our work will contribute to making Idrija an even more interesting place to live and work.
Članek je nastal v okviru projekta “Idrijska krajina – navdih iz preteklosti za trajnostno ustvarjanje mladih”, ki ga je finančno podprlo Ministrstvo za okolje in prostor Republike Slovenije.
