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A WALK THROUGH THE VILLAGE

Take a walk through Kamna Gorica's narrow streets and over its numerous small bridges. It is because of these features that the village was also once known as 'Little Venice'.
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1. Sawmill

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There was once a mill here which, in the 20th century was turned into a sawmill, but is no longer in operation.

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2. The Matevž Langus Monument

Matevž Langus (1792-1855) was one of the most esteemed artists of his time. The monument was created by the sculptor Stane Kolman.

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3. The Jelovica Guest House

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This building, which belonged to the ironworking Toman family, was bought by the Municipality of Ljubljana in 1929 and turned into a guesthouse, which operated until the beginning of World War II.

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4. The Park under the Linden Tree

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In bygone days, villagers used to meet under the village linden tree and it was also here that village fairs took place. The park is arranged with stone plinths, anvils for forging from the Kamna Gorica forges, and chains, which were still being produced in the village at the beginning of the 20th century.

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5. Monument to the Fallen for Freedom in World War II

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The monument is the work of Boris Kobe and stands on the site of the former ironworks. It is in the shape of the furnace where iron-ore was smelted. The original furnace was much bigger and operated until the year 1875.

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6.The Rake Water Canals

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The Lipnica stream in Kamna Gorica leads through a system of water channels, in which there were once 16 rotating water wheels to serve the needs of the forges, and more than 20 small bridges crossed the stream. It is for this reason that Kamna Gorica was also known as 'Little Venice'.

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7. The Birth House of Matevž Langus

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The artist Matevž Langus (1792-1855) is known for his frescoes and portraits of many famous and lesser-known personalities of his time.

8. Langus's Chapel

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A Baroque chapel from the 19th century with frescoes painted by Matevž Langus.

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9. St. Trinity's Church

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The church from the mid-17th century has a Baroque facade and is furnished and painted in a neo-Renaissance style. The works of art in the interior are by Slovene artists.

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10. Cemetery

The cemetery is adorned with old gravestones. Opposite the entrance to the church is a monument to the fallen in World War I. At the entrance door there is a gravestone plaque of Dr. Lovro Toman.

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11. Sextons' Quarters

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The building dates from 1803 when it was built as a chaplaincy. In 1845 an extension was built to house the first school in the village, which no longer stands, and from 1900 onwards the building was used as a sextons' quarters. Today the building houses a museum collection that attests to life in the village in the past.

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12. The Birth House of Lovro Toman

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Dr. Lovro Toman (1827-1870) was a member of the Carniolan Provincial Society and a member of parliament of the Vienna State Assembly. He was the first to raise the Slovenian flag (1848) and strived for validation of the Slovene language and national consciousness. It was due to his patriotic proposals that Carniola was known as 'Tomanija'.

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13. Little Street

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This narrow street winds its way directly beneath the slopes of the Jelovica Plateau. On it, among the old blacksmiths' houses, two renovated houses stand out; Pr'Gabru (No. 46a) and Pr'Kos (No. 47).

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14. Pr'Kos and the Flower Garden

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The renovated facade is adorned by frescoes of St. Florian and St. John Nepomuk, Mary's monogram and a small niche with a fresco of Mary with the dead Jesus in her lap. At the rear of the house, on a steep bank, there is a wonderful garden.

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15. The Forge

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Vigenjc was a blacksmith's workshop where nails were forged. There were once 16 such vigenjc in Kamna Gorica; today only one is preserved. It was here that the artistic blacksmith Joža Bertoncelj from Kropa also worked for a time.

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16. The Birth House of Ivan Varl

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The artist Ivan Varl (1923-1979) lived mainly in the Karst area where he was a popular teacher of art education. He was a designer, illustrator, graphic artist, painter and artistic photographer. Beside the small stone bridge there is a stone preserved from the times when women once did their washing there.

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17. Main Street

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Along the main street through the village there are a number of old houses with interesting portals from green stone and wrought-iron shutters and grills.

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18. The Kappus Mansion

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Due to being credited with the development of ironworking, the Kappus family was elevated to the status of nobility in 1693 (pl. Pichlstain). It was here that the Jesuit missionary Marko Anton Kappus (1657-1717) was born.

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19. The Šparovec Forge

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Beside the forge there once stood two blacksmiths' workshops, while two water-wheels rotated in the stream. In the forge various products made of iron were forged until the middle of the twentieth century.

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20. The Zijavka Viewpoint

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The viewpoint offers an excellent lookout across the old village centre and the Lipnica valley. The tradition of firing mortars from a cannon still continues here to mark major public holidays.

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21. Arh's/Mark's Shrine

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A small chapel stands in front of house no. 7. Locals call it Arh's, or Mark's, shrine; the name originates from the residents of the neighbouring houses. Every year on 15th August villagers gather at the shrine to sing Mary's song.

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22. The Birth House of Lovro Pogačnik

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The politician Dr. Lovro Pogačnik (1880-1919) was the first president of the Orel Association. From 1914 he was a member of the State Assembly and later Commissioner for National Defence in the National Government of Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia (SHS).

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23. The Mill

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In the past the building housed one of the two village mills. Today it is a restaurant with a garden, and is known for its excellent fresh trout.

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24. The Skirarija Ironworks

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Between Kamna Gorica and Kropa there is a water reservoir. Beside it there is an old forge where axes and other tools were still being produced up until the first half of the 20th century for smaller enterprises from the Gorenjska region and forestry and mining companies from the whole of Slovenia.

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