Idrija

This house belonged to a miner and is being restored as part of the museum. In it, 3 families lived together with some single blokes allowed to sleep in the attic. Only the owner was allowed to keep animals: goats, pigs, chickens but only 1 cow. There were 2 gardens habitually, vegetable and herbs.
Part of their wages were paid in grain - shades of the company store.
Images of the early miners show them in elf hats and smocks. They were obliged to wear them as they had no pockets so that no ore would be mislaid. Given the difficulty of smelting enough ore to make a tiny amount of mercury, and the tightly controlled market, it seems a bit superfluous.but in the end did inspire Disney.
The matrimonial bed is next to the mass heater. Not exactly king sized but no doubt cosy in the winter.
From boredom and to get pin money, the ladies used to gather on someone's veranda to make the lace for which Idrija is famous. There is one of the oldest lace schools in town and I saw some work by students, as young as 9, that was pretty impressive. Especially the more artistic multicoloured patterns and even a 3 dimensional lace sculpture (by a boy!)
A couple of hundred years ago, as indeed today, the State didn't want the proletariat educated above their status in life: they wanted them trained to work. So the mine started the first independent high school in Slovenia, recognising that this would eventually provide them with the skilled engineers they needed. They also funded a theatre, now the oldest in SLO.
This place is much more interesting than the places most tourist buses go and if I returned I would spend more time in the smelting museum / exhibition and in "Anthony's Main Road", the original entrance. I would expect large things from "Francis' Shaft" of course.Lue lisää