Church of the Holy Spirit Javorca
The Javorca Holy Spirit Church is located in the Slovenian Isonzo Valley near the municipality of Tolmin . The sacred building dates from 1916 and commemorates the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army who died on the Isonzo.
The building
The Holy Spirit Church is located high above the Tolminka Valley and the Polog Alm. This church is the only surviving memorial church from the time of the First World War in this region. It was erected on the area of the former Isonzo Front , where the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies fought bitterly. A total of twelve battles of Isonzo were fought. The church was built on a base that can be reached by stone stairs. The church was built by the Austro-Hungarian soldiers to commemorate the soldiers who fell in this region. The sacred building was consecrated on November 1, 1916. The Viennese architect Remigius Geyling was responsible for the construction and the architectural design . Geza Jablonsky was in charge of construction. The Art Nouveau building was declared a Slovenian cultural monument of national importance in 1999 and is part of the European cultural heritage . It is located along the “Path of Peace” that connects the relics and monuments from the First World War in the Isonzo Valley.
On the outside facade of the church there are a total of 20 coats of arms, which are intended to refer to the 18 crown lands and the two cities of Trieste and Pula . At the front of the church (see picture) is the common coat of arms of Austria-Hungary with the Latin title “indivisibiliter ac inseparabiliter” which means “indivisible and inseparable” in German.
Inside the church there are wooden plaques with the names of the fallen soldiers. The wooden book of the dead refers to the names of a total of 2,808 fallen soldiers from the many crown lands of the fallen Habsburg Empire. The church is designed in the style of Art Nouveau, which is particularly evident in the interior of the church.
Directions
The route up to the church leads from Tolmin via Zatolim over an old kuk supply road, which is only very spartan secured, over around 8 kilometers up to the Polog Alm. The road itself is passable by car, but first of all you should be free from giddiness and secondly be an experienced driver, as there are hardly any safeguards on the valley side. At regular intervals there is an evasion in order to avoid oncoming traffic. From the Polog-Alm to the church you have to walk around 25 minutes.
literature
- A memorial church by Remigius Geyling . In: Der Architekt, 1916, pp. 84–88 ( digitized version ).
- Gabriele and Walther Schaumann (eds.): On the way between Save and Soca. On the trail of the Isonzo Front 1915–1917. 86 suggested routes and tours . Hermagoras 2014.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Javorca - Spominska cerkev sv. Duha giskd2s.situla.org. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
Coordinates: 46 ° 14 ′ 5.1 " N , 13 ° 43 ′ 11.4" E