Ilirska Bistrica Research Articles

Construction plans for the palace of the former Savings Bank (Cassa di Risparmio) in Ilirska Bistrica

The article presents the construction plan for the former Savings Bank (Cassa di Risparmio) in Ilirska Bistrica (on Bazoviška cesta 18), based on archival documents kept by the State Archives in Rijeka. The prominent craft and industrial life of Ilirska Bistrica enabled the development of accompanying activities, especially banking and lending. Financial institutions have always been among the first institutions to be put under governmental control. The same thing happened in Ilirska Bistrica upon its annexation to Italy after the end of the First World War. Archival documents do not contain information on when precisely the construction of the Savings Bank palace, one of the most prominent public buildings in Ilirska Bistrica, began. The construction was performed in accordance with the plans from 1929, which were signed by the then mayor, Carlo Ognibene. A detailed list of the intended works was compiled, as well as a technical report, the construction contract, and estimates, which are all presented in the article.

Military operations during the German occupation of Ilirska Bistrica and its surroundings during the Second World War

Between 1918 and 1946, the area of present-day Ilirska Bistrica fell under the Kingdom of Italy; Italy’s capitulation in September 1943 was followed by the period of the German occupation. Due to its geostrategic position on the rail and road junction between Postojna and Rijeka, Ilirska Bistrica had an important military role and hence a strong garrison. Whereas initially, the latter was only composed of German units, starting with 1944, the area also witnessed the arrival of the members of the Slovenian National Defence Corps and finally also the members of the Serbian Volunteer Corps and the Četnik Dinara Division. The presence of these forces prevented the Partisans from launching a direct attack on Ilirska Bistrica, which therefore only witnessed major battles in the very last month of the war.

Tone Kralj’s religious art in the Littoral

In the period between the interwar years and several decades after the Second World War, Tone Kralj’s religious artworks greatly transformed the interiors of churches in the Littoral, as it was delineated during the Second World War, including four churches in the Ilirska Bistrica area, specifically, in Prem, Ilirska Bistrica, and Podgraje. While continuously imbuing his works for the said churches with notes of Slovenian vernacular culture, in a few scenes the painter also expressed his direct criticism of the occupier’s violence against the Slovenian people. Kralj’s postwar paintings that addressed the same topic played an important role in preserving the memory of wartime events that unfolded on Slovenian soil.

The beginnings of the Notre Dame’s sister school in Trnovo

The religious Congregation of the School Sisters of Notre Dame was founded in the mid-nineteenth century in Bavaria in response to an urgent need for educating particularly girls. The new religious order addressed the needs and expectations of society by founding schools offering different courses and grades and boarding houses. The first institutions were established in the German-speaking world. In 1857, a school and a boarding house were founded in Gorizia. With the help of Jakob Missia, Bishop of Ljubljana, the sisters expanded their activities to Šmihel near Novo Mesto (1886) and Trnovo near Ilirska Bistrica (1888). They were also the first to provide education of deaf youth. The paper presents the beginning of the school and boarding house in Trnovo.

The final battles in the surroundings of Ilirska Bistrica at the end of the Second World War

Two important road connections pass through the area of the municipality of Ilirska Bistrica: Trieste–Reka and Ljubljana–Rijeka, which continues South along the sea to Split and was the key to the Nazi control of the Croatian coast during the Second World War. They became even more important at the end of the war, when the Wehrmacht units began to retreat from Greece, Albania, Serbia and Croatia towards the borders of the Third Reich. The Wehrmacht needed to keep connections to the north cleaned and protected from Partisan ambushes blocking their way. For this reason, it was imperative for the Germans to maintain a firm hold on Ilirska Bistrica and the surrounding area until the arrival of their units from the South. The task was assigned to the 97th Army Corps (97. Armeekorps) under the command of Ludwig Kübler, which engaged the 4th Army of Yugoslav Partisans pressing for a rapid advance to occupy Trieste. The fighting that ensued constituted one of the major battles in Slovenia.

Architecture of the Municipality of Ilirska Bistrica and its surrounding area during the fascist period

Ilirska Bistrica and its surroundings are important witnesses to the historical developments during the interwar period, with their architecture representing one of the most important yet also the least researched areas. The article therefore aims to fill this gap by briefly presenting a few of the most notable buildings constructed after the First World War. The selected buildings were subject to a short stylistic analysis and classified as one of the architectural styles of the period under discussion. The analysis confirms the significance of the Ilirska Bistrica area for Slovenia’s historical-architectural milieu and presents possibilities for further research.

Men and boys from the Ilirska Bistrica area in Italian military uniform

Between 1922 and 1943, after the Treaty of Rapallo came into force, men enlisted in the Italian armed forces and boys forcibly incorporated into special battalions of the Italian army left the Ilirska Bistrica area as Italian citizens, joining the military structures of a state that was not their homeland. Having their names Italianized and coming from an environment that the fascist regime had stripped of its national identity, they risked their lives for the military interests of the Kingdom of Italy. The contribution sets forth selected topics, focusing on conscripts deserting in 1935, before and after the war in Ethiopia, on survivors’ personal experiences during the interwar period and the Second World War as well as on dead and missing soldiers and war captives. The author draws primarily on Italian archival sources, victimology sources, and oral sources obtained through conducting field research. To avoid generalizations, the article aims to highlight the different dimensions of enlistments and personalize the narrative by using the concrete names of deserters and dead soldiers as well as survivors’ testimonies.

Operations of the Orel gymnastic section in the Ilirska Bistrica area

Since 1863, the gymnastic organization Sokol operated in Slovenia, welcoming all Slovenians with a vested interest in gymnastics; that is, until the collapse of the idea of Slovenian political unity. In 1905, following the new political division in Slovenian society, the Catholic side founded its own gymnastic organization, named Orel. Both also operated in the Ilirska Bistrica area. Following Sokol, the Orel organization was established on November 8th, 1908. The article presents its activities by drawing on the literature and newspaper sources.

Composer Fran Gerbič and Trnovo near Ilirska Bistrica

Composer Fran Gerbič and Trnovo near Ilirska Bistrica

Altar furnishings and sculptures in the parish Church of St. Peter in Ilirska Bistrica

Altar furnishings and sculptures in the parish Church of St. Peter in Ilirska Bistrica

Tectonics and gravitational phenomena (Nanos, Slovenia)

The Istra Pushed Area is a specifically deformed territory of the northwestern part of the External Dinarides. It formed due to the movement of the Istra block as part of the Adriatic Microplate (Adria) towards the Dinarides since the middle Miocene. The movement of the Istra block caused hereditary shifts along the old dislocations dating back to the early formation stage of the formation of the Dinarides at the end of the Eocene and their deformation. These deformations are reflected also in certain extreme gravitational phenomena along the boundary between the External Dinaric Imbricated Belt and the External Dinaric Thrust Belt, where Mesozoic carbonates are thrusted upon the Cenozoic flysch. The boundary zone between these two belts connects the Trnovo, Hrušica and Snežnik Thrust Fronts. Four specific gravitational phenomena that occurred in this boundary zone are presented here, as they are remarkable in terms of their size: Črna griža (Trnovo Nappe), Suhi vrh (Hrušica Nappe), Petelinje mlake and Ilirska Bistrica (both from the Snežnik Nappe). The phenomena at Suhi vrh is described in detail herein.

Geological and structural setting of the Vinodol Valley (NW Adriatic, Croatia): insights into its tectonic evolution based on structural investigations

The area of the Vinodol Valley and Bakar Bay represents a NW‒SE oriented valley in the NW Adriatic characterised by prominent historical and instrumentally recorded seismicity. As part of the greater geodynamic domain including the Ilirska Bistrica–Rijeka–Senj seismogenic fault zone, new geological and structural data addressing the tectonic evolution of the area were collected in order to better understand the focal mechanisms of previous earthquakes and to enable identification of potential seismogenic sources. Mapped informal lithostratigraphic units mostly correspond to the Upper Cretaceous, Palaeogene and Quaternary successions described in other parts of the External Dinarides. However, a shorter stratigraphic range of the Gornji Humac fm., the youngest Cretaceous unit in the study area, was determined and suggests that the uplifted area in the central NW part of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform already comprised several thousand km2 (from W and NW Istria to Krk and Vinodol area) at the end of the Turonian. Structural measurements of the fault planes in the study area generally correspond to the existing structural model of the tectonic evolution of the Dinarides. However, in contrast to the SW vergences typical of the Dinarides, NE-vergent reverse structures are common, especially along the SW margin of the Vinodol Valley. Cross-cutting relationships suggest that transpressional (NW–SE and NE–SW striking dextral and sinistral faults) and extensional features (NW–SE and NE–SW striking normal faults) are structurally concurrent or younger than the reverse faults, suggesting a change in the palaeostress field during the Neogene–Quaternary, with prevalent transpression and radial extension. Comparison of results of the palaeostress field analysis and the constructed synthetic focal mechanisms on one side, with available focal mechanism solutions for earthquakes within the Ilirska Bistrica–Rijeka–Senj seismogenic fault zone on the other, shows a favourable orientation of the observed NW‒SE and NE‒SW striking faults with respect to the recent compressional/transpressional stress field (N‒S oriented P-axis), indicating these as potential seismogenic sources within the study area.

Geoinformacijska podpora pri določanju primerne lokacije za postavitev lesnopredelovalnega centra v občini Ilirska Bistrica

V prispevku je opisan primer uporabe geoinformacijske podpore odločanju pri iskanju primerne lokacije za postavitev lesnopredelovalnega centra. Analiza je bila omejena na občino Ilirska Bistrica, ki izkazuje velik potencial za rabo lesne biomase. Odločitev smo podprli z ovrednotenimi dejavniki in omejitvami, ki vplivajo na primernost lokacije. Rezultat večkriterijskega vrednotenja je zemljevid primernosti za postavitev lesnopredelovalnega centra in predstavitev najprimernejše, terensko preverjene lokacije v neposredni bližini Ilirske Bistrice.

SEISMIC NOISE AND TEMPORARY SEISMOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS IN THE POSTOJNA CAVE SYSTEM

Karst caves are suitable places for seismological measurements because they are situated under the surface and often have lower seismic noise than locations on the surface. The idea to establish the first underground seismological station in Slovenia has led us to make preliminary seismic noise measurements in Crna Jama (part of the Postojna Cave System) in 2007. In search for further suitable stable places within the cave, we next performed seismic noise measurements, followed by a temporary accelerometer installation, near the highest point of the Velika Gora chamber in the first half of 2010. Since 7 May 2010, the seismic station is located inside the 9 m long artificial tunnel that was built for geophysical measurement purposes in Tartarus passage in 1931. From 27 January to 12 February 2010, the seismological station Velika Gora in Postojna Cave System (VGPJ) recorded 79 earthquakes with epicenters near Postojna. Records were especially important to determine the seismological characteristics of the M LV =3.7 Postojna earthquake (15 January 2010) aftershocks. The station in the Tartarus tunnel (TTPJ) operated from 7 May 2010 till 21 December 2010 and recorded more than hundred earthquakes of the sequence near Ilirska Bistrica that started on 15 September 2010, with two M LV =3.5 earthquakes and lasted till the end of the year 2010. The aim of this study is the installation of a permanent seismic station inside the Postojna Cave System and future real-time integration of the related seismological data within the Slovenian and Italian seismological networks.

Accessibility Of Library Services In The Coastal-Karst Region

ABSTRACTPurpose: The analysis shows the geographical accessibility of library services to the population of the Coastal-Karst region and identifies gaps i.e. areas that are not covered or not adequately covered by library services.Methodology/approach: The analysis of accessibility of library services was conducted by comparing geographical locations of local libraries, travelling library stations and movable book collections according to the statistical data on population distribution in settlements in the Coastal-Karst area on the 1st of January 2011.Results: The analysis shows that library services are provided in all municipalities in the Coastal-Karst region. However, 53.5 % or 229 of all Coastal-Karst settlements remain uncovered or inadequately covered by library services, mostly in the area of the Kosovel Library of Sežana (105), followed by the Library of Koper with 72 villages and the Maksa Samsa Library of Ilirska Bistrica with 45 uncovered villages. On the other side the fact that only 21.5 % of inhabitants are left out of library services is encouraging. The establishment of local libraries in Dekani, Sv. Anton and Ankaran and the introduction of an additional mobile library would raise the percentage of population served by the library activity by 18 points (from current 78 % to 96 %). In areas without organized library activities only 4 % of the population of the Coastal-Karst region would be left out.Research limitation: Access to services for users with special needs who are not able to approach the library by themselves will be considered separately. For the same reason, the criterion of development and quality of individual library units was neglected.Originality/practical implications: The results of the research constitute the basis for an appropriate design of public libraries’ network in the Coastal-Karst region in such a manner that it will ensure equal access to library services in geographically disadvantaged areas, too.

The Ilirska Bistrica fossil landslide – The town on the landslide

In the Ilirska Bistrica area the largest hitherto known landslide in Slovenia, 5 km wide and 5.5 to 6 km long, was initiated at the end of Pliocene or in the lower Quaternary. Its formation was a consequence of tectonic structure and dynamics of the movements in that area. The landslide slumped from the morphologically uplifted thrust front of the External Dinaridic Thrust Belt into the rapidly subsiding Ilirska Bistrica basin that has pull apart characteristics along the Raša fault. This structure and dynamics resulted into a failure of the supporting slope. Additional reason for triggering the slide could have been a strong earthquake in the Ilirska Bistrica seismic zone which is hypothetically connected to the Raša fault. The entire town area of Ilirska Bistrica is situated on the toe of the fossile landslide.

Juncus atratus Krock. (Juncaceae) rediscovered in Slovenia

Juncus atratus Krock. of the Juncaceae family is a Central European-Southern Siberian wet-meadow species. In Central Europe, the species is very rare and threatened. In Slovenian Red Data List, it is listed among unsufficiently known species (K). The only record of the species in Slovenian territory (Prem near Ilirska Bistrica, SW Slovenia) is over 100 years old and has never been confirmed afterwards. In May 2010, the species was found in Goričko (NE Slovenia), were it thrives on a wet meadow near Kobilje village. The article discusses the recent finding of the species in Slovenia in broader context, its distribution, habitat and threat factors. The aim of the study was also to provide bases for nature-conservation of the species in Slovenia. According to recent finding and the results of the study, the authors suggest Juncus atratus to be regarded as ‘endangered’ (E) in the national red data list.

The bases for understanding of the NW Dinarides and Istria Peninsula tectonics

Thrust structure of the northeastern part of the External Dinarides is depended upon paleogeography of the Adriatic-Dinaric Mesozoic Carbonate Platform, which was in the southeast (in the recent position) composed of Dinaric and Adriatic segment with intermediate Budva Trough. In the northwest in the area of the present Slovenia, it represents uniform platform. In the northwestern continuation of the Budva Trough, shallow halftrough formed and more to the west, shallow Friuli Paleogene Basin came in to being, which separated so called Friuli Carbonate Platform from the central part of the carbonate platform. Area of Istria was separated from Adriatic segment with Kvarner Fault, originated already in the Mesozoic. External Dinaric Thrust Belt formed in the final phase of the Dinarides overthrusting. It originated from Dinaric segment of the Mesozoic Carbonate Platform at the end of the Eocene and was thrusted on the Adriatic segment of the Mesozoic Carbonate Platform. Whole process also triggered formation of the External Dinaric Imbricate Belt with Thrust Front of the External Dinarides against Adriatic-Apulian Foreland. Later also represents rigid indenter of the Adria Lithospheric Microplate ("Adria"), and External Dinaric Imbricate Belt represents its deformed margin, therefore we place it to the rigid indenter. Segmentation of the "Adria" occurred in the Miocene or later. It roughly disintegrated in the Padan and Adriatic part along Kvarner Fault. During rotation of the Padan part in the counter clockwise sense, the corner part, representing Istria Peninsula, rotated and underthrusted towards northeast under External Dinarides. As a result, Istria- Friuli Underthrust Zone formed, structurally conditioned with the position of the Friuli Paleogene Basin, and vast Istria Pushed Area between Southern Alps, Velebit Mts. and Želimlje Fault. This process is still active recently. During Istria underthrusting and pushing in the northwest direction, Raša Fault and Thrust Front of the External Dinaric Thrust Belt bended, and as a consequence, strike-slip movements along those planes were hindered. From the tip of the Kvarner Bay towards Idrija and Ravne Faults in the Upper Soča Valley, conditions for formation of the en echalon strike-slip belt were set up. The strike-slip belt is defined with segment of the Raša Fault southeast from Ilirska Bistrica, seismically active area between Ilirska Bistrica - Hruševje stretch, Vipava Fault, Predjama Fault and northwestern part of the Idrija and Ravne Fault. Therefore we postulate, that a segment of the External Dinaric Thrust Belt Front and shear boundary between the tip of Kvarner Bay and Upper Soča Valley, with extended branches of the Idrija and Ravne Faults, represents new attached block of the Adria Microplate rigid indenter edge.

Direct measurement of present-day tectonic movement and associated radon flux in Postojna Cave, Slovenia

Micro-tectonic deformations have been monitored continuously in 3D in Postojna Cave, Slovenia with TM 71 extensometers since 2004. Two instruments, 260 m apart, were installed on the Dinaric oriented (NW-SE) fault zone that is situated about 1,000 m north of the inner zone of the regionally important Predjama Fault. Monitoring on both instruments has shown small tectonic movements (i.e., a general dextral horizontal movement of 0.05 mm in four years [Postojna 1] and extension of 0.03 mm in four years [Postojna 2]). Between the longer or shorter calm periods, eleven extremes have been recorded regarding characteristic changes in displacement. The largest short-term movement was a compression of 0.04 mm in seven days, detected in March 2005, which coincided with the 25 km distant Ilirska Bistrica earthquake (ML 5 3.9). About two months before the earthquake an extension of 0.05 mm occurred and one month before the earthquake the strain changed into a compression of 0.05 mm. The largest permanent peak was detected at the end of 2004. Along the y-axis (Postojna 1) there was a dextral horizontal movement of 0.075 mm in one month (November 10 to December 15, 2004). After the sinistral horizontal movement of 0.02 mm (December 15–27, 2004), the y-axis retained its permanent position on 0.05 mm, where it remained for more than a year. Regarding the extremes, ten earthquakes were selected that coincided with tectonic micro-displacements. In terms of speleogenesis, the monitored fault zone represents a stable cave environment. Because radon flux is known to change significantly during tectonic and seismic activities, radon air concentrations were monitored in parallel since 2006. During horizontal movements, either dextral or sinistral, radon pathways underground were partly closed, thus hindering radon migration and reducing its concentration in the cave air. Extension movements do not appear to have affected radon transport. Alternatively, the compression process (Postojna 2, February–August 2007) appears to have opened some new routes for radon transport, facilitating radon migration and increasing its concentration in air.

Microtremor HVSR Study of Site Effects in the Ilirska Bistrica Town Area (S. Slovenia)

The region of Ilirska Bistrica is one of the most seismically active areas of Slovenia, where 15 damaging earthquakes with maximum intensity equal or greater than V EMS-98 have occurred in the last 100 years. These earthquakes have shown that strong site effects are characteristic of the parts of the town that are built on soft Pliocene clay and sand overlain by Quaternary alluvium. Since there is a lack of boreholes and geophysical and earthquake data, the microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) method was applied to a 250 m dense grid of free-field measurements over an extended area and to a 200 m dense grid in the town area in order to assess the fundamental frequency of the sediments. Measurements were additionally performed in ten characteristic houses to assess the main building frequencies. The effects of wind and artificial noise on the reliability of the results were analyzed. The map of the fundamental frequencies of sediments shows a distribution in a range of 1–20 Hz. The lower frequency range (below 10 Hz) corresponds to the extent of Pliocene clays and sand overlain by alluvium, which form a small basin, and the higher frequencies to flysch rocks, but variations within short distances are considerable. The measurements inside the buildings of various heights (2–6 stories) showed main longitudinal and transverse frequencies in the range 3.8–8.8 Hz. Since this range overlaps with the fundamental frequency range for Pliocene and Quaternary sediments (2–10 Hz), the danger of soil-structure resonance is considerable, especially in the northern part of the town. Soil-structure resonance is less probable in the central and southern part of the town, where higher free-field frequencies prevail. These observations are in agreement with the distribution of damage caused by the 1995 earthquake (ML = 4.7, Imax = VI EMS-98), for which a detailed damage survey data is available.