60 Years Since the Erection of the Kugy Monument

Dr. Julius Kugy still unites people today, 60 years after the erection of the Kugy Monument.

Yesterday, August 2, 2013, a ceremony took place in Trenta at the Kugy Monument, at this prominent point in the Julian Alps, marking the 60th anniversary of the erection of the monument to Dr. Julius Kugy, a great friend of the Julian Alps, which the Alpine Association of Slovenia erected on August 3, 1953, on the 60th anniversary of the Slovenian mountaineering organization.

Today, August 3, 2013, marks exactly 60 years since the erection of the monument to Dr. Julius Kugy (1858-1944), who expressed his love for the Julian Alps through numerous ascents, explorations, and descriptions in his books. During his student days, as an enthusiastic amateur botanist, he went to the Slovenian mountains to search for the mysterious flower Scabiosa trenta; instead of the flower, he found the beauty of the Julian Alps, which captivated him for life. Local mountain guides helped him climb many of the still unconquered peaks of the Julijci and reach already conquered peaks via new routes. For this reason, he is also known as the "discoverer of the Julian Alps." Dr. Kugy was also a great connector among the nations living in the area of present-day Slovenia, Italy, and Austria, and a promoter of friendship among them. The monument, erected by the Alpine Association of Slovenia on its 60th anniversary, was created by sculptor Jakob Savinšek, and it is positioned so that Kugy looks towards Jalovec (2645 m), which was one of his favorite peaks, if not the favorite. In 1884, nine years after the first known ascent of Jalovec, he found the northern approach to the summit for the first time with guide Andrej Komac. Soon after, with guide Jože Komac, he also succeeded in the first winter ascent.



The ceremony, organized by the Alpine Association of Slovenia, Triglav National Park, and the Municipality of Bovec, was attended by around 100 friends and mountain enthusiasts, from the youngest to adult admirers of Dr. Kugy and his numerous works (among other things, we are also among the rare alpine nations that have Kugy's literary works fully translated). About Dr. Julius Kugy, his significance, and the very interesting history of the erection of the monument itself, Žarko Rovšček, a member of PD Tolmin and a great expert on Dr. Kugy, spoke in the introduction; read his ceremonial speech at the end of the article. At the ceremony, the mayor of the Municipality of Bovec Siniša Germovšek, the director of Triglav National Park mag. Martin Šolar, and the president of the Alpine Association of Slovenia Bojan Rotovnik participated with their speeches. Mayor Siniša Germovšek emphasized the importance of Dr. Kugy for Trenta, who "never forgot his beloved Trenta and often mentioned the merits of the Trenta guides, modest but skilled and excellent connoisseurs of their beautiful surroundings. The Trenta guides were sturdy men of various characters and personal traits, proud, clever, and sparkling, and they were always up to the demanding tasks and trials that Dr. Kugy set them in his zeal to discover unknown parts of the Julijci." Director of TNP mag. Martin Šolar was glad that we gathered today at one of the most prominent points of Triglav National Park and thanked all participants and co-organizers, especially the initiator of the ceremony, the Alpine Association of Slovenia. President of PZS Bojan Rotovnik emphasized that "this year we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the erection of the monument and we are very proud that two years ago we managed to purchase the land on which the Kugy Monument stands. In the Alpine Association, we have already started procedures to ensure the long-term maintenance of the monument and its surroundings. To increase the monument's recognition, we will try to contribute by organizing occasional events at the monument, and today's event is already the first step towards that. This year we are also celebrating another 60th anniversary, namely 60 years of the Slovenian Mountain Trail (SPP), which passes in the immediate vicinity of the Kugy Monument. Therefore, today's date of the ceremony is not coincidental, as we are exactly in the middle between the two anniversaries. For SPP, yesterday, August 1, marked 60 years since its opening, and for the monument, tomorrow will mark 60 years since its unveiling. Since SPP is a very recognizable and frequently visited connecting trail, we are very pleased that we managed to agree with Triglav National Park to relocate the SPP section from the Source of the Soča to the TNP Info Center from the main asphalt road to the Soča Trail (a park educational trail that leads visitors of Triglav National Park along the Soča from its source towards Bovec). Thus, SPP in this part will also pass by the Dr. Kugy Monument, and in PZS we will also examine the possibility that the Dr. Kugy Monument could in the future be one of the points on the SPP." To formally confirm the relocation of SPP to the Soča Trail section, PZS President Bojan Rotovnik and TNP Director mag. Martin Šolar signed an agreement, based on which we will obtain a much more hiker-friendly section of the Slovenian Mountain Trail.



The event was enriched by young people with a cultural program; Martin Kavčič on clarinet and children from the local Cultural Society Triglav - Trenta with recitations participated.



Žarko Rovšček: Dear, respected lovers of the mountain world,

Five years ago, on the 150th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Julius Kugy (1858-1944), we paid tribute to his memory in various ways. We expressed many heartfelt views on his life and work, on his legacy and the worthy bond that belongs to all nations living in the contact area under the Julian Alps. Meanwhile, our Alpine Association of Slovenia has passed a few more years leading to this year's 120th anniversary, a honorable jubilee of loyalty to an idea that in itself brings no material benefit, nothing that we would otherwise, especially today, gladly strive for. In respecting the beautiful mountain world, it offers us all great wealth, small satisfactions, and joys with every pilgrimage into this our common "useless world." This basic mountaineering idea unites us, gives us wings, strength to overcome all kinds of difficulties and delusions of this world, personal hardships, and more... Where does this powerful charge come from for our movement, conviction, will; where does its cultural and historical depth, massiveness, loyalty come from? We have always had people in our community who knew how to summarize our longings, put our feelings into words and depict them otherwise; who knew how to carry the honor and glory of our mountains into the world. Today we dedicate our thoughts to Dr. Julius Kugy - the pioneer, admirer, and discoverer of our mountain world to the world public, one of the first recorders of its beauties and a classic of world mountaineering literature. Sixty years ago, under the auspices of the half-younger Alpine Association, in the company of the Austrian Alpenverein and the Trieste section of CAI (Club Alpino Italiano), all sworn mountaineers paid special tribute to him. Here stands a bronze cast of his physical appearance; spiritually, he shaped and erected himself with his works. In this outline, together with his legacy, he is still present among us.

So what is this spiritual image, legacy of his?

Slovenes have a special relationship with Kugy. It fills us with pride for his Slovenian roots, on his mother's side, on his father's. Already with his early writings, he carried the fame of our mountains and their simple natives into the world. But we also belong to the rare alpine nations that have Kugy's book works fully translated. The facsimile reprint of the book From My Life in the Mountains, translated by Mira Marko Debelaková, was first published as early as 1937. After World War II, Založba Obzorja in Maribor published translations of Kugy's works, with excellent translators and mountaineering experts. Kugy's spiritual mission came even closer to us, enriched us, and presented his intimate relationship with the mountains. In his works, he set high aesthetic standards for mountaineering literature and gave valuable advice to later writers. The great educational significance of his opus, as it roots in unwavering love for the mountains, which he sowed among us. In his writings, he erected a monument to his fearless guides, Komac, Ojcinger, Pesamosca, and others, regardless of national origin. He was aware of this, as he wrote in the introduction to the collection Five Centuries of Triglav: "It is certainly also good that in these times of increasingly predominant nationalism, a man who is high above any national intolerance takes up the work, whose horizon does not end where the borders of his language lie..."

His youthful interest in botany grew into solitary journeys from Trieste towards Istria and the Karst, which became increasingly longer. Over the Karst edge, the shining Julijci beckoned him on the horizon. He responded to their call and remained faithful to it until the end of his life. Forty years, almost to the First World War, with the help of our guides, his symbolic search for the miraculous scabiosa trenta lasted, exploring the Julijci and striving to climb increasingly difficult summits, over their walls and notches. A rich harvest of repeats, winter, and first ascents was created. In between, he also ventured into the Western Alps. He lived for the mountains with all his heart.

Tomorrow it will be exactly 60 years since the unveiling of this monument. But the battle for the symbolic return of Kugy to Trenta was quite hot until the last weeks, according to reports from the media of the time.

The action committee entrusted the making of the statue to sculptor Jakob Savinšek, and the plans for the arrangement of the surroundings and pedestal to architect Kobet. The authors proposed the location of the monument at Šupc, a well-known vantage point under Vršič. This luxurious, easily accessible viewpoint usually enchants passersby, even those who have never ventured onto solitary mountain paths. "An ideal resting place for the bronze Kugy," some thought together with the artists, but not all. On the coastal side, among mountain lovers, it suddenly boiled over. They believed that the place for the monument must be precisely in Trenta, which was Kugy's starting point into the mountain world all his life. The monument at Šupc would be accessible only to motorists, as there is no significant mountain trail in the vicinity. A kind of modern Tolmin revolt gathered around the expert on Kugy's literary legacy, Franc Ceklin, alpinist, then vice-president of PD Tolmin and club propagandist. The Soča Valley mountaineering and tourist societies sent an open letter to PZS demanding that the Kugy monument be erected lower in Trenta. Radio Ljubljana and Radio Koper published the protest in full. Planinski vestnik summarized the official opinion of the Alpine Association on the location near Julijana or at least in Lower Trenta and that its Economic Commission does not agree with the place determined by the sculptor and architect. The commission meeting to determine the location, on June 20, 1953, at Šupc, was supposed to cut the Gordian knot. With some municipal officials, 23 people attended it. The project authors in the discussion believed that the place at Šupc, surrounded by a wreath of mountain giants, is aesthetically ideal, but the coastal representative did not yield even an inch even after several hours of discussion. But the statue was already cast at that time on the assumption that it would stand at Šupc.

The commission members then descended to Trenta and climbed the prominent, protruding "Furlan" rock on the opposite bank of the Soča, next to the Julijana Alpinetum. This was supposed to be one of the two selected places for the monument. They also mentioned the space in front of the former Hotel Planinski orel. Journalist of Slovenski poročevalec Mile Smolinsky dramatically describes that "the Primorska people here brought out their heavy artillery." Franc Ceklin, a skilled speaker and spokesman for the "Primorska side," proved with Kugy quotes that his monument belongs only in Trenta. When he, on behalf of all Soča Valley mountaineering societies and local authorities from Tolmin, pronounced his unconditional "no" to the placement at Šupc, the idea of it finally fell away.

When the sculptor and architect professionally refuted the possibility of erecting the monument on the "Furlan" rock and in front of the Hotel Planinski orel, after more than a four-hour discussion, they reached a dead end. There were no new proposals. They were to select a new commission, and the current one would choose among its new proposals. The unveiling of the monument would thus be postponed indefinitely, despite the fact that the ceremony was scheduled the day after the mountaineering celebration for the 60th anniversary of SPD in the Vrata, i.e., August 3 of the same year. PD Tolmin was preparing, as part of this event, also the opening of a mountaineering exhibition in Trenta, which was later to grow into a permanent collection and future mountaineering museum. Before the eyes of many, including foreign visitors, a nicely rounded honoring of the jubilee of the Slovenian mountaineering organization was anticipated. Postponing the unveiling of the Kugy statue in Trenta to a later time would considerably impoverish it. The nervous tension among the present commission members understandably increased with such an outcome.

The solution was indicated by journalist Smolinsky, who followed the discussion from the background all the time and had already written about the beauties of Trenta in Slovenski poročevalec a week or so earlier. On his visits, he also got to know today's location, which he proposed to the commission for inspection. The present ones accepted his proposal in a hopeless situation. Soon after the inspection, they reached an agreement and shook hands contentedly.

The date of the unveiling of the Kugy Monument (August 3, 1953) was inexorably approaching. It was announced that the ceremony (as the conclusion of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Slovenian mountaineering) would be on Monday at ten in the morning. But the statue, which was supposed to be sent from the Zagreb foundry on Saturday morning, arrived at the destination only on Monday morning, so the unveiling had to be postponed to four in the afternoon. Just before the ceremony, workers removed the hoist with whose help they placed the statue on the masonry pedestal at the last moment. During the cultural program, after the speeches of foreign representatives, Dr. Miha Potočnik spoke on behalf of PZS. The weather did its part, and as Avčin says: "No human hand unveiled it: The wind that drove in rainy waves on that gloomy afternoon from Prisojnik, Razor, from Mojstrovka and Travnik, the storm pulled the mountaineering flag over the wide-brimmed hat onto the shoulders of the motionless figure. With his back turned to the small audience that endured the storm, he listened to the speakers of all nationalities just as he always was in life: immersed only in the mountains, elevated above the valley world and its petty doings."

Immortal Kugy, clad in bronze, thus returned in spirit to the embrace of his Trenta. Dreamily, he gazes across the Soča and modest Trenta homesteads towards Jalovec, the scene of the winter adventure that ended happily for him thanks to the lightning intervention of brave Jože Komac - Pavr and gave him a long life. Let us follow his prophetic thoughts: "I know who I am here. I know that in these mountains and valleys I will not die soon. Here and there my memory will become a legacy of those who knew me, they will pass it on to children and children's children. When personal and transmitted memory completely fades, my name will still float over the ridges like a fairy tale..."



May this fairy tale last forever!