Aljaž Tower Celebrates 120 Years

The Aljaž Tower, an exceptional cultural monument and irreplaceable symbol of Slovenia, has reigned on the summit of Triglav for 120 years, 2864 meters above sea level. On the 120th anniversary of the erection of the "sheet metal with a soul" at the highest point of Slovenia, several events will take place to honor this historical event. On Friday, August 7, 2015, at 9 a.m. next to the Aljaž Tower on top of Triglav there will be a commemorative ceremony, and at 6 p.m. in front of the Slovenian Mountaineering Museum in Mojstrana a solemn academy Oj, Triglav, moj dom. Cordially invited!



Mountaineering and alpinism activities in the Slovenian Alps were under strong German influence in the 19th century, which was recognized by the priest from Dovje, Jakob Aljaž, who resolutely opposed further Germanization. He had the bold idea to erect a small tower on the summit of Triglav – as a mountaineering shelter and a bulwark of Slovenian identity. From the municipalities of Dovje and Mojstrana, he bought the "tip" of Veliki Triglav for one gulden, a total of 16 square meters of land, and began the construction of the tower. In Planinski vestnik, which is also celebrating 120 years this year, they wrote in May 1895: "Many may find the entire plan unfeasible, but the iron perseverance and self-sacrifice of Mr. Priest will surely succeed in realizing this wonderful building. The Aljaž Tower will be the highest building not only in Slovenia, but throughout the Slavic world."



Jakob Aljaž entrusted the construction of the tower to his friend, tinsmith master Anton Belc, who made it from thick galvanized sheet metal and iron pillars cast with concrete, and erected it with three assistants on August 7, 1895. Aljaž recalled: "There was thick fog. So in the morning I did not go to the top of Triglav, but stayed in the Dežman Hut, from where I listened to them hammering together the individual parts of the Triglav Tower." The modest opening of the tower was on August 22, 1895, when the song Oj, Triglav, moj dom echoed from Triglav. Aljaž donated the tower and the land on top of Triglav to the Slovenian Mountaineering Association, the predecessor of the Alpine Association of Slovenia.



Slovenian mountains were an important territory and at the same time a symbolic space where the battle for dominance between Germans, later also Italians, and Slovenes took place, and the Aljaž Tower remained a bulwark of Slovenian identity in all decades. On the birth of the Slovenian state on June 25, 1991, a new Slovenian flag symbolically fluttered on the Aljaž Tower as well. In October 1999, the Aljaž Tower was declared a cultural monument of national importance and nationalized a month later. Jakob Aljaž's idea that a cylindrical metal structure with a flag on top represents a milestone marking Slovenian ownership of the summit of the Slovenian mountain was finally realized. The Aljaž Tower has special significance for the Republic of Slovenia due to its cultural, landscape, historical, and other exceptional qualities. Triglav with the Aljaž Tower is an exceptional landscape motif and an irreplaceable symbol of Slovenia for all of us.



In 1895, Jakob Aljaž also had the Aljaževa koča in Vrata built and bought the land on Kredarica. In Vrata, in 1904 they built the Aljažev dom, which was destroyed by an avalanche five years later, but the conscious Slovenian chose a new location in Vrata and in July 1910 they opened the current Aljažev dom in Vrata. On Aljaž's land on Kredarica, the Slovenian Mountaineering Association (SPD) built a modest hut in 1896, which they opened on August 10. In 1909 and 1910 it was expanded and named Triglavski dom na Kredarici, which he also transferred to SPD. Just below the summit of Triglav, he had a cave blasted into the rock, the so-called Staničevo zavetišče, so that mountaineers could seek shelter there during a storm.



Source: monograph Slovensko planinstvo (authors: Peter Mikša and Kornelija Ajlec) and exhibition of the National Museum of Slovenia Aljažev stolp – Ta pleh ima dušo! (authors: Gorazd Lemajič and Iztok Lemajič)