Present material »Protection of built heritage against fire« is the onset of the exhibition
intended for fire brigades and fire fighting associations who shall complete it with examples of
their own experiences and characteristics of their area and change it with their standpoints and
intentions into an action with contents useful for the comprehension and understanding of the
risks of fire for cultural heritage.
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The area of symbiosis between natural and cultural diversity
Despite its small area conditioned by climatic and geomorphologic variety, Slovenia presents a
unity of diverse types of landscapes consisting of typically continental – Pannonian,
mountainous – Alpine and Mediterranean – littoral properties and properties of the special areas
of Karst, western-most part of the Dinaric system. With the type of life which depends on the
developmental possibilities and wider civilisation interests, as well as considering natural
phenomena with permanent impact in this area acting as a type of a greater force, there emerged
an explicit symbiosis and co-dependency between natural and cultural landscape. In nature there
dominate forest surfaces, covering more than half of the whole territory, while its rocky ground
composition is most explicit in the mountainous areas. In combination with climatic conditions
the diversity of the relief has created fairly rich, widespread and well supplied water bodies;
their confluence in several large valleys and plain parts has always enabled land cultivation and
settling. Thus, from the spatial aspect cultural landscape consists in the largest part of
agricultural land and settled areas, with the two largest towns Ljubljana and Maribor.
Considering the relief characteristics and the natural and cultural conditions in individual parts
of Slovenia, the whole territory is divided into landscapes of Alpine region, landscapes of SubAlpine region, landscapes of Sub-Pannonian region, Karst landscape of inner Slovenia and
landscapes of littoral region, all enriched by transitional forms. Their geographical location was
obviously interesting already in the time when the aboriginal communities strived to change the
geological eras into historical periods. The possibilities for life, movement and transition were
constantly changing the whole territory, first into cultural and later on civilisation subject.
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Time extensiveness the consequence of creative and developmental actions of
the past
The consequences of persistent creative presence of man from the early stone age onwards are
visible in Slovenia in a distinguished archive of values that demonstrates mainly by their
quality, originality or uniqueness such heritage that has based on its characteristics an explicit
recognisability. The fact is that through all historic periods certain cultural level can be traced,
which actively and frequently also enthusiastically followed the economic, religious, artistic and
other initiatives, in the rough time frame from Mousterian "bone flute" from the Divje babe cave
site, found in the layer with the average artefact age of about 43,100 years, to the architectural
and urban ideas by Plečnik, realised in the first half and in the middle of the 20th century.
In this long time interval the developmental and stylistic rules of individual periods shaped all
the basic activities of communities and ethnicities that lived in this area, passed through or
settled it, and responded beside on own ideas also on different initiatives and influences of
others. They perceived the opportunity for their ideas between the original and the assumed, the
traditional and the contemporary, the local and the generally valid, and saw in it their realisation
as the main task of the present moment; it was the only one that gave meaning to the future
based on the facts of the past. It is heritage with its information that bears witness of the
processes that gave the emerged assets the foreseen meaning and innovative design. One of such
examples is e.g. wooden wheel with an axis found in the area of the Aeneolithic (Bronze Age)
lake dwelling culture of the Ljubljana Marshland placed by the archaeology according to
dendro-chronological research and considering its origin from the end of forth millennium BC
among the oldest carriages, or the pioneering construction solutions with the use of reinforced
concrete structures of the Dragon Bridge in Ljubljana from 1900-1901.
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From the early rather limited definition of the term heritage, today it is understood as a complex
term according to the holders of its origin, substance properties and spatial installation of its
assets. In this way those processes of natural and cultural heritage in non-material and material
form of assets are preserved that need according to their purpose and for the reasons of
endangerment special type of protection and safekeeping, and those that act as real estates in
their primary space.
Intervention into space is an act that speaks of existence in different ways, expresses convictions
and volition and predicts intentions. Among the basic and most explicit are the emergence and
functioning of settlements, dynamic subjects and important factors of humanisation, as well as
perpetrators of environmental endangerment. The valid conditions, which are the same in all
periods, directed a thoughtful selection of territories and sizes, and they enabled or even dictated
the development. For this reason rural and urban settlements normally have long tradition and
many of them reach far back into history. Almost all large towns, such as Ptuj, Maribor, Celje,
Kranj, Ljubljana, Novo mesto, Koper, etc., and frequently also smaller settlements, have more
or less preserved evidence of it. Life and activities of individual communities bestowed their
appearance, organisation and instrumentation the basic character and characteristics that define
them according to the type and functionality.
Interesting is also the memory about the ways of survival in the time of dramatic social changes,
such as flight of townspeople and villagers to more remote and safer shelters – refuges. It was
most frequent especially in the time of the migrations of peoples, advancing in late Antique and
the early Middle Ages from the west to the Italic areas of the Roman Empire, and some were
moving forward towards the west, gradually creating along with other societies of feudal order a
new political and ethnic image of Europe. Refuges, some as revitalised settlements or cult towns
of older periods, others new, emerging in distress of the then conditions, were discovered at
Rifnik, Ančnikov vrh, Ajdna nad Potoki, Tonovcev grad, or they were recognised also in the
existing structures, such as chapel at Svete gore etc., or as conscious effort to keep life itself,
symbolised by the hospital Franja operating from the end of 1943 until 1945.
Very important for the territory are the preserved defence systems. Thus, structures as Claustra
Alpium Iuliarum from the late Antique, the Rapallo border as the consequence of WW I or the
Rupnik line and the Alpine Wall before and during WW II are all placed in the same territory
and they all protected political and national borders or key vital territories. However, there are
also such systems that protected feudal and church interests or only functional or interests of
settlements, such as defence towers – donjons from the castles Kamen below the Karavanke
mountain range to Pišec at the very edge of the Pannonian Plain. With their active presence they
made it possible to introduce changes and different living conditions.
Just as waters changed into streams and rivers when searching for their way, thus presenting
natural link between different landscapes, also traffic roads connected individual places, though
with a different purpose, into a system of simple contacts and life important actions. They
enabled the flow of material and spiritual assets or interesting information or even allowed the
introduction of foreign interests. Owing to the geographical location of the Slovenian territory,
they were all connected and interwoven into a distinctive network. This gave mythical
importance to the phenomenon, and at the same time also objective value. It was a fusion of the
story about the return of Argonauts from Colchis to Greece, of the valid prehistoric amber route
that connected the Baltic with the Mediterranean by trading fossil resin and other valuables, as
well as of the Illyrian routes in the Halstatt and later Celtic routes in Latent period. These routes
were equal to the Greek routes of that time that later on supported the Roman metrically exactly
defined road system which mastered the relief characteristics of the landscapes (evidence of it
are the passes over Ocra and Atrans) with technically more daring solutions, especially the
passages across rivers, such as across Drava in Poetoviona, across Sava near Črnuče and across
Ljubljanica near Nauport, or demanding ground such as marshlands, etc. Compared to the
Antique period Middle Ages offered only scarce possibilities of the road traffic, influenced by
the interests of the village and town people deep into the New Age. Beside transit and
waggoners they served also to salt and timber trading, etc. An essential change was brought
about with the construction of the 577 km long southern railroad in 1857, which represented the
beginning of the network of new lines, connecting Vienna and Trieste. This was the beginning
of the contemporary comprehension of traffic. It is also worth mentioning that with the
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construction and renovation works of new contemporary traffic routes, especially motorways,
today frequently material proofs from the past periods can be found.
Indicators of higher cultural standards of certain society were among others also fine arts and
architecture. Adequacy of the given, especially primal materials, offered by individual
territories, and the practicability of the valid methods, were modified by ideas into convincing
qualities, surpassing the predictability of everyday life. It was a persistent challenge with which
arts with their power of expression gave an imagination nuance to the empirical world.
However, the creativity which generally serves as a measure of human abilities and capacity in
achieving high results, and the one of more useful substructure dictated by the questions of
existence, were close to each other and extremely useful. Within these tendencies the
differences and traditional discrepancies in the concept of art were successfully overcome. Thus,
the very notion included all creativity, regardless of its holders, activity or purpose. From the
aspect of time the differences among individual types had different meaning, especially in the
area of built heritage.
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Areas of protection, principles of preserving properties of inherited cultural assets
Accordingly, organised protection of heritage can be understood as a complex multidisciplinary
activity protecting and preserving the substance of its assets, introducing their importance and
interpreting their contents. With the establishment of the Central Commission at the end of
1850's in Vienna the profession obtained its formal legal groundwork that was the basis for its
further development, constantly updated and completed according to the existing conditions and
understanding of the essence of heritage. As in other European countries, where the principles
of the service were defined as early as by the Delphi Amphictiony in the Achaean Greece, the
Slovenian protection of heritage is united within a joint institution consisting of seven units and
a Restoration centre.
Despite different life cycles of the material essence of individual assets in built heritage and
complicated procedures of its preservation with the foreseen protective measures, there are
certain forms of endangerment that overrun the purpose and the efficiency of such measures.
These are natural and other disasters, i.e. rigours of the weather with multiple and frequently
permanent consequences. What causes such decay and destruction is nature in its wider sense
and man with his developmental intentions and negative inclinations.
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Protection of heritage against direct threats
Just as heritage in Slovenia is diverse, also the image of endangerment is variegated, owing to
its geographic location and climatic conditions, as well as social relations and events
legitimately shaping history. Among the most devastating disasters in our territory are
earthquakes, unforeseen releases of tectonic tensions expressed in seismic ground oscillations.
So far as many as 60 have been destructive, such that often triggered also other forms of chain
disasters, or that acted in a much larger area than Slovenia.
Floods as the consequence of heavy rainfall, fast snow melting or drainage dams, etc., are the
second most important type of disasters. They endanger almost 15% or 3000 km² of the
territory, mainly in the river basins of Mura, Drava, Sava and Soča. One of the four types is also
floods of Karst fields, representing a special natural phenomenon that the local communities
adapted to with their way of life. However, such floods there may also appear in more serious
forms with the consequences similar to the other three types, and may be followed by chain
disasters typical of the area.
The nature of the landscape relief is such that in numerous places it triggers processes of certain
types of gravity, forcing particles from higher located areas downwards until the material
reaches the erosion base. These are hilly slides and landslides with different types of sliding are
the third most frequently appearing type of disasters.
And the fourth type is fire, defined as flames causing damage or destruction. The
Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for protection and rescue services classifies them as:
fires in natural environment, fires at structures, fires at traffic means and other fires. Forests,
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especially in the Sub-Mediterranean phytoclimatic zone, belong to the most endangered areas.
According to the available data almost one half of fires in nature (46%) are of unknown origin.
Statistics show that in the time of 2000-2004 the number of fires is gradually falling, with the
current number of about 4000 per year; about 1600 of them break out in structures, but they
very rarely affect any building with the status of heritage.
However, despite fairly satisfactory conditions in the area of safety, one needs to be aware that
many accidents represent also indirect threat to heritage, owing to the typical co-dependence
between nature and culture. Apart from the increase of the number of mainly active sources of
endangerment also the beginning of the predicted longer period of warm climate and the related
changes of the valid safety conditions are important. These are the consequences of new
knowledge and obtained experiences from the oldest periods onwards. In the Antique period
safety against such threat was regulated by rules. Naturally, temporary fire was also means of
defence, such as arson of the town in 238, organised by the inhabitants of Emona to prevent
forcible settlement by the usurper Maximin Trachian. In the same town also the fate of the
Christian quarter with the baptistery and the alleged basilica is interesting – it was destroyed by
a fire probably caused by an earthquake in the Venetian area.
Gradually, through history, and based on experiences with fire and its consequences, there
emerged an organised system that allowed man not only to take measures in the event of
individual accidents, but it also provided an integral protection which also related to heritage. In
1869 the first firefighting brigade was founded in Metlika, from where the idea of auxiliary
firefighting spread throughout the Slovenian countries. In 1881 the first Statute on fire police
and fire guards for the Duchy of Carniola was adopted. The legal regulation, practical solutions
and the readiness to provide help to people in distress strengthened the activities in the times of
all the experiences of wars and in the times of peace.
Thus, there are today 123,000 members organised in 1,389 auxiliary fire brigades and industrial
societies, and 113 firefighting associations united within the Firefighting Association of
Slovenia. Occupational firefighters are active within 15 public institutes. According to the
general principles and the adopted objectives they are active not only in fire prevention, direct
interventions in the event of accidents and removing their consequences, organisational tasks
and educational and training activities, but also in the areas of providing safety against all other
forms of natural and other disasters. Subject to laws, national and international regulations,
national program and individual provisions, they realise their extensive program in cooperation
with the Slovenian association for fire safety and different expert and public institutions.
The area of activity of fire brigades is to a large extent in agreement with the spatial distribution
of built cultural heritage. Also, fire safety is gradually introduced in individual structures and
organised according to regulations and the existing practice. Nevertheless, the diversity of is
characteristics and multiple purpose of each item of heritage depending on the environment,
identity of the community and the interests of society demand more and more harmonisation
among all the aspects of heritage protection and practice of fire safety. It is a common program
of both activities, which shall define methods according to their contents and practical
feasibility. It shall despite high improbability and actual threat of fire take care of the
preservation of the very essence of heritage. The purpose of the Ministry of Defence with its
Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for protection and rescue services, the Ministry of
the Environment and Spatial Planning as well as the Ministry of Culture with its Office for the
Protection of Cultural Heritage is to prepare common standpoints and expert groundwork for the
performance of the protection tasks.
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