A Stroll Through Radovljica’s Cottage Industry Crafts

The arrival of December towns and cities everywhere sparkle with festive lights. Radovljica is no exception, but more than lights, it boasts unique decorations made from natural materials that emphasise environmental sustainability while also recognising and honouring local tradition.

In addition to the natural decorations, the main star of the festive decorations this year are works of art by the academic painter Meta Šolar, whose paintings, for the second year in a row, adorn windows in the old town centre of Radovljica; the inspiration for this year’s motifs is cottage industry crafts. Various craftspeople worked on the ground floor of houses in Radovljica for centuries. The former craft activities that took place in some houses are visible from the decor on the façade, but the paintings this year focus on the activities present in the particular house in the early 20th century.

 The Town Gallery Trail begins at Bogataj’s House – today home to the Radolška čokolada chocolatier – which itself has a short but interesting story; the industry to which the painting refers is the hat making trade. One hundred and fifty years ago, the building behind the shop operated as a hat factory, producing more than 450 different types, as hats were an indispensable part of people’s wardrobes until not long ago. The hats were sold on the premises of today’s Radolška čokolada chocolatier, where the painting on the window shows some of the most popular types of hats during the interwar period.

 The largest general merchandise store in Radovljica opened in the 1920s in Vila Savnik (a fully preserved work by the architect Ivan Vurnik), which is attested to by the wrought-iron image of the god Hermes or Mercury and the large display windows. The motif of the illustrations here is specific goods and clothing, and the artist decided to add curtains to each one, which as a common element – ​​also a textile product – connect the paintings of this building into a whole.

Since the Turks no longer threatened the town in the 18th century, the then Counts allowed people to rebuild the suburban moat and the town walls with houses. In the 19th century, one of the houses housed a letter collection point on the Ljubljana-Villach, which later moved to the Grajski dvor building.

Crafts have often completely changed over time in most houses, but in the so-called Dralek House (today’s Sodček wine shop), the original cottage industry craft – i.e. selling wine, storing barrels and running an inn – continues to this today. Despite its location, Radovljica has always been important for the wine trade, and the Sodček wine shop is one of the most successful wine shops in the Gorenjska region.

Prior to World War II, the ground floor of the building that is today home to the Radovljica Tourist Information Centre housed a hairdressing salon/barbers, and an umbrella repair workshop operated in the cellar. The painting on this building is different, because it does not depict either of these industries; it is a simple festive wreath.

On the doors of the Bukvarna second-hand bookshop, there is an illustration of long, patterned socks, which were once in fashion. The building is the birth place of the famous Slovenian playwright and historian, Anton Tomaž Linhart, who was born in Radovljica. Linhart’s father was involved in the sock-making trade in was one of the richest people in Radovljica at that time; he brough the tradition from his homeland of the Czech Republic.

 The building next door once housed the Hudovernik shop (the relief above the door depicting products and scales was an ‘advert’ for the shop being well-stocked and honest). The painting also depicts the bakery trade, which also took place in this building, and people took potica there to be baked for special holidays.

Benedičič House, also known as Hiša Linhart, is today home to a restaurant and hotel, but it was originally used to treat wounded soliders and to carry out surgery. Because the appearance of the processes and tools used for these activities aren’t the most pleasant, the artist chose instead to depict a more festive aesthetic, thus she depicted clock-making, which in 1904 was taken over by Anton Murovec .

The final point on the Town Gallery is at one of the small houses on Gradiška pot, the road leading from the old town towards the cemetery, where at the turn of the century Anton Petrovič opened a shoemaking workshop and served as the town’s shoemaker for many a year.

Written by: Mojca Lapuh