Architecture

Spatial architecture is like a large mirror of time. It reflects beauty, years of history and the achievements of human creativity and efforts. The karst landscape represents a treasury of stone. People have traditionally lived in stone karst houses. They entered them through “kalon” (entrance), and rested in the shadows of “murva” in the courtyard (“borjač”) next to “štirna” (well). The so-called black kitchen was a place where the family cooked food and in the evening, they waved to their neighbours from the houses’ balcony (“gank”) or listened to the melodies of church bells in the village. 

Due to the multitude of stones, a unique construction technique has developed, the so-called construction of dry stone walls. Not even two such walls are the same, and they are not adhered together, but stand only because of the mutual force of stone. When you visit Miren Kras, look around the endless vineyards and olive groves. Dry stone walls are spread between them. In 2018, they were even declared Unesco’s Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The initiative was given by Slovenia, where various road walls and wells, stairs and bridges were built with dry stone technique, mostly until the Second World War.