POINT 2

Learn more about the Triglav National Park and the Vintgar Gorge.

Audio guide

Intersting facts

What you can see at this point

Triglav National Park

The Triglav National Park is one of the oldest protected natural areas in Europe. Covering 4 % of Slovenia’s total area, it is home to numerous protected animal and plant species and, according to folk tradition, a variety of magical creatures, most notably Zlatorog, a chamois with golden horns who is said to protect the kingdom of the Julian Alps, including Mount Triglav, Slovenia’s highest peak.

Vintgar Gorge is the gateway to the Triglav National Park

Vintgar Gorge is the gateway to the Triglav National Park, one of the oldest national parks in Europe. Here, where nature needs its own peace and rhythm, you can encounter unique animals, plants and stories.

The Triglav National Park takes its name from Mount Triglav, the symbol of Slovenia. A quarter of a millennium ago, “four brave men” became the first to conquer our sacred mountain. Today the country’s highest peak watches over more than 4% of the total territory of Slovenia: the area across which the Triglav National Park extends. The park is home to the mythical Zlatorog (“Goldhorn”) and other chamois, mountain goats, wolves, bears and lynx – and 7,000 other animal species.

Alpine Conservation Park

Nature has enjoyed special protection in the Triglav National Park ever since 1924, when the Alpine Conservation Park was established. Twenty years earlier, the scientist Albin Belar, who lived in the vicinity of Vintgar Gorge for more than a decade, wrote down some pioneering ideas about protecting the Valley of the Triglav Lakes. If the laws of the day had contemplated the legal protection of nature, the Triglav National Park would be the oldest natural park in Europe.

Dr Albin Belar, the King of Triglav

Albin Belar was a man of many parts: inventor, international seismology pioneer, founder of the first Austro-Hungarian earthquake observatory (in Ljubljana) and father of the Triglav National Park. A lifelong hiking and mountaineering enthusiast, he climbed Triglav more than 50 times, a true record in days when marked hiking trails did not yet exist.

RIVER RADOVNA

Despite the fact that the Radovna covers just 17 kilometres on its journey from its source in the Triglav mountain chain to its outflow into the Sava Dolinka, it is responsible for carving the spectacular Vintgar Gorge, cut into the solid rock with sheer sides that in places are 250 metres deep. The fast-flowing river hardly warms up at all on its journey and maintains its cool temperature – never more than 13°C in summer.

This brisk mountain river is filled with the waters of the mighty Triglav mountain chain. Since it does not warm up on its journey from source to mouth, you can always feel the cool freshness of the mountains when you are near it.

The river and the sun

The river Radovna, the hill of Radolca and the town of Radovljica. Not only are they all close to each other but their names share a common root – rad. Where does it come from? Our part of the world was settled long in the past, so it is no surprise that many words are thought to have a Celtic origin. One possible connection is the name Radola, used to denote the Celtic god of the sun.

The power of perseverance

Through the power of perseverance, the river has carved Vintgar Gorge out of solid rock. In places the gorge is up to 250 metres deep – the same as the difference in elevation from its source to its mouth. Even today, the river is constantly deepening the gorge and creating potholes, cascades and pools in its bed. Its deepest pool is thought to be 17 metres deep.

A river of development

The power of the Radovna has also been harnessed by the local inhabitants, with its current used to turn mill wheels, drive sawmills and power the bellows and hammers of forges and foundries. Later on these were replaced by small hydropower plants, one of which can be seen at the exit from Vintgar Gorge by Šum Falls.

A local source of drinking water

Lush vegetation grows on the banks of the clear river. The cattle grazing in meadows and mountain pastures drink its waters. Even today the Radovna is a source of drinking water for the local community. A system of reservoirs and pipelines brings its water to their homes.

Guardians of the river

Plans drawn up in 1912 envisaged a new dam on the Radovna at the point where visitors today enter Vintgar Gorge. This proposal met with such stern resistance among the local community that it had to be abandoned.

VINTGAR GORGE

Vintgar Gorge is the gateway to the Triglav National Park, formed over the course of millennia by melting glaciers, glacial lakes, the river Radovna and tectonic folding. Today it represents one of the most beautiful glacial gorges in the world.

Melting glaciers, water and the nature of the terrain shaped Vintgar Gorge in the past. Although our eyes cannot see it, it is still forming and changing today.

Time trapped in rock

It is hard to imagine today that the present day Vintgar Gorge and the surrounding area were covered by a thick layer of glaciers during the last ice age but one.

The work of glaciers

During the penultimate interglacial period the glaciers began to melt and retreat. Land appeared and the water began to drain away. Its path was blocked by the moraine deposited by the Bohinj glacier, with the result that a lake formed in the valley. The water then found a new path at the lowest point between the two hills of Hom and Boršt, leaving behind it two thirds of the newly carved gorge.

The surface was once again covered by glaciers during the last ice age. It was not until the end of the glacial era that the meltwater resumed its patient work. Only at the exit from the gorge, where the rock is more resistant, has a step or ledge remained to the present day in the form of the powerful and picturesque Šum Falls.

A glimpse of the underworld

As you walk through Vintgar Gorge, you will observe distinct strata on its walls, with different angles of inclination, folding and offsets. These features are the consequence of rock formation and still active tectonic shifts.

Three types of rock predominate in Vintgar Gorge. Micritic limestones, on which the structure on is not visible to the naked eye on the fresh surface; thicker limestone strata; and grainy limestone with millimetre-sized grains, visible with a magnifying glass on fresh surfaces.

Vintgar is never the same
Exposure to the elements causes limestone to dissolve. As a result of the inclination of the rock strata, the dissolved particles of limestone are carried via bedding planes (weak areas between individual strata formed by erosion) to the river. As the river gains speed in the gorge, the action of the water containing particles of dissolved limestone continues to widen and deepen it. This process is further influenced by the gradual uplift of the surface.

Šum Falls formed at a point where harder limestone meets softer clay. Since the flowing river is constantly hollowing and smoothing the rocks of the waterfall, it is slowly moving ever further into the gorge. Šum Falls will eventually turn into a channel, like the other waterfalls in the gorge.

STONE KETTLES

If you observe the Radovna as it flows below the first bridge in the gorge, you will see the Great Kettle and, around 100 metres further downstream, the Little Kettle. Stones and sand are carried by the river into these circular depressions in the riverbed, where they are whirled around by the flowing water and continue to hollow them out. Like a live cooking show put on by nature!

WHAT ARE STONE KETTLES

As it flows along its journey – eddying, dropping and seeking its path – the Radovna sculpts numerous erosional landforms. River potholes (also known as swirlholes) can be recognised by their shape, which is reminiscent of a pot or kettle.

These bowl-shaped or cylindrical hollows are carved into the rocky beds of rivers and streams. Two of these are visible from the path through Vintgar Gorge: the Great Kettle and the Little Kettle.

Stone kettles like these form at points where strong eddies form as a result of weakness in the rock. Gravel carried by the flow of water is trapped in the eddy and begins to hollow out a depression. Faster-flowing watercourses also carry rocks and logs, which further accelerate the hollowing and widening process. The formation of the kettle is interrupted if the speed of flow diminishes or the pothole becomes too deep and fills with alluvial deposits.

ŽUMER’S GALLERY

The most romantic part of the VIntgar Gorge, where the cliffs on either side draw closer together and give Vintgar its distinctive appearance. Žumer’s Gallery is the location of a commemorative plaque dedicated to Jakob Žumer, the local man who discovered Vintgar Gorge in 1891 and, together with the photographer and cartographer Benedikt Lergetporer, was the first to make his way through it.

Žumer’s Gallery is the narrowest part of Vintgar Gorge, where the cliffs on either side begin to move closer together. From here the biggest waterfall inside the gorge – the Little Šum Falls– can be seen.

Romantic Vintgar Gorge

The view of Žumer’s Gallery and the Little Šum Falls has been the inspiration for numerous poems and works of art by local and foreign artists. The cliffs here are completely vertical and give Vintgar Gorge its distinctive and recognisable shape. The secure wooden walkway for visitors consists of steel beams firmly embedded in the rock with wooden planks laid over them.

Memorial honouring Jakob Žumer

A stone plaque on the wall of Žumer’s Gallery is dedicated to Jakob Žumer, a local man who grew up near Vintgar Gorge and served as the mayor of Gorje. In February 1891, when the water level of the Radovna was exceptionally low, he and photographer and cartographer Benedikt Lergetporer made their way through what at that time was a still unexplored part of Vintgar and brought word of this wonderful hidden gorge out into the world.

Žumer and Lergetporer created a committee that began raising funds and preparing Vintgar Gorge for visitors. Help was provided by the Carniolan Diet (provincial assembly), the Carniolan Savings Bank and various hotel owners. Local people raised money by organising dances and festivities. Vintgar Gorge was opened to visitors for the first time in 1893, by which time more than 500 metres of bridges and galleries had been built.