What to do and see in Jesenice, Upper Carniola Region: The Best Things to do

This three-hour-long train ride along the Bohinj railway will undoubtedly be an unforgettable experience for any true rail enthusiast. The views of Lake Bled, passing through numerous gorges, crossing many tunnels, the longest of which measures 6,327 m (3.93 miles), never fail to impress. Make sure your cameras are at hand!

Stara Sava Stara Sava is characterised by extremely rich ironmaking tradition. It has all the essential elements of a former iron foundry settlement: Ruard Manor from the 16th century, Church of St. Mary’s Assumption from the beginning of the 17th century, Kasarna with workers’ flats from the end of the 18th century, a blast furnace with a puddling mill, storage for charcoal and a mill from the 19th century. Today the area serves for museum, culture and tourist activities. In the courtyard of former Koren house you can play the bells or try your luck in The Horseshoe of Fortune. The following can be arranged for groups (at least 10 people and to be booked in advance): - Ironmaking games such as throwing of horseshoes, paving with bricks, walking with stilts, knocking of buckets, Changes in time, and others, - ethnological workshops Making a worker’s cup of coffee, which you can taste, and Identification of museum objects for little children, - creative workshops Drawing with charcoal, Miner’s lamp, Making candles in the shape of a blast furnace, Making use of wire, Sundial. You can experience Stara Sava by joining organised guiding and finish the visit by a worker’s snack, served in Kolpern. The culinary experience is completed by showing a film about the former ironworks Zar jekla – SM jeklarna (The Glow of Steel), Jeseniski plavzi (Jesenice blast furnaces), Zgodovina zelezarstva (History of Ironmaking) or life of workers and the first nurse (Angela Boskin – Poti k ljudem (Paths to people)). You can also join a guided tour along the old mining path to Planina pod Golico. Ruard manor n 1538 Italian family Bucelleni moved from Planina pod Golico to Stara Sava. They built a manor and a foundry, which earned a lot of money in a short period of time. In 1686 the Bucellenis became counts. Valentin Ruard, a Belgian merchant, bought the plant and the manor in 1766. Three generations of the Ruards lived in the manor and in 1871 it became the property of the Carniolan Industrial Company. Since 1954 the manor has been housing a museum. It had been the Jesenice Ironworks Technical Museum until 1990 and since 1991 it has been the registered office of Gornjesavski muzej Jesenice. Today it houses a permanent ironmaking and mining collection. Kasarna Kasarna is a late Baroque building dating from the end of the 18th century. It is one of the oldest preserved examples of common workers’ flats in our country. Ironmaking families lived there until 1983. In 1985 it was listed as a cultural monument, renovated by the Municipality of Jesenice under the authority of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Kranj. Nowadays it houses Music School Jesenice and Gornjesavski muzej Jesenice. Visitors can see a permanent ethnological exhibition which shows the lifestyle of ironmaking families and a reconstruction of a worker’s flat. Archive and photographic material of the Carniolan Industrial Company and photographs of the Ironworks of Jesenice are kept in Kasarna. Kolpern This was a covered and airy storage for charcoal in foundry settlement Stara Sava. It is shown in the land registry map (1868) that in 1808 the original small building was extended to three connected storages. The buildings were right next to the blast furnace, supplying it with the charcoal as fuel. At the end of the 19th century the blast furnace was abandoned and the purpose of the storage was changed. In 2009 the Municipality of Jesenice renovated the only preserved storage and made two halls. The conference hall on the first floor has 80 seats and 20 tables. It can be rented for various lectures, round tables, workshops, seminars… . It is equipped with projection facilities, a portable loudspeaker system and internet access. The Banquet Hall on the ground floor houses occasional exhibitions. It can take up to 180 people, there are 9 banquet tables, a catering kitchen and projection equipment with a loudspeaker system. It is suitable for various cultural events, meetings, conferences and symposiums and also for civil wedding ceremonies, personal celebrations and wedding parties. Administration The following collections of materials are kept, studied and complemented at the registered office of Gornjesavski muzej Jesenice: – Photo archives with more than 55,000 negatives and the associated contact copies, 1500 postcards, 20,000 original photographs, 3000 colour slides and 25,000 original glass plates, 7400 digital photographs, 37 topic albums and 31 albums about the museum and its activities 1994–2001, and 13,827 digital images of the activity, made in the period from 2001 to 2011; – 230 running meters of the Carniolan Industrial Company archive material; – Internal reference library keeps a part of the ironmaking reference library of the former Jesenice Ironworks or the Carniolan Industrial Company. It is being supplemented by local history and museum literature. -1948 Technical Museum Collection Office – a unit of the Technical Museum of Jesenice. -1950 at the proposal by the TMS, the Ministry of Science and Culture of the Peoples Republic of Slovenia approves the Collection Office. On 3 July 1951 it is renamed to the Technical Museum of Jesenice. -1952 the church at Stara Sava becomes a part of the museum. -1953 the Museum becomes a part of the Jesenice Ironworks. -In 1989/90 the Jesenice Ironworks closed the museum. -1991 The Municipality of Jesenice founded MUZEJ JESENICE – a municipal public institute which merged the museum activity of the former Jesenice Ironworks Technical Museum and the museum activity, registered at the Tone Cufar Theatre, comprising of the care for memorial houses (Liznjek’s house in Kranjska Gora, Presern’s birth house in Vrba and Finzgar’s birth house in Doslovce), and gallery activity in Kos Manor in Jesenice. -2000 Gornjesavski muzej Jesenice (co-founders: the Municipality of Jesenice, the Municipality of Kranjska Gora, the Municipality of Zirovnica). -In 2003 Gornjesavski muzej Jesenice for the area of the municipalities of Jesenice and Kranjska Gora. -In 2009 the Museum received an authorisation from the Government of the RS for performing public service. The mission of the public institute is to take care about recognising, preserving, presenting and understanding tangible and intangible cultural and natural heritage of the Upper Sava region, and the mountaineering and ironmaking heritage of Slovenia.