1998

[Editor's note: we do not attest to the accuracy or completeness of these notes which are provided by the Croatian and Slovenian Postal authorities.]

(SLO) PROMINENT SLOVENES - FRANCESCO ROBBA (1698-1757)

Fungi or mushroom splay an essential and irreplaceable ecological role in the ecosystems of the land and without them the natural balance would be non-existent.

CAESAR'S MUSHROOM (AMANITA CAESAREA / SCOP.:FR / PERS.)

• Date / Vrijednost:  April, 22, 1998
• Designer / Autor: Danijel Popović, Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: AKD - Hrvatski tiskarski zavod, Zagreb, Savska cesta 31
• Size / Veličina: 35,5x29.82 mm
• Paper / Papir: White, 102 g, gummed
• Perforation:  14
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Quantity / Naklada: 350 000
• Denomination: 1,30 K

Caesar's mushroom lives in the mycorrhiza with various sorts of oak and sweet chestnut. it can most often be found in bright woods, but also outside the woods as far as fifteen meters away from the margin of the wood, as well as next to some lone trees. It is a customary species in southern Europe, whereas it is rather rare in Central Europe, while it cannot be found anywhere in northern Europe.

MOREL (MORCHELLA CONICA PERS.)

• Date / Vrijednost:  April, 22, 1998
• Designer / Autor: Danijel Popović, Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: AKD - Hrvatski tiskarski zavod, Zagreb, Savska cesta 31
• Size / Veličina: 35,5x29.82 mm
• Paper / Papir: White, 102 g, gummed
• Perforation:  14
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Quantity / Naklada: 350 000
• Denomination: 7,20 K

The species Morchella conica lives in the hilly and mountainous areas, particularly in areas with a carbonate-based soil, on meadows, along the edges of forests and margins of roads. Though it is widely spread, both in our country and in Europe, it is limited to very narrow and mostly unstable micro-habitats, so it is becoming an endangered species of mushrooms in those areas where it is excessively gathered and picked.

SAFFRON MILK CUP (LACTARIUS DELICIOSUS / L.:FR / GRAY)

• Date / Vrijednost:  April, 22, 1998
• Designer / Autor: Danijel Popović, Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: AKD - Hrvatski tiskarski zavod, Zagreb, Savska cesta 31
• Size / Veličina: 35,5x29.82 mm
• Paper / Papir: White, 102 g, gummed
• Perforation:  14
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Quantity / Naklada: 350 000
• Denomination: 1,30 K

The saffron milk cup lives in the mycorrhiza with various sorts of pine trees. It can be found in natural forests, as well as in pine tree plantations.

See also:  Flora - Fungi and Tubers

(SLO) FLORA - CONIFEROUS TREES (COMMON JUNIPER)

• Date of issue: June 10, 1998
• Ilustration: dr. Vlado Ravnik
• Design: dr. Borut Juvanec
• Printer: DELO - TISKARNA d.d., Ljubljana
• Realization: Blok
• Perforation: comb
• Size: 28,80*40,32
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Face value: 14 SIT
• Print quantity: 70000

COMMON JUNIPER (Juniperus communis L.) 

The common juniper is a shrub that flourishes in sunny, dry places. It is widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere in Europe, Asia, North America and North Africa.

The common juniper belongs to the cypress family. This is usually a bushy species, but it can vary in size and grow into a tree as tall as 10m. The bark is smooth and glowing at first. Later it becomes grey brown. Grey green, prickly needles have a white longitudinal line and they are arranged on twigs in whorls of three. Plants are dioecious. The female plants produce pulpy, dark blue small berries coated with a thin wax layer which are called juniper berries. The latter are green in the beginning. Later they become black purple. They take three years to ripen.

In the Slovene folk medicine juniper was used to cure more than a hundred different complaints and is thus ranked on the top of the most used medical herbs in Slovenia.

Nada Praprotnik

See also: Flora - Juniperus Communis

(SLO) Flora - Coniferous trees (common spruce)

• Date of issue: June 10, 1998
• Type: PZ
• Ilustration: dr. Vlado Ravnik
• Design: dr. Borut Juvanec
• Motif: Common spruce
• Printed by: DELO - TISKARNA d. d., Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 1
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Size: 28,80 x 40,32 mm
• Face value: 15 SIT

COMMON SPRUCE (Picea abies (L.) Karsten)

The common spruce is one of the most important forest tree species in Slovenia. It is native to the European mountain ranges extending from Scandinavia to the Alps and the Balkan Peninsula, and can be found at elevations between 1000 and 2300 m. It is frequently planted in lower regions.

The common spruce belongs to the pine family. It grows to a height of 50 m and is pointedly conical in shape. The bark covering the trunk is reddish and it is chapped in scalelike forms. The needles are four-angled and have sharpened points. When the needle falls off, the lower part of the stem stays on the twig thus making the latter coarse. Pendulous cones develop from the red female flowers. When they are mature, they fall off the tree.
The spruce wood is known for its versatility. Folk medicine uses spruce needles for making tea and vitamin drinks, while young shoots are used to make a syrup for treating colds.

Nada Praprotnik

(SLO) Flora - Coniferous trees (black pine)

• Date of issue: June 10, 1998
• Type: PZ
• Ilustration: dr. Vlado Ravnik
• Design: dr. Borut Juvanec
• Motif: Black pine
• Printed by: DELO - TISKARNA d. d., Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 1
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Size: 28,80 x 40,32 mm
• Face value:  80SIT

BLACK PINE (Pinus nigra Arnold)

The black pine is one of the most resistant and unpretentious tree species. Numerous subspecies are widely distributed from Spain to the Crimea, from Asia Minor to Australia, and from Algeria to Morocco.

The black pine belongs to the pine family. Its height ranges from 20 to 40 m and it has a pyramidal or umbrella like crown. Its bark is almost black, up to 10 cm thick and coarse. Due to its dark bark and dusky appearance it was named the "black pine". On its short sprouts there are two 15 mm long, dark green pointed leaves. The mature cones jut out horizontally.

In Slovenia there are only few natural habitats of the black pine (above the Kolpa valley, on the slopes of Ajdna, in the Trenta valley...). In the preceding century the then treeless and desolate Karst was wooded with the black pine without which it is difficult to imagine today the Karst barren land.

Nada Praprotnik

(SLO) Flora - Coniferous trees (european larch)

• Date of issue: June 10, 1998
• Type: PZ
• Ilustration: dr. Vlado Ravnik
• Design: dr. Borut Juvanec
• Motif: Eropean larch
• Printed by: DELO - TISKARNA d. d., Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 1
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Size: 28,80 x 40,32 mm
• Face value:

EUROPEAN LARCH (Larix decidua Mill)

The European larch is unusual among the Slovenian coniferous trees in that it is deciduous, i.e. its needles drop in autumn. It is particularly abundant in the Alps, the Carpathians, the Sudeten and in south Poland.

The European larch belongs to the pine family. It attains a height of 25 m, its branches grow horizontally, only the lower ones are slightly drooping. The light green, thin and soft needles grow on long sprouts singly and on short ones in clusters. When the tree is young, the grey reddish bark is smooth, later it is chapped into planes. The female inflorescences are red at first. The small cones are grey brown. The wood has a close grain, it is reddish and it smells strongly of resin. Due to its durable wood, it is used for manufacturing fences and furniture.

The larch is the species that can be found at the highest elevations in the Slovenian Alps. In autumn its glowing golden yellow leaves make the mountain landscape particularly attractive.

Nada Praprotnik

(SLO) Railways - Steam locomotive SŽ 06-018

• Date of issue: June 10, 1998
• Type: PZ
• Ilustration: Jože Trpin
• Design: Milena Gregorčič
• Motif: Steam locomotive SŽ 06-018
• Printed by: DELO - TISKARNA d. d., Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 25
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Size: 40,32 x 28,80 mm

World War I also had a destructive effect on the railways. The new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes suffered greatly from the lack of modern powerful locomotives. However, being on the winning side, it had a right to compensation for war damage.

The first post war years were marked in Germany, which bore the main burden of reparations, by the implementation of new ideas in the manufacturing of steam locomotives: a decision was taken to build all locomotives according to a uniform criteria with a large amount of replaceable parts regardless of their size and power. Up to that time the eight German Regional Railways had manufactured locomotives independently of each other, which in 1920 after the merger into "Deutche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft" (German State Railways) caused problems in the provision of spare parts. The German standardised locomotives released by the German factories in 1925 proved very efficient.

The Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes took over the idea and ordered in Germany in the framework of reparations 110 standardised locomotives of three types marked as 05, 06 and 30, which were adapted to pulling fast, passenger and goods trains. They were manufactured according to German standards, but adapted to the Yugoslav railway lines and type of coal. They had all been delivered by 1930, among them there was also 06-018 from the category of passenger trains. Unlike the other two models, the 06 was designated for hauling passengers in Slovenia right from the start, so that it can be considered as autochthonous vehicle. These 30 locomotives were used mostly for the haulage of fast trains up the heavy grades and sharp curves of Slovenian railway lines, that is why they had a reputation as high-speed mountain locomotives. Their maximum speed of 85 km/h was adequate for the Slovenian railway lines and their enormous power of 1700 HP (1050 kW) was sufficient for pulling heavy goods trains at the end of the steam traction period, when more eminent jobs were taken over by electric locomotives. Its heavy weight - 160 tonnes - allowed it to run on the main lines only, and even on these a number of bridges had to be fortified.

The 06 type belongs to the largest, the most powerful and the most respected locomotives in Slovenia. Many believe that it is also the most beautiful of its kind. To be its engine driver was a special honour and privilege. The Slovene Railways therefore repaired one of the three remaining locomotives for the haulage of museum trains in 1989.
With this important acquisition of the Yugoslav State Railways coincides also the building of the new railway bridge in Zidani Most, which gave a new lease of life to this very important and busy railway junction. The first railway bridge was built for the direction Maribor - Ljubljana (the Vienna - Trieste railway line). When in 1862 the Southern Railway built a railway line from the confluence of the rivers Sava and Savinja to Zagreb and Sisak, a small shunting station was made at a junction where the trains were put together or taken apart. Due to the difficult terrain, it was squeezed under the slopes of the hill which raises over the left bank of the rivers Savinja and Sava respectively. The passenger station was naturally placed on the other side of the bridge, on the right bank of the Savinja. Trains arriving from Ljubljana and destined to Zagreb therefore had to stop at the freight station where the locomotive was uncoupled and shunted to the other end of the train. This was a time-consuming and hard work. That is why the building company Slavec from Kranj built in the years 1929/30 a new, very beautiful bridge out of reinforced concrete for the direct direction Ljubljana - Zagreb, so that the powerful 06 could run without "turning". The company was particularly proud of the fact that it executed all the works with local work force and material. Unfortunately the bridge was almost completely ruined during the bombing of allied air forces during World War II. It was repaired in a simplified way without the characteristic beautiful material-saving arches.

Prof. Mladen Bogić

(HRV) 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF MATE BALOTA [real name MIJO MIRKOVIĆ] (1898-1963)

• Date / Vrijednost:  June 13, 1998
• Designer / Autor: Nikola Šiško/Art design - Design studio from Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: AKD - Hrvatski tiskarski zavod, Zagreb, Savska cesta 31
• Size / Veličina: 35.5x29.82 mm
• Paper / Papir: White, 102 g, gummed
• Perforation:  14
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Quantity / Naklada: 350 010
• Denomination: 1.60 K

Mate Balota is the pseudonym of Mijo Mirković, the poet and scientist. He was educated in his native Rakaj, attended grammar school in Pazin, continued it in the Czech Republic; he completed his studies of economics in Germany, worked as high school teacher in Subotica and after the World War II came to Zagreb. In the course of his exciting life he had changed many professions: ha was a sailor, stonemason, worker, journalist, miner, fugitive, convict, university professor, secretary of the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

See also: Prominent Istrians - Mate Balota

(HRV) SHIPS

The stamps were issued in sheets of 50 and in small sheet with 9 stamps. The Croatian Post and Telecommunications put on sale the commemorative First Day Cover (FDC) and the First Day sheet.

SERILIA LIBURNICA FROM THE 1st CENTURY B.C.

• Date / Vrijednost: August 27, 1998
• Designer / Autor: Nikola Šiško/ART DIZAJN, Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: Zrinski d. d. - Čakovec
• Size / Veličina: 35.50 x 25.56 mm
• Paper / Papir:  White, 102 g, gummed
• Perforation: 14
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Denomination:  1,20 K

Liburnians, the ancient inhabitants of the eastern coast of the Adriatic who inhabited the area between the rivers Raša in Istria and Krka in Dalmatia, were widely known as excellent sailors. The archaeological finds of two small Liburnian boats, 6 and 8 metres in length, discovered in the ancient port in the vicinity of Nin, prove the seafaring orientation and shipbuilding skill of the Liburnians.

Both discovered boats, currently in the process of being preserved, have been built by a unique way of connecting the boat parts: all the joints of the plates from the panelling of the boat starboard, as well as the joints of the keel with the plates were worked out by sewing. The complete structure of the boat has been worked out without a single nail. The finds show that the square sail of the boat on the double mast was probably made of leather.

The Liburnian serilia from Nin, that proves the ancient tradition from the era before metals started being used, represents a rare example of a historical sewn boat. Moreover, the design of this boat is probably the basis upon which the Romans have developed their liburnians.

THE ISTRIAN AND DALMATIAN BRACERA (D) - No. 295

• Date / Vrijednost: August 27, 1998
• Designer / Autor: Nikola Šiško/ART DIZAJN, Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: Zrinski d. d. - Čakovec
• Size / Veličina: 35.50 x 25.56 mm
• Paper / Papir:  White, 102 g, gummed
• Perforation: 14
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Denomination:  1,80 K

The bracera, the coastal cargo sailing-vessel is the most characteristic merchant boat along the Croatian coast of the Adriatic, with sails and oars ad driving-gear, 12 to 17 metres in length, and the carrying capacity of 70 tons. It is considered that the name of the boat is etymologically connected with the name of the island Brač (Brač - bracera).

Due to the differences in the specific conditions of the coast and sea, the solution of the form of the bracera on the north Adriatic differs from the solution for the bracera from the south. The essential feature of the Istrian bracera is a proportionally shallow hull with a relatively shallow draught, while the hull of the Dalmatian bracera is markedly deeper. Moreover, the Istrian cargo boats mostly used to have two masts with the headsail and gaffsail, or Lateen sail, like a small cargo boat, trabakul. The Dalmatian cargo boats, braceras, usually had only one mast with a Lateen or head sail, more rarely a gaffsail. On the head stay the braceras had one, sometimes two battens.

The bracera, like other boats in the Adriatic, that have for centuries represented the traditional centre of a certain seafaring social community shows the perfection of form of a small boat, achieved in the course of a thousand-year-long evolution.

THE BARQUE, 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY - No. 300

• Date of issue: August 27, 1998
• Author: Nikola Šiško/Art design - graphic studio, Zagreb
• Printed by: AKD - Hrvatski tiskarski zavod, Zagreb, Savska cesta 31
• Size: 35,5 x 25,56 mm
• Paper: white 102g, gummed
• Perforation: 14,
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
• Value: 2,65Kn

Barques dominated among the last great 19th century merchant sailing-ships on the Adriatic. These were mostly three-masted sailing ships of about 250 to 600 tons, because the dimensions corresponded best to the rigging of the barque.

The rigging of the barque had the classic equipment of the large sailing-ships with its origin in the rigging of the 14th century sailing-ships. Due to the favourable relationship of the surfaces beetwen the longitudinal and transversal sails, the rigging of a three-masted barque had excellent manoeuvering qualities. The barque always had longitudinal sails and all the other masts of the barque had lufsails. On the jib stay towards the bow mast there were battens, and between the masts, on the flights, flight sails were brought up.

At the end of the 19th century, large sailing-ships finally lost the battle with the steamships on all the world seas and oceans, on the Adriatic, too. The new shipbuilding centres have taken over precedence by introducing new ideas and technologies.

Barques dominated among the last great 19th century merchant sailing-ships on the Adriatic. These were mostly three-masted sailing ships of about 250 to 600 tons, because the dimensions corresponded best to the rigging of the barque. The rigging of the barque had the classic equipment of the large sailing-ships with its origin in the rigging of the 14th century sailing-ships. Due to the favourable relationship of the surfaces beetwen the longitudinal and transversal sails, the rigging of a three-masted barque had excellent manoeuvering qualities. The barque always had longitudinal sails and all the other masts of the barque had lufsails. On the jib stay towards the bow mast there were battens, and between the masts, on the flights, flight sails were brought up.

At the end of the 19th century, large sailing-ships finally lost the battle with the steamships on all the world seas and oceans, on the Adriatic, too. The new shipbuilding centres have taken over precedence by introducing new ideas and technologies.

THE RAGUSAN ARGOSY, 16TH CENTURY - No. 297

• Date of issue: August 27, 1998
• Value: 1,6 kn
• Author: Nikola Šiško/Art design - graphic studio, Zagreb
• Size: 35,5 x 25,56 mm
• Paper: white 102g, gummed
• Perforation: 14, comb
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
• Printed by: AKD - Hrvatski tiskarski zavod, Zagreb, Savska cesta 31

At the time of the blossoming of the Ragusan Republic in the 16th century, the shipyards of the Republic in the city of Dubrovnik built the majority of almost 200 ships for the Adriatic coastal and overseas navigation, with the total carrying capacity of almost 25 000 wagon-loads, i. e. about 50 000 tons. The citizens of Dubrovnik were widely known as builders of large argosies and galleons. This is the reason that the name "argosy", derived from Ragusa, the old name for Dubrovnik, became the synonym for a large merchant ship, probably exactly the Ragusan argosy, and even Shakespeare mentions it in his "Merchant of Venice". From the 14th to the 17th century, the argosy was a large, if not the largest ship of its time, one of the most important sailing ships on the Mediterranean. It was a strongly built three-masted merchant clipper with a large superstructure on the deck. The argosy was wider and much bigger than the caravel, and it can really be considered the actual forerunner of the three-masted sailing-ships whose development continued until the 19th century.

CONDURA CROATICA, 11TH - 12TH CENTURY - No. 296

• Date of issue: 2August 27, 1998
• Value: 1,5 kn
• Author: Nikola Šiško/Art design - graphic studio, Zagreb
• Size: 35,5 x 25,56 mm
• Paper: white 102g, gummed
• Perforation: 14, comb
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
• Printed by: AKD - Hrvatski tiskarski zavod, Zagreb, Savska cesta 31

In 1966, at the entrance to the port of Nin, two small boats were discovered. After having been taken out and carefully documented, they were subjected to a prolonged procedure of desalinization of the wooden structure. The boats are 7 and 8 metres in length, built in the typical Mediterranean way of tackling the joining of the plates. The characteristic feature is the lack of the keel which is supplemented by two parallel wooden starboard supports. The proportionally narrow form of the boats points to the fact that they have probably been used for swift rowing patroles in the narrow straits, as well as for swift attacks. The rowing crew would be able to direct them skilfully, and in the case of emergency, the boats could be pulled ashore and hidden in the nearby dense evergreen underbush along the coast. It is believed that these boats could be early Croatian conduras. The dimensions of the boats correspond exactly to the dimensions of the conduras mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus when speaking of the Croatian navy, and research by using the C14 procedure showed that the age of the wooden structure of the boats corresponds to the time when Croats used to sail on conduras. The design of the boat reminds of the design of the Liburnian serilia, so it could be said that it represents a successful combination of Croatian and Liburnian shipbuilding tradition.

THE SHIP FROM THE NERETVA - No. 299

• Date of issue: August 27, 1998
• Value: 2,45 kn
• Author: Nikola Šiško/Art design - graphic studio, Zagreb
• Size: 35,5 x 25,56 mm
• Paper: white 102g, gummed
• Perforation: 14, comb
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
• Printed by: AKD - Hrvatski tiskarski zavod, Zagreb, Savska cesta 31

Up to the present times, the ship from the Neretva has been exceptionally useful and popular vessel of the population from the valley of the river Neretva. There is a proverb from the Neretva region that reflects the importance of the ship in the hard life of the peasants who had to fight in order to snatch the land from the swamp: "There is nothing like the ship for the Neretva". Owing to the broadly opened starboard, the ship has always been a stable boat that could take a heavy load and pass through narrow channels or through the dense rushes of the river delta. The ship was there to be sailed or rowed along the river, upstream or downstream. The ship used to be pulled upstream by the characteristic technique of the Neretva region: the women used to pull the rope while the man sat on the stern and steered. The ship was used to transport cattle, crops, grass and sand, wooden building-material or furniture. The ship was also used to transport wedding-parties and funeral processions. The ship from the Neretva, with the marked features of the lower flow of the Neretva, represents a fossile example of the traditional shipbuilding of the Croats, and the continuity of the shipbuilding tradition is clearlyevident, particularly in the case of a small boat.

(SLO) 900^th anniversary of the Cistercian order

• Date of issue: September 11, 1998
• Type: PZ
• Photography: inž. Marjan Smerke
• Design: Andrejka Čufer
• Motif: St. Bernard, Stična manuscript and church
• Printed by: DELO - TISKARNA d. d., Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 25
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Size: 40,32 x 28,80 mm

900th Anniversary of the Cistercian Order and 100th Anniversary of Stična Revival

The words "Pray and work" of St Benedict of Nursia, known as the father of Western monasticism, led the Cistercians throughout Europe at the turn of 11th and 12th centuries. The first Cistercian monastery was founded by St Robert, St Alberic and St Stephen exactly 900 years ago, i.e. on 21 March 1098 in Cîteaux, France. The foundation of the Cistercian order was a result of the aspiration to reform the Benedictine order. The new order spread quickly largely through the efforts of St Bernard, abbot from Clairvaux (1090 - 1153) - the greatest preacher of the 12th century and a great spiritual leader of the whole of Europe who demanded his Cistercian brothers live in modesty.

In Slovenia the territory of the today's Stična in the Dolenjska region was selected as the right spot for the construction of a new Cistercian monastery. Decision to build the monastery on a territory covered with woods and marshes away from the populated world was partially influenced by the invitation of the Patriarch Peregrin of Aquilea and the lords of Višnja gora. The legend says that it was a bird that helped the monks to find a convenient location for the construction of a new monastery. With a Voice of God "Sit hic, sit hic" (In English "Let it be here") the bird showed them the right spot. The White Monks - Cistercians took the hint, and later placed the bird in their monastic coat-of-arms.

The territory south of the river Drava was under the administration of the Patriarch of Aquileia. In 1136, when the monastery was completed, the Patriarch of Aquileia signed and handed over to the Cistercian monastery of Stična the founding document. At Stična Cistercian monks found a "fertile place" for their religious, spiritual, cultural and economic activities. In the shelter of monastery's walls and cloister they found their hermit world for prayer and contemplation. In the outside world the monks dedicated themselves to the pastoral care and enlightenment of people. There were approximately 70 present parishes under the administration of Stična abbey. Besides Stična the following monasteries built by the Cistercian order can be found on Slovenian ethnical territory: Vetrinje monastery in Carinthia (1142), Monošter monastery in the Porabje region (1219) and Kostanjevica monastery in the Dolenjska region (1234). Cistercians took great care of the farmer. The monastic rules prescribed to the monks - lay brothers as well as friars - stated that they must do manual work, agriculture, stock breading and wine growing. They were not allowed to depend on charity. They brought to Slovenia new forms of agriculture, land cultivation, new tools (iron plough) and new plants. They taught mostly by giving a good example.

Cistercians also took active part in the cultural area. After all, monasteries without books are like arsenal without arms. In the 12th century the famous Stična Manuscripts were produced at the Stična monastery, which can be compared to other European manuscripts of the time for their contents, quality and formation. Furthermore, manuscript codices were written and copied by skilful writers - calligraphers and decorated with enlarged initial letters by the illuminators. Reflecting fine art of the then time, these text or paragraph initials were interlaced with the illuminator's fantasy. A decoration - botanical or zoomorphic ornamentation - could be stressed. Thus, the present stamp features the initial which is taken from the Latin Codex Formulare cisterciense, MS 32 from the 15th century. In that period, i.e. in the middle of the 15th century (1428 - 1440) the famous Stična Manuscript - a very important document for Slovenes - was produced at Stična monastery as a result of the efforts put forward by the monks striving to bring the faith closer to the people, who did not understand the complicated church texts written in the Latin language. The Stična manuscript is today kept at the National and University Library in Ljubljana. The Slovene word can be found in the general confessions and in the first stanza of the Easter song.

Life in the monastery was relatively peaceful until the Turks came in Slovenia in the 15th and 16th centuries. In that period the monastery was partially burned down on several occasions. Through the centuries the monastery was rebuilt and its image changed. The architecture was changed to match the needs of the order and need for simplicity. The cloister (also known as the cross corridor) representing the heart of the monastery dates from the Romanesque period (12th century) and forms the old nucleus of the monastery. In the Gothic period the cloister was redesigned and painted. The paintings of Janez Ljubljanski (Johannes de Laybaco) from the 15th century are famous. The cross corridor was named after the processions with the cross. The monastic church, too, was originally designed as a Romanesque basilica, which can still be seen in the attic and in the Romanesque apses. The church was completed in 1156 and it was dedicated to the Mother of God. As a matter-of-fact all the Cistercian churches are dedicated to Mary. The monastic church, a three-nave column basilica with a transept and presbytery, which ends in semicircular apses, has been changed several times throughout the centuries. The present basilica is in the style of the 17th and 18th centuries when the old Romanesque basilica was renovated in the baroque style. The Stična Church is the second largest church in Slovenia.

The greatest blow to the monastery was dealt in the period of secularization under Emperor Joseph II. His reforms dissolved the monastery for 114 years (from 1784 to 1898). The monastic property passed into the hands of the state and the religious fund. The monastic premises began to dilapidate, monks left their home and many a valuable thing got lost. In 1898 the Cistercians from the monastery Mehrerau near Brengz near Lake of Constance renovated the Stična abbey and White Monks - Cistercians returned to the monastery. Life, which rested upon a 100-year old tradition of steadfast faith and culture, was revived. During its 900-year long existence the oldest active monastery in Slovenia - the Cistercian abbey in Stična has considerably contributed to the history of Slovene people. For centuries it has remained an important religious, spiritual, cultural and economic centre not only of the Dolenjska region, but of the entire Slovene territory.

Jana Tomažič Cvetko, Director of Slovenian Religious Museum

See also:

• I frati bianchi di San Pietro in Selve

(SLO) Art - Avgust Černigoj (Sketch of Theatrical Costume)

• Date of issue: September 11, 1998
• Type: PZ
• Design: Novi kolektivizem
• Motif: Sketch of Theatrical Costume;
• Printed by: DELO - TISKARNA d. d., Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 8
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Size: 36,25 x 50,75 mm
• Note: In sheets of 16 stamps (se-tenant 8 x 2 mm)
• Face value: 70 kn and 80 kn

Avgust Černigoj: 100th Anniversary of the Artist's Birth

Avgust Černigoj was born on 24 August 1898 to Slovene parents in Trieste. After finishing at the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts in Trieste, he set out for Munich in the Autumn of 1922 where he continued his studies as the only Slovene at the Academy of Fine Arts. From there his craving for knowledge brought him to Weimar - to the famous Bauhaus school, where under the visionary direction of Prof. Walter Gropius and in cooperation with other outstanding professors on the staff (such as Johannes Itten, László Moholy-Nagy, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, etc) they tried to bridge the gap typical of 19th century between fine arts and practical art, art and technique and join them together.

The short, but intensively spent Weimar period had a profound influence on Černigoj's artistic development and gave an indelible and recognizable character to his personality as well as to most of his works. He became enthusiastic about Abstraction, represented in those times by Kandinsky and Klee at the Bauhaus, and above all about Constructivism, which was brought from Russia by Kandinsky (the author of the first abstract painting) whose class was also attended by Černigoj. The latter remained more or less freely faithful to Constructivist principles for his entire life.

As early as in Munich period, Černigoj started to correspond on the basis of his acquaintance with the pianist Mrs. Karmela Kosovel with her brother, the revolutionary poet Srečko Kosovel. Černigoj recognised in him a soul mate - a man aspiring to development and search for new values - and returned to Ljubljana instead of Trieste. Infused with Constructivism, he prepared the first Constructivist exhibition in the premises of the Secondary Technical School (where he also lectured the following school year). The Baroque Ljubljana, as he named it himself, which had barely accepted Expressionism, was shocked by the sight of exhibited architectural models, reliefs and sculptures, but most of all by parts of machines, overalls and numerous politically artistic slogans, some of which were even hanged upside down, and was not in a position at that time to understand correctly, critically appreciate and contextually place Černigoj's work.

Nevertheless, Černigoj pursued his search for new ways (and similar-minded people) tenaciously and courageously and was not afraid to step off the well trodden ways. In his most intensive and avant-garde creating he left behind many different traces and inspirations.

As a political exile he was forced to return to Trieste in the Autumn of 1925. There he created a number of theatrical costumes and Constructivist scenes through which he broke the illusion of stage space for the Slovene Theatre at Sveti Jakob called "Public stage". It is also noteworthy to mention his cooperation with the avant-garde stage manager Ferdo Delak and his "New Stage" and magazine "Tank".

In the period between 1927 and 1937 he found himself a job in the Trieste shipyard where he worked as an ordinary painter and decorator of oceangoing ships to make his living. During World War II he painted several churches in the Primorska region (Drežnica, Štivan near Devin, Knežak and Košana, etc). Also important is his pedagogical work extending over several years. From 1946 and up to 1970 when he retired, he taught art at the Slovene Secondary School of Natural Science and at the College of Education in Trieste. During his life he participated at numerous exhibitions both at home and abroad. He also won some awards for his work, among them the Prešeren Award for his life achievements. Černigoj spent the last five years of his life in Lipica, where in a gallery bearing his name approximately 1,400 of his works are kept. Avgust Černigoj died on 17 November 1985 in Sežana, where he is also buried.

He introduced into the Slovene fine arts an important novelty: collage, through which he created not only new artistic values but also changed the way of understanding artistic work. Černigoj accepted fairly early on - from the Slovene point of view at least - abstract art and he quickly came closer to the world initiators of "art informel" (informal art).

And yet, just as 40 years had to pass from the creation to the publication of Kosovel's collection of poetry - Integrals, likewise it seems that Černigoj's time is yet to come. As a person and artist Černigoj faced hardships for the most part of his life, which was marked by the constant struggle for existence and confirmation of his own artistic place in Slovene art. But in spite of all that, he kept his characteristic fighting spirit, cheerfulness and untiring diligence throughout his entire life.

Banker (Miser)

A costume sketch, collage and acquarelle dating from 1926, is kept in the Theatre Museum in Ljubljana. It most likely represents a banker, certainly caricatured. All preserved sketches for scenes and costumes represent real artistic works. Even though the artist preserves and even stresses realistic elements, he remains faithful to his Constructivist principles. Through his daring creation and engagement Černigoj is on a par with other European ideals of that time.

Brina Čehovin

Bibliography:

• Croatian Post Inc. - Croatian Postage Stamps - English & Hrvatski
• Post of Slovenia - Stamp Land (English)
• Gaspare Cicata Oasi page - I giardini pubblici (Miramare)
• http://www.areacom.it/arte_cultura/filatelia/1997/061297.htm (Toscana)