Memorial plaque

Memorial plaque

The Tolmin Museum’s permanent exhibition includes an interesting marble plaque with an inscription in German, Slovenian and Italian. It serves as a memory of the first and hitherto only visit of the then Habsburg rulers to the Soča Region.

Emperor Franz Joseph I travelled across the Predil Pass, and to the Soča Valley, in September 1882. He spent the night in Bovec, then continued to Kobarid the next day. In both towns, large crowds of people welcomed him in squares adorned with maypoles and triumphal arches. The emperor then visited the festively decorated Tolmin, where he was greeted with cheers, the sounds of cannons being fired, and marches played by the Tolmin brass band. In Tolmin, the emperor met with the most prominent men of the district. After the official part ended, he walked to the town’s church, then to the school, and finally to a well-deserved lunch at the Devetak Restaurant.

And it is precisely this lunch that the memorial plaque is dedicated to. Devetak, the then mayor of Tolmin, set up the plaque in his restaurant to commemorate the solemn visit of the most prominent monarchy member and, especially, to acknowledge what a privilege it was to serve the emperor in his restaurant.