The Miners of Bovec

The miner's axe and the cap were obtained by the Tolmin Museum in 1954.

Mining has been present in the Bovec Region since the 16th century. People first mined iron ore in Trenta; then, in the 19th century, the inhabitants of Log pod Mangartom and Strmec began working in the Rabelj (Cave del Predil) lead and zinc mine. The road to the mine first lead through the 1156-metre-high Predel Pass. Later, the miners of Log started going to work through a mining tunnel, carved under the hills above Loška dolina. The so-called “štoln” was finished in 1905, and lead all the way from the Rabelj mine to the village of Log pod Mangartom. It was meant for drainage, but had also been envisioned as a strategically important military object since the very beginning. During the First World War, a narrow-gauge railway led through the tunnel, which was later used to transport miners to work.

The mine was closed in 1991, but many mining objects have been preserved. Since 1954, the Tolmin Museum has housed a miner’s cap and axe that formed part of the miner’s parade costume in the period before the First World War. Both items originate from the Katarinčeva House in Bovec.