002.80.Idrija

Idrija Municipal Museum, Prelovčeva 9, SI-5280 Idrija

Public

Municipality of Idrija, Mestni trg 1, SI-5280 Idrija

EŠD 183

Mine, Built heritage - other

The castle was built on the spot where originally the chapel of St Achatius was located, namely near the small gorge, which offered it natural protection from the south and the west. At the northern side, the castle was protected with a deep artificial ditch and a drawbridge. The Renaissance castle complex with three round corner towers and a front tower, was given a Baroque transformation in the middle of the 18th century. Then, they arranged the internal arcade courtyard and painted it with decorative frescos. In the first half of the 19th century, the castle was given its present appearance.

Area 1,955 m2, height 16.7 m.

Stone, brick, concrete, wood.

1522 to 1533, later finished, processed several times.

Idrija Mercury Mine

Gewerkenegg Castle (= the mining castle) was built as the administrative building of the Mercury Mine Idrija and the warehouse for mercury and cinnabar. In the beginning of the 16th century (and until nationalisation in 1575), the Achatius’s association of miners businessmen also had its share in the Idrija Mine, in which the German aristocratic family Egg was strongly represented. The name Gewerkenegg Castle also derives from that period. Right up to the construction of the mining Magazine (1769), the castle was also the warehouse for the grain and other life commodities for the miners. In the middle of the 19th century, the castle complex, in addition to the administration, was also the place for offices of Idrija authorities, schools, apartments and also a prison for a while. After 1940 the mining administration withdrew its headquarters from the castle. During the World War II, the headquarters of the Italian army for Idrija were on the castle. Between the 6–14 March 1945, the castle was severely damaged during the British bombardment. The building was renovated and used for the needs of the court until 1949. Since 1954, it has been the headquarters of the Idrija Municipal Museum.

The building is being preserved, secured and presented as an important monument of Idrija mining heritage with exceptional universal values. The castle is the headquarters of the Idrija Municipal Museum and the Idrija Music School. The Museum is in charge of the collection, preservation and the presentation of the rich material of the movable cultural heritage. Over its 1,800 m2, the museum has exhibitions that testify about the technical and cultural past of the town with the emphasis on the mining heritage and the lace making heritage. In 1997, the museum’s the exhibition Five Centuries of the Mercury Mine and the Town of Idrija received the Luigi Micheletti Award of the European Museum Forum for the best European museum of technical heritage. At the same time, it also constantly implements pedagogic-andragogic activities. The castle courtyard is intended for summer outdoor events.

2357 Idrija – town, lot no. 1402 (part), 1403 (building no. 578).

No changes.

The castle was systematically renovated from 1988 on. The last interventions were implemented in 2017. The building is statically renovated. In 1990, the 200-year-old arcades were opened and all four courtyard facades were renovated and repainted in a fresco technique on the east and the south external wall on the level of the first and the second floor;
- 2007: the roof was entirely covered;
- 2009: the renovation of the external walls.

good

Performing regular maintenance services by the programme, including status control and preservation, security and presentation of the heritage.

- The Cultural Heritage Register of the Republic of Slovenia;
- Konservatorski program ZVNKD Gorica iz leta 1988;
- Ordinance on the proclamation of the technical heritage in the Idrija and its surroundings for cultural monuments of national importance. Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia no. 66/01, 55/02, 16/08;

Mestni muzej Idrija

Miha Kosmač

2. 3. 2018

Never