Holiday farm Grofija
VIR CITY AND CVINGER
The homestead lies on the ground of an ancient Iron Age walled and fortified hillfort, which we now call Cvinger. In the second half of the 8th century. pr. n. no. the society of the Iron Age was already well organized, it developed its characteristic culture (Haltstadt culture).
At that time, a new settlement was founded on the hill, from which the surrounding area could be monitored. It was fortified with a protective wall. The settlement remained for more than 700 years until the arrival of the Romans. Later the rural population used the stones of the wall as building material; among other things, the farm buildings on our farm are made of these stones. The building material was probably also used to build the monastery in Stična. The wall around the settlement is more than 2000 m long. The amount of bricked-in stones would fit in about 1500 railway cars.
The population of the time left no traces or signs of their ethnicity. Research into the settlement and the burial mounds showed that this population belonged to a large and well-organized society. This settlement was built when the population of the older Iron Age was already at its peak in social development. The city of Vir is an important part of Hallstatt culture.
CAVE OLM
The word “izvir” (source) can be derived from the word “Vir”. In the village of Vir there is a karst spring, by the locals also called as "Studenec" (second word for spring).
This source is an important site of the cave olm (Proteus anguinus), an amphibian cave dweller.
While washing laundry in the stream spring, local housewife Marija Kek discovered an olm on June 17 1824 and brought it home in a bottle. Later on, young animals were born in the bottle but unfortunately died. The first report about the discovery of the olm was made on our farm.
ETHNOLOGICAL COLLECTION
The ethnological collection with the title “This is how our grandparents lived” was a credit to father Janez.
He passionately collected and exhibited antiquities all over the house. A lot of things came together; the large wooden barn was renovated (built in 1855) and a small ethnological museum was created in the process.
Here, our guests can get an impression of how farm life took place in the house, in the field with agricultural work and in the vineyard.
