Learning by Collecting: Amateur Collectors and Their Shifting Positions in the Isonzo Front Heritagization and Tourism Adaptation

Abstract

Modern collection of war-related artifacts and military objects in the Upper Soča Valley started in the 1980s and increased after Slovenia gained independence in 1991. Today, eighteen private collections are open to the public in the Gorizia region (Koren 2015: 205), but it is estimated that there are fifty to one hundred more (Kofol 2015: 276) that have not been inventoried by any publicly funded institutions. This article 1 evaluates the phenomenon and growth of collecting artifacts from the Isonzo Front. The heritagization of the front's material culture and its adaption to tourism started in 1990, but it greatly developed in the following decades. The global marking of the First World War centenary (2014-2018) gave this development further impetus. Within these processes, amateur collectors are increasingly perceived with ambiguity. On the one hand, "good" collectors are presented in the front's heritage landscape as its founding fathers, but on the other "bad" collectors are presented as problematic in relation to the region's archaeological heritage.

Spominska krajina in dediščina prve svetovne vojne v Julijskih Alpah

“…S povojno obnovo ali prepustitvijo propadanju je vojna krajina postala tudi spominska krajina. Vzdolž soške fronte je med vojno v gorah prihajalo do bitk, po vojni pa so domačini zbrali ostanke vojaških artefaktov in sčasoma oblikovali lokalne muzeje in vojaške zbirke, s tem pa tudi reprezentacije vojne (glej Kravanja 2018).…”

“…Nekatere nastopajo kot zgodovinsko kulturne značilnosti posameznih lokalnosti pri tvorjenju lokalne dediščine ali pri političnih reinterpretacijah prve svetovne vojne (prim. Bajuk Senčar 2018;Kozorog 2018;Kravanja 2018). Ti kraji in materialnosti so konstitutivni del alpske povojne spominske krajine; ostajajo živ spomin na vojno, obenem pa so odprti za nenehne reinterpretacije akterjev, lokalnih in nacionalnih institucij, ki se ukvarjajo z oblikovanjem dediščine.…”

Memorialization of the First World War in the Landscape of the Julian Alps

“…War-torn landscapes were seen as memorial places per se. Along the Isonzo Front, battles took place in the mountains, but the locals nevertheless collected a great amount of military artifacts and eventually engaged in representations and reinterpretations of the war through local museums and military collections (see Kravanja 2018).…”

Collections, Walks, and Cultural Landscapes: Slovenian–Italian Cross-Border Heritage Initiatives

“…Some partners, stakeholders, and researchers involved (cf. Ivančič Kutin, 2016, 2017Kravanja, 2018b) reconfigured the project results in new heritage activities and configurations. This cross-border cooperation also made possible some further partnerships, collaborations, and joint activities on heritage.…”