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Spomenik Jakobu Aljažu

The monument is located on the right hand side of the main road towards Kranjska Gora between Mojstrana and Dovje. The statue of Jakob Aljaž shows his proud posture looking in the direction of Triglav. It does not take much time to stop for a look at the monument, and you will be rewarded by a magnificent view of Mojstrana and the mighty peaks beyond the village.

The monument was unveiled on August 27th 1989 to celebrate one hundred years since the arrival of Jakob Aljaž in Dovje. It was sculpted by Nebojša Mitrović from Belgrade, Serbia. 

 

 

Who was Jakob Aljaž?

Jakob Aljaž was a priest at Dovje church. He started his service there in 1889 and worked until he died in 1927. He was a composer (his most famous song is 'Oj Triglav moj dom') who also translated the Christmas carol Silent Night into Slovenian, and a singer. He was an enthusiastic mountaineer, and a constructor of alpine huts and trails. His name can be found among the originators of the public water system in Dovje, the founders of the local cultural house, and the Slovenian Alpine Association. He was a great patriot of the Slovenian nation.

Nothing made him as grand in the eyes of the Slovenes as his purchase of the land at the summit of Triglav in 1895 from the Dovje parish during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This made Triglav a Slovene mountain at a time of great competition between the Slovene and German Alpine Associations. On August 7th 1895, Aljaž set a tower on the top of the mountain and the day became a celebration day of the Kranjska Gora Municipality, which Dovje and Mojstrana belong to.

In 1894 Aljaž constructed a refuge in the valley of Vrata, and two years later a bigger hut following the orders of the Slovenian Alpine Association. The Association named it ‘Aljaž’s mountain hut’. It was not big enough though, and Aljaž built a bigger house in 1904. He also constructed the Triglav mountain hut at Kredarica and the small chapel beside it. In 1909, an avalanche demolished Aljaž’s mountain hut in Vrata. A bigger and stronger one was constructed and opened on July 17th, 1910. There have been some renovations throughout the years (especially the roof) but the original house still exists today.