Project description: At the Loče military cemetery near Tolmin there is a memorial dedicated to all soldiers from Slovakia who fought and died at the Isonzo Front between 1915 and 1917. The memorial is located at the end of an alley leading from the main entrance of the cemetery towards the Tolminka river. It was erected at the initiative of the Slovak ambassador to Slovenia and officially unveiled on 15 November 2010, in the presence of the Slovak ministers for defense and interior affairs, and the Slovene minister for defense, as well as the members of the Slovak Generals’ Club. Because this is the first and for the time being the only memorial dedicated to the Slovak soldiers, it has a symbolic function of reviving the memory to all fallen Slovak soldiers and of cherishing the memory and dignity of an entire generation of Slovaks who fought in First World War.

Location: Loče near Tolmin, Slovenia
Project phases: Preliminary project (IDZ), Detail planning (PZI)
Year of the project and construction: 2010
Author: Eva Prelovšek Niemelä
Text: Marianna Oravcová, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Slovenia
Photo: Damjan Prelovšek, Foto Červ, Mojca Rutar



The rectangular form of the memorial is slightly broader in the bottom part. A slab of stone, 170 cm high and 85 cm wide, is divided into two parts and has a carved indentation in the form of a cross. The memorial is made of natural grey stone from the Karst region found in the immediate vicinity of the cemetery. The selection of the local stone symbolically represents the environment in which the soldiers lived and fought in this unusual conditions of a high-mountain region. The architectural design was that of a young architect of Slovak and Slovene origin, Eva Prelovšek-Niemelä MSc (Arch).

Only 92 years after the end of the First World War Slovakia has paid its debt to all Slovaks without distinction who fought at the Isonzo Front, by erecting this symbolic memorial which joins hundreds of other memorials on both sides of this almost 90 km long frontline. The memorial is here to remind us of the human suffering and not of the animosities that took place during the war.


Now we are all citizens of Europe. The memorial to Slovak soldiers should also be seen in the context of the words expressed by the Slovene president Danilo Türk about the walks of peace between Kobarid and Duino, a region in which several million Europeans lost their lives during the First World War, as a place and path of memory and at the same time of purification, an idea which also resonated on the Italian side in the words of President Napolitano: “We should not forget the past, but also we should not remain its hostages.”

Marianna O r a v c o v á
Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Slovenia           

PUBLICATION ABOUT MEMORIAL
Publication about Memorial to Slovak Soldiers was published in four languages (SLO, I, SK and EN). We have made graphic design and editing. The publication has been presented on November 29 in Loče near Tolmin at the annual commemoration of Slovak victims of First World War in Slovenia.