Žiri, shoes, lace and the Rapallo border

The Žiri Museum

The museum occupies the renovated old school, in a 17th-century rural manor house. It has an exhibition on the Rapallo border, another on Žiri’s painters, a two-part show on shoemaking, up to the Second World War and the era of the Alpina factory, and a core exhibition in 16 stations on the history of the town. Afterwards you can set off, on your own or with a guide by arrangement, to discover the rest, with the legacy of the border, lacemaking and the memorials and churches.

Žiri shoes and lace

Žiri’s shoemaking tradition even has its own legend. It’s said that the first master shoemaker received the shoe that became his model beside a nearby intermittent lake, which is still guarded by the Žiri water dragon. Other local tales tell of Matjaž’s chamber, a Neanderthal cave, the Maršotna cave and a natural stone table for giants. Lace inspires the town too, and genuine Žiri lace is kept alive by a lacemaking school about a hundred years old.

The Rupnik Line bunkers

The Treaty of Rapallo, signed on 12 November 1920, fixed the border between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and Italy. In 1938 work began along that border on the Rupnik Line, named after the general of Slovene origin Leon Rupnik. Hundreds of bunkers were built, including three key underground blocks, and more than 60,000 soldiers and civilians worked on it. Between the large blocks stood smaller anti-infantry bunkers for two to seven soldiers, barbed wire and, in the valleys, anti-tank barriers. For local people the work was a temporary answer to unemployment, as many were hired as labourers, porters or carriers of materials. It was never used. Two themed trails, the secret world of the Rupnik Line fortifications and the Rapallo border path, now follow its remains through the hills. The Škofja Loka Tourist Board ranks it among the most attractive military history sites in the area, and in the hills above Žiri you can walk among its forts. The history of Slovenia guide gives the wider context, from the Habsburgs to independence.

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Idrija, Poljanska dolina and Škofja Loka

Žiri is a short hop from Idrija, another lace town, and from the Poljanska valley, where the Goli vrh fort can be visited with a guide. Škofja Loka, with its castle and medieval centre, rounds off the day nicely.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Škofja Loka on GetYourGuide.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Škofja Loka for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.