The Rough Guide to Slovenia by Darren (Norm) Longley

Author:Darren (Norm) Longley [Longley, Darren (Norm)]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Europe, Travel, Reference, General
ISBN: 9781405387408
Google: w82HmXC-9A4C
Amazon: B006JUIWIW
Publisher: Rough Guides
Published: 2010-04-01T08:45:51+00:00

Franja Partisan Hospital

Dramatically sited in the heart of the spectacular Pasica gorge 7km northeast of Cerkno, the Franja Partisan Hospital (Partizanska Bolnišnica Franja; contact the tourist office in Cerkno) was built in December 1943 for wounded soldiers of the Ninth Corps of the Slovene Partisan Army. Named after its chief physician Franja Bojc-Bidovec, the hospital remained operational until May 1945, a period during which it treated more than five hundred Partisans, as well as soldiers from Italy, Russia and America. Sadly, in September 2007, much of the hospital was swept away under torrential floods, though it is currently being reconstructed.

The original hospital comprised thirteen camouflaged wooden cabins housing an operating room, isolation ward, kitchen, X-ray room and several recovery rooms, with the entire complex protected by bunkers, minefields and machine gun nests pressed into the cliffs above. However, despite the area being shelled by Germans on several occasions, it was never captured. Indeed, its secrecy was such that the wounded were blindfolded before being admitted, food was lowered down the cliff face by neighbouring farmers, and medical supplies were air-dropped in by Allied forces. Supplies notwithstanding, the hospital was remarkably self-reliant throughout the period of its operation, making its own orthopedic accessories, organizing cultural and educational activities for the wounded and even managing to publish its own bulletin, Bolniški list (Patient’s Bulletin).

Due to its relatively remote location, you really need your own transport to get to the hospital; the only buses that pass this way are the ski buses from Cerkno in the winter. Seven kilometres along the road east of Cerkno, a road branches north just beyond the tiny hamlet of Log; 1km on you come to a car park. From here, a trail (10min) inclines up the forested gorge, bisected by the babbling Čerinščica stream and hemmed in by overhanging boulders.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.