Culture

Coachmen - "Fijaker"
Coachmen called “Fijaker” can take you for a ride around the lake and to Bled Castle. Many trips to both near and far are possible - to Vintgar or the Pokljuška ravine, through the villages of Gorje, Podhom and Zasip or through Mlino, Selo, Ribno, Bodešče and Koritno, as well as to the golf course or to the Šobec Camp. If you so wish, you can travel as far as Begunje and Draga, Kropa or even Bohinj. The carriage station is by the Festival Hall.
Information: +386 4 / 574 11 21, +386 41 710 970



Traditional Transport To The Island By Special Boat "PLETNA" 
The island church with its bell invites all visitors. The best way to get to the island is by the traditional Bled special boat called “Pletna”. The pleasant trip on the lake includes a half-hour stop (or as agreed) on the island.The boatmen are stationed and waiting for you at the Health Park, under Hotel Park, in Mlino, and at the Rowing Centre. Other rides on the lake are available by arrangement. Price: 12 EUR/Person
Information: +386 (0)41 427 155

Cream Cakes
Cream cakes, known to Bled for decades, are in fact the symbol of Bled. Altrough you can buy them elsewhere, those from Bled are simply the best. Ištvan Lukačevič, the former manager of the Hotel Park patisserie, tested recipes for many years before he finally succeeded. His cream cakes, which are prepared at this patisserie and sold in the café opposite the hotel, are famous. What is the secret?
In fact, there is no secret - only experience matters, and the cooks from Bled have plenty of experience. Over the last 40 years they have sold as many as 7 million cream cakes. Let us tempt you: a golden crispy crust made from butter dough (mixed with butter, not margarine), a delicious vanilla cream of exactly the right consistency (with exactly the right amount of flour - if there is too much the cakes are no good, if too little, they collapse after cutting), topped with whipped cream and a crispy layer of butter dough and finally, last but not least, a good dusting of icing sugar. You see? Your mouth is watering already.

Permanent Exhibitions
are held at Bled hotels: Golf, Krim, Ribno, Jelovica, Kompas.

IEDC - Bled School of Management
From April to June, IEDC will host an exhibition of art works by academic painter and illustrator Vladimir Makuc (art works presenting birds; these are at the same time also a symbol of IEDC, as the Venetian birds after the motif taken from the historic situle of Vače is a symbol of the IEDC MBA alumni), while in October it will host an exhibition »Windows«, by a renowned European painter and illustrator Safet Zec (windows also symbolize IEDC, »a school with a view, a school with a vision«).   More...

Vila Nana Gallery
A permanent Exhibition of worlds, most famous slovenian and croatian painters of Naive Art: Jože Tisnikar, Jože Peternelj-Mausar, Andrej Prah, Josip Generalić, Ivan Lacković-Croata, Ivan Rabuzin, Stjepan Večenaj, Mijo Kovačić, Martin Mehkek, Milan Nadj, Pintarić-Puco and others. The collection also contains works by modern, slovenian painters.

Open: 11.00 to 13.00 and 18.00 to 20.00, sundays from 11.00 to 18.00.

Tel./Fax: +386 4 / 574 31 04
e-mail:  gallery.vilanana@siol.net
Internet: www.vilanana.net

The manor in the natural park at Recica was owned by the Grimšic barons, among them Jurij Adam Grimschitz, enjoyed a special reputation as the co-founder of the Carniolan Academy of Sciences, the "Academia Operosorum" in Ljubljana. The manor was built by Ahac Grimšic and was renovated around 1850. Baron Ivan Grimšic sold it to diplomat and secret counsellor Baron Josef Schwegl, his compatriot from Gorje. It was renovated between 1887 and 1902, and after World War I it was inherited by the Slovene politician and diplomat, Dr. Ivan Švegel. He renamed it Wilsonia in honour of US president Wilson. Today it again bears the name "Grimšče".

BODEŠČE

Parish Church of St. Jacob in Ribno
The church building dates from 1400; the Baroque presbytery is from the second half of the 15th century with Gothic frescoes from around 1500.
Tel.: +386 4 / 574 10 63

Succursall Church of St. Lenart in Bodešče
The church includes a Gothic star-shaped arched presbytery and frescoes from the first half of the 15th century, the nave with frescoes dates from the begining of the 16th century.

BOHINJSKA BELA

Parish Church of St. Margaret in Bohinjska Bela
The church was built at the beginning of the 17th century in the Renaissance style and was renovated in the Baroque style in the 18th century. It includes paintings by Anton Jebačin from 1907.
Tel.: +386 4 / 572 02 00

Succursal Church of St. Steven in Kupljenik
The is a part of the old pilgrimage path: a Gothic building from the Middle Ages still stands in its centre.

The present neo-Gothic church, consecrated to St. Martin, was built in 1905 on the site of the previous Gothic church dating from the 15th century, altrough the very first chapel was erected here before the year 1000. The new church was built following the plans of Prof. Friedrich von Schmidt (the architect of the

Vienna City Hall), but these were consequently changed by architect Josip Vancaš - namely in their design of the interior. The majority of sculptures were made by restoration specialist Ivan Vurnik from Radovljica and were produced from the best Carrera marble. The church was adorned with frescoes by painter Slavko Pengov between 1932 and 1937.

In front of the church there is a garden signpost which was designed by the great Slovenian architect, Jože Plečnik, in the years before World War II. The well-preserved walls from the 15th century remind us of the periods of Turkish invasions to these lands.

Succursal Church of St. Andrej (Rečica)

This is renovated baroque renovated church dating from the 16th century with remains of encampment walls. It contains baroque costume painting by F. Jelovšek.

According to a legend which stayed with the people, the temple of the ancient Slavic goddess Živa, once stood in the place of the current Baroque church. Priest Staroslav and his daughter Bogomila guarded it when Črtomir came to the island. The temple disappeared during battles between the followers of the pagan religion and Christians, who destroyed the altar and built a church. Bogomila stayed in the new church with her father, while Črtomir, after his baptism near the Savica waterfall, went to Aquilea and became a missionary of the Aquilean patriarch among Slovenes. On the Bled island, archeologists have discovered traces of prehistoric (11th to 8th centuries B.C.) and Slavic (9th to 10th century) settlements. In the early Middle Ages there was a pre-Christian, probably Old Slavic cult area in the location of the present day church. 124 graves with skeletons from the 9th to the 11th century were found. The foundations of a pre-Romanesque chapel which was built during the process of Christianisation,   also date from approximately the same period - this is probably the only discovered example of a cult building from those times on Slovenian territory.

Bled castle in the past

It is quite probable that in 1004, when the German Emperor Henrik II gave the Bled estate to Bishop Albuin of Brixen as a gift, only a Romanesque tower stood in the place of the present day castle, protected by walls facing the gentle slope of the castle hill. In the late Middle Ages more towers were built and the fortifications were improved. The entrance through the outer walls, with a Gothic arch and a drawbridge over the now filled-in moat, is an interesting aspext to view. Other buildings which were additionally constructed in the Baroque period, completed the architectural development of the castle complex. These are arranged around two courtyards: the lower one containing outbuildings and the upper one residential quarters. The two courtyards were connected with a staircase in the middle of the Baroque wing. The most interesting of all the preserved buildings is certainly the chapel on the upper courtyard, which was consecrated to the Bishops St. Albuin and to St. Ingenium. It was built in the 16th century, and was renovated in the Baroque style around 1700, when it was also painted with illusionist frescoes.

Next to the altar there are paintings of the donors of the Bled estate, the German Emperor Henrik II and his wife Kunigunda. Fragments of the rib vaults from the ruined Gothic arch are built into the wall of a room from the neighbouring wing, nowadays the site of the museum. Numerous coats of arms painted in the fresco technique or carved in stone, decorate individual castle buildings. At the edge of the upper courtyard there is a hut marked as a tower in the axial plan. In 1947 when the castle roof was destroyed in a fire and during the first post-war archeological excavations at Bled in 1948, the National Museum proposed the preservation of the castle complex. From 1951 to 1961 it was restored and embellished with certain architectural details under the leadership of architect Tone Bitenc and with funds provided by the Municipality of Bled.

The castle is now arranged as an exhibition area. The display rooms near the chapel, a most interesting building, present the ancient history of Bled from the first excavations, and the castle in individual stages of its historical development with furniture, characteristic of those times. Although these pieces are not originally from Bled Castle, they are important as an illustration of the style of living in the historical periods presented. You can also visit  printing works, castle cellar, herbal gallery, restaurant, souvenir shop and see multivision. Bled castle attracts visitors not only with it sage and picturesques architecture but also for the unforgettable view of the lake and the wider area of Gorenjska and the Julian Alps. In summer  months, the castle atmosphere is enlivened by the visit of a count and an archery tournament, and on warm summer nights, visitors are drawn by concerts of classical music under the starry skies.

Opening hours of the castle museum:
from 1. 5. to 31. 10.:
from 8.00 to 20.00
from 1. 11. to 30. 4.:
from  8.00 to 17.00

Tel. +386 (0)4 5729 780
Faks.: +386 (0) 4 5729 783
E-mail: gradbled@s5.net
Website: www.bled-castle.si

Cashier: +386 (0) 5729 782