A lifesize bronze statue, simply titled by the plaque on the stone plinth 'Valvasor'. He is derssed in typical attire for the period (mid to late 17th century). In his left hand he is holding some papers, possibly a copy of his 'The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola' (original title: Die Ehre deß Herzogthums Crain, Slovene: Slava vojvodine Kranjske)
"Baron Johann Weichard von Valvasor (in Slovenian: Janes Vajkard Valvasor) was an Austrian/Slovenian nobleman, native of the Duchy of Carniola, today the central part of the Republic of Slovenia. The territory of the Duchy of Carniola had been a part of the Holy Roman Empire, then a province of the Hapsburg Empire (1364 to 1918), after that a constituent part of Yugoslavia (1918 to 1991) and today the Republic of Slovenia.
Valvasor was born in Ljubljana into a wealthy noble family. He was a polymath: scholar, scientist, traveller, soldier, historian, cartographer, historiographer, ethnographer, and publisher. He travelled widely in Europe and Africa, recording and studying, and distinguished himself as a commander of Carniolan regiments during the Osman- Hapsburg wars in 1685. In 1678, for his scientific study of the intermittent Lake Cerknica, one of the hydrological phenomena of the Kras region in Slovenia, Valvasor was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London, the oldest scientific organization in the world.
For its historiography – as a historical source and a chronicle of the times – it was unprecedented in Europe. It is the first comprehensive study of the Duchy of Carniola, then a province of Austria. The Duchy had an area of 9,990 km² and population of 510,000. Due to Valvasor, we know what cities and towns, castles and monasteries looked like in the 17th century and learn about how the people of the region went about their daily lives and customs. It is an invaluable treasury of information and research of a specific area in Central Europe.
The monumental work of 3,532 pages and 528 images is divided into 15 books in four parts. It is written in German, then the official language of the Austrian Empire, and is distinguished for its engravings and copperplates. The work is also unique for the way it was set up as a scholarly, printing, artistic and publishing enterprise, and as the first printing workshop in Carniola. Valvasor established his copper-engraving and printing workshop at his Castle Bogenšperk in Lower Carniola (Dolenjska region), 40 km east of Ljubljana, with a group of collaborators – copper engravers, sketching artists, writers and printers. Today Castle Bogenšperk is open to the public as a museum. Valvasor’s workroom and equipment is displayed and his printing workshop, where visitors are shown the execution of printing and paper-making demonstrations, has been recreated.
Published at Nürnberg in Germany, the work was aimed at the German-speaking countries of central Europe, then numbering a population of over 10 million. In its original German, it has been used as a historical source in teaching Slovenian history for two hundred years. Several editions of selected texts and images from The Glory of the Duchy of Crain, have been translated and published in Slovenian. The entire work Slava Vojvodine Kranjske is now in the process of being published in Slovenian language in five volumes, by the Dežela Kranjska Institute, appearing annually from 2009 to 2013. An English translation is anticipated in due course."
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