In autumn 2021, the Municipality of Pivka is going to open a temporary exhibition with the thematic focus on the Ravne manor and the related Šilentabor within the framework of the MerlinCV project. The anticipated silver thread of museum deployment will be the development of the manor through the historical periods – its beginnings, spatial development and also the ownership, in the context of which some more prominent individuals, to whom the manor belonged, will be represented in more detail.
Especially interesting and “mysterious” is the story of the Ravne manor library that does not exist anymore nowadays. In the 18th century, it was established in the mansion, together with a rich archive, by the counts von Hohenwart. There are many assumptions about its later destiny and therefore the history of the library is opened to various interpretations.
According to the oral tradition, namely in 1959, when the manor areas started being rearranged into apartments, the books and documents were thrown into the yard and burned. In fact, this was only a part of the library archive. The manor archive had thus already been taken out of the mansion at the time of the sale of the property in 1932. Older local population remembers the folders and notebooks with beautifully designed and decorated covers that had been loaded on two carts and taken first to the railway station and from there onwards partly to Trieste and partly to Vienna.
In the same year, the counts von Hohenwart handed over several valuables from the library collection connected to Slovenian towns to the National Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana. Various materials (vedute of Slovenian towns, steel engravings, manuscripts etc.) also included the work of Johann Ludwig Schönleben from 1671 that at that time drew a lot of attention among the intellectual community. Yet, the greatest valuable is represented by two manuscripts from Peter Pavel Glavar, including the translation of the manuscript of the beekeeper Anton Janša, which had been long presumed lost.
We can assume that the relatives of the counts von Hohenwart also received one part of the library archive, while in the first half of the 20th century, some works were owned even by the agricultural college. After the death of the last manor keeper in 1956, it was said that the part of the library archive, which was in Slovenian language, had been transported into the newly built building of the elementary school in Prestranek following the order of one of the then Pivka officials. However, unfortunately we will never know the details about these books – in 1976, they were burnt in the fire that captured the school.
The story of the rich Ravne library does not end here. In 1959, when the books were burnt in front of the mansion, Frančiška Rozman, who served as a maidservant at the mansion, managed to save some works. Since the books were mostly written in foreign languages, they were not useful at the Rozmans’ house and therefore they have stored them at the hayloft. Lastly, they donated the majority to the Postojna painter Marcel Valentini in exchange for four paintings, while he probably sold them to Italian antique shops.
Operation co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund
