Would you like the custodian to print you a commemorative leaflet on the old printing press during your visit?

The partisan press played an important unifying role in the national liberation struggle. It called for armed resistance against the occupier and represented a counterweight to the far-reaching enemy propaganda. The need for the written Slovenian word was especially great in the Littoral because of the long years of fascist pressure.

The largest and technically best equipped partisan printing works in the Primorska region was the Slovenija printing works. On the advice of a local man they chose for it a secret place below the edge of the 1000 metre high Vojsko plateau above the valley of the Kanomljica. In the summer of 1944 they assembled the huts at the sawmill in Gačnik, and then carried the numbered beams and boards to the chosen location during the nights. They built a machine room, a kitchen and a dining room, a typesetting room, a bookbindery and an electrical power station to drive the printing machine with an electric motor. Collaborators of the partisan printers bought in Milan a large and modern electric high-speed printing machine, brought it illegally past many dangers as far as Gorizia and to Vojščica, and then carried it in parts with great effort into the machine room of the printing works. They also procured a smaller TIGL printing machine.

The Slovenija printing works began operating on 17 September 1944 and the next morning, via the courier relay station on Hum, they had already dispatched 4000 copies of the Partisan Daily. The latter was the only daily newspaper in occupied Europe printed by any resistance movement. It came out regularly until the end of the war, and that in a daily print run of 4000 to 7000 copies. In the printing works, which operated until 1 May 1945, 40 to 50 people worked. During the time of its activity they printed a total of 313 different editions on 1274 pages and in 1,394,000 copies. The master engraver also made quite a few linocuts and cut into linoleum or lead as many as 56 different stamps with over 450 specimens.

The Germans never discovered the printing works, not even during the last offensive in the spring of 1945, when bitter fighting raged in its immediate vicinity and, on Vojščica above it alone, as many as 305 partisan fighters fell. The Slovenija printing works is still preserved in its entirety today and, as a cultural and historical monument, has been open to visitors since 1947; the printing machines are likewise still in working order.

Open:
from 15 April to 15 October every day: 9.00–16.00

Information and group bookings:
tel.: +386 5 37 26 600
fax: +386 5 37 73 580
e-mail: tajnistvo@muzej-idrija-cerkno.si

Admission / person:
adults – 4,00 €
children – 3,00 €

The partisan printing works is most easily reached along the 14 km long road from Idrija to Vojsko, from where two paths lead to it. The first leads towards Vojščica (a partisan burial ground from 1945), the turning for the printing works is after 2 km of driving. This route is also suitable for buses. From the car park to the printing works it is about 20 min of steep footpath downhill. The second route takes you from Vojsko towards the homestead on Hum. At the first bend below the said homestead you turn left onto a forest road which brings you below the printing works. Then a good 5 min of footpath uphill follows. This route is suitable only for cars. We recommend suitable footwear (trainers, hiking boots).

Location coordinates:
46.034642,13.899457