Flood Dams, Klavže

Five hundred years of mining in the Idrija Mercury Mine required vast quantities of timber for the mine's architecture, supporting pillars, machines, smelting ore, as well as supplying the inhabitants of Idrija.

Thus forestry became of substantial importance. The town of Idrija lies in a hilly region surrounded by vast forests. Nearby reachable forests had been cut early, or were on very steep terrain, so the most practical way was to transport timber on waterways from forests far away. Dams were made on the rivers Belca and Idrijca for timber transport all the way to the town of Idrija. Klavže ("flood dams") were made to dam lakes, timber was piled in the lake, which was later released as the water drove the timber downstream to Idrija on river rakes, where the timber was caught and retrieved from the water for further use. Because of their huge stone structures, some people also call Klavže the Slovene pyramids. Models of the Klavže and Lenštat rakes made by Janko Trošt can be seen in the Idrija Municipal Museum.

History

The first Klavže were built in the 16th century, but were too dependent on rainfall and high waters. Around 1770 the monumental Klavže were built out of brick, stone and mortar, mechanisms that required only a pair of oxen to lift or close the dam barriers, also in extreme weather conditions. The biggest Klavže were those of Master Mrak's (1709–1786), positioned where the river Idrijca formed an 800-metre-long lake that could drive some 10,000 m3 of timber at a time downstream to Idrija 20km away.

It has been calculated that the river Idrijca carried approximately 3,600,000 m3 of fuel wood and 300,000 m3 of pit wood and round timber. The transportation of timber via rivers ended in 1926, after catastrophic floods took away the rakes in Lenštat in the centre of Idrija. Being a klavžar ("dam operator") was a very responsible, but also highly valued, position among the people.

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Flood Dams, Klavže

History

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