Bevk’s homestead, per home at Volar, is located in village Zakojca, more specifically in hamlet Dolnja vas (en. Lower village), where the writer France Bevk spent his childhood and early youth. Homestead was opened ceremonially for visitors in the year 1990, at the 100th anniversary of his birth, when an ethnological and literary-historical exhibition was arranged there. The first exhibition presents characteristic living environment at crofter homestead at the beginning of the 20th century in the Cerkno region, the second, through books, photographs and objects illuminates the writer’s life path.

France Bevk was a writer, publicist, and politician, who was born on September 17th, 1890 as the oldest child to the poor crofter family, and left an indelible mark on the history of the Littoral region. Especially in the hardest times of his history, when with his works he awakened national consciousness and belief in a better future among his compatriots. He often described places and people under Kojca in his stories and novels, with whom he spent his childhood and youth.

Although we do not consider the Bevk family as a crofter, as they did not have much land, their quite specious home did not look like a croft. The house is built from stone and substantially elongated and leaned on a slope and on the upper side, it almost touches the ground. The house has three characteristics that made it different from most other houses in the village. The doorway was separated from the kitchen with a thin wall, a chimney rose from the roof, which then was a true rarity. In most of the houses, the black smoke from the black kitchen went out through the door. The attic had wooden steps instead of the usual ladder. In the lower part were two arched basements and stable. On the ground floor, from the lobby, the door led straight to the kitchen and forward to the barn, to the right into the house, main living space, and further into the small and large chamber.

As the family was large, the house was quite tight. In the house lived grandfather Jakob, grandmother Neža, aunt Justina, parents Ivan and Katarina, firstborn France and seven brothers and sisters. Because the fields were not sufficient for them to survive, the father and grandfather worked as a shoemakers, mother and grandmother went to help farmers in the villages with various chores. Children were also involved in everyday chores. Despite their modesty, with which they made their way through life, Bevk’s parents appreciated knowledge. This is why books had an important place in their lives. France was discovering a new world alongside them, and his grandparent’s stories stirred his imagination.

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France Bevk
France Bevk was a Slovenian writer, poet, dramatist, translator, editor, and politician, who was born in croft family on September 17th, 1890 in Zakojca. He died on September 17th, 1970 in Ljubljana, he is buried in Solkan. He was the oldest child of eight of village shoemaker Ivan and mother Katarina. [_Read more_]

Zakojca
Zakojca is a smaller village in the Littoral region, which consists of three hamlets: Doljna vas, Srednja vas and Gornja vas. It is one of those villages, which belongs among overlooked and poorly known areas. Some places are hidden, other lies high in the mountains, some are not even marked on the map. [_Read more_]