Town in a day

from window to window, portal to portal

Discover the story behind the windows of town houses. Check out the unique portals. Look for a stone that evokes the nearby Dovžan Gorge.

Entry to the town

Set off on the circular route from the metal dragon from the rooster's egg (1). Enter the old town centre across the stone bridge (2), ornamented by a balustrade with stone posts in which you can see fossil remnants from the famous Dovžan Gorge. At the first window the patron saints of shoemakers, Crispin and Crispinian (3), wish you a pleasant excursion. They are honoured by shoemakers and were supposedly born on a Monday, a day when shoemakers did not like to come to work.

Town houses

At Trg Svobode (Freedom Square) be sure to visit Mally House (4). This bourgeois-aristocratic mansion, built by the owner of the ironworks, Ignacij Jabornik, has the year 1618 inscribed on its Renaissance portal. His descendants became impoverished and therefore had to sell the house to the Mallys, a family of tanners.

Continue your walk to Dev House (5), the birthplace of the father of Slovenian secular poetry Feliks Anton (Janez Damascen) Dev. It has two well-preserved Tržič architectural features: wrought iron shutters and doors (which were required after the great fire in 1811), and drying openings on the roofs, which were used by tanners and other craftsmen for drying hides, canvas and socks.

At the coffeehouse Mestna Kavarna (6) treat yourself to the best pastries in town (we recommend the Radetzky cake with chestnuts, Dragon cake, and Dovžan Gorge cake) or the first Slovenian organic beer, brewed at the Šlibar organic farm.

Thus fortified, continue your way to the house at the upper corner (7), which used to belong to the Mally tanners, and in 1900 was convered into Tržič's first preschool, and then to Perko House - the first house on the right bank of the Bistrica River, where there were once fairs and the first Tržič inn.

Now stop! Look back and enjoy the view of the funnel-shaped square.

The church and the last window for the curious

At the end of the square is the Church of St. Andrew (8), which stood at the upper end of the main square as far back as before 1526. The church was torn down in 1865 and the current structure built in its place. From 1871 to 1880 the chaplain of this church was Jakob Aljaž, who during his service in Tržič performed the most famous Christmas song, Silent Night, sung for the first time in Slovene in Tržič.

Across from the church is the last preserved window for the curious  - a "firbc vokn" (9), or "prying" window, a special Tržič architectural feature. It enabled a view of the goings-on in the street without having to lean out the window.

Museum near the water flumes

Continue along Koroška Street to the turnoff onto Muzejska Street. In the old smelting and crafts part of Tržič, next to the still preserved flumes (human-made channels for water), is the building of the former Pollak dyehouse and tannery. Within its premises the Tržič Museum(10) presents former crafts and trades. Well worth a visit!

A mansion in place of a burned castle

After visiting the museum go back to Koroška Street.  At the Pod Gradom pizzeria (11) treat yourself to a dish baked in the wood-fired oven, then go up the hill to Neuhaus Mansion (12). The building on the hill in the middle of the town was built by the renowned Marshal Radetzky, the mansion's most famous owner, after the 1811 fire destroyed the original castle. There is a good view of the streets of the old town from the garden.

Delve into 18th and 19th century authenticity

Continue the route downhill from Neuhaus Mansion to Partizanska Street, lined by roadside rocks or hubstones (13), turning left and crossing the bridge to Kurnik House (14). In this perfectly preserved Tržič house you can try your hand at baking Tržič "flike"- a characteristic local bread. Flike used to be prepared from leftover bread dough - the "flick of dough" was rolled thin, spread with lard or sour cream, and sprinkled with cumin seeds.

Return to the beginning of the story

In the immediate vicinity of Kurnik House you can admire movable wooden masterpieces - nativity scenes with unique figures carved from wood. Tekec nativity scenes (15) conjure up the story of Christmas any day of the year!

From here go along Cankarjeva Street back to your starting point - the dragon of Tržič.

nearby trip

Into the Dovžan Gorge

On your own or with a guide head to the Dovžan Gorge (16), which is less than 4 km from the centre of Tržič. Along the scenic educational trail you can learn about rocks as well as discover fossils embedded in them.