SLO:
Da bi razumeli zgodovino tega nenavadnega hriba nad reko Idrijco, moramo pobrskati po zgodovini rudniških aktivnosti v tem delu Idrije. Prav pod samim hribom je namreč še danes vidna zadnja lokacija idrijske topilnice, ki je na hribu pustila vidne posledice.
Leta 1870 (1880) so namreč topilnico iz levega brega Idrijce, iz t.i. Leopoldijevega predmestja, današnje Prejnute (Brennhütte), preselili na desni breg na Brusovše. Tam so v topilniškem kompleksu, ki je danes zavarovan kot spomenik državnega pomena, rudo žgali vse do septembra 1995. Poleg živega srebra so v topilnici pridobivali tudi rdeče barvilo cinober, poskusno pa tudi uran (v začetkih 50. let so denimo pridobili prvo »rumeno pogačo« v takratni Jugoslaviji!).
Iz topilnice se je po hribu vzpenjal dimovod, ki je dim in pline, ki so nastajali pri žganju rude, odvajal nad mesto - ter hribu dal značilno »golo« in pusto podobo. Prav na vrhu so še danes vidni ostanki dimnika – od tu tudi pogosto uporabljeno ime za celoten hrib: »Raufnk« (»Dimnik«).
Zadnja rotacijska peč je pod hribom ugasnila septembra 1995 – pobočje hriba pa se le počasi zarašča, zaradi česar se z vrha obiskovalcu razsprostre pogled na celotno mesto pod sabo.
ENG:
This hill with a little house on top is a special landmark of Idrija, symbolizing the decline (shift from mining to industry and tourism) and the consequential recovery of the town’s economy as well as the surrounding ecosystem.
The little hut with no windows or doors sitting on the top of that hill was actually the base of a chimney (thus the name – Raufnk, chimney in dialect, from german) disposing of the toxic fumes created while extracting mercury from the smelting plant built at the foot of the hill in 1880, which operated continuously until September 1995, when the last rotary furnace has been shut down. During this time the plant also extracted a pigment named vermillion, and, experimentally, uranium (here, the first fuel element in Yugoslavia was made in the 1950’s.)
However, the toxic fumes greatly damaged the forest around the hill, leaving it and it’s surrounding completely stripped of any vegetation long after the extracting stopped – only now the trees are beginning to retake the slope, offering passers-by beautiful, and sometimes slightly eerie views of the town below.
