Valbruna is a small village in Val Canale at the beginning of Val Saisera. Here live four different nations Italian, Slovenian, German and Furlan. It’s a small community living in harmony. One of the most notable visitors of Valbruna and surrounding mountains was Julius Kugy.
Julius Kugy (19 July 1858 – 5 February 1944) was an Austrian–Italian mountaineer and writer. He wrote mostly in German. He is renowned for his travelogues from opening up the Julian Alps, in which he reflected on the relationship between man, nature, and culture. During all his life, he opposed competing nationalist ideologies in the Alpe-Adria region, insisting on the need of peaceful co-existence among Slovene, Italian and German peoples.
Julius Kugy was born in Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire (now in Italy). His father Paul was a Farmer of Lind (Lipa) near Arnoldstein in the Carinthian Gail Valley. His mother Giulia was the daughter of the Slovene poet Jovan Vesel Koseski. Kugy was educated in a multi-lingual environment: from an early age he was fluent in the three major languages of his native Gorizia and Gradisca region: Italian, German and Friulian. As he writes in his Book "Aus dem Leben eines Bergsteigers" he did not speak Slovenian. During his childhood he would spend the summers in his father's native village of Lind, where he developed his interest in nature and mountains.
Julius attended the German language secondary school in Trieste and continued his studies at the University of Vienna, graduating in law in 1882. Upon returning to Trieste, he took over the management of the import-export company Pfeifer & Kugy, co-founded by his father.
He explored large portions of the Eastern Alps, dedicating most of his mountaineering career to climbing in the Julian Alps, where he discovered and marked more than 50 new routes. Local guides helped him climb many a previously unconquered peak in the Julian Alps: he became famous for climbing Škrlatica and Jôf di Montasio.
In addition to mountaineering, Kugy was interested in many other subjects such as literature, botany and music. One of the riddles he tried to solve was a mysterious plant species Scabiosa trenta, described by Belsazar Hacquet and later proven by Anton Kerner von Marilaun to be a specimen of the already known Cephalaria leucantha.[1] Together with his friend Albert Bois de Chesne he created an Alpine botanical garden near Bovec. He was among the founders of two amateur music societies in Trieste: the Philharmonic Society and the Palestrinian Chorus. He also donated an organ to the Mekhitarist church in Trieste.
After Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in 1915, Kugy volunteered to the Austro-Hungarian Army. In the Battles of the Isonzo his mountaineering knowledge and experience proved to be extremely valuable and he was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant. He was demobilized after the Battle of Caporetto.
After the War he closed down his company and dedicated his time to writing and lecturing throughout the Slovene and German speaking lands.
During World War II, Kugy rescued several Slovene alpine climbers from the Dachau concentration camp, and collaborated with the Slovene partisan underground resistance in Trieste. He died in Trieste in 1944. He was interred in the central city cemetery.
TO FIND THIS MULTI CACHE YOU HAVE TO FIND:
1. STAGE
A= Count all the letters in the surname of the artist who designed the statue of Julius Kugy (second line)
B= On the south side of the square find a traffic sign with the name of alpine guide. Count all the letters in his name and surname.
2. STAGE
C= Here you will find a tipical house of Valbruna. There is a red tablet with a household name. How many ‘’Slovenian’’ letters can you find?
3. STAGE
D= How long do you have to walk to Monte Lussari?
- 1 h = 0
- 1.5 h = 15
- 2 h = 7
- 2.5 h = 3
4. STAGE
E= How many windows has the small shrine (chappel)?
F= Count all the horizontal wooden lines of the roof of the chappel.
QUICK CHECKER-> A+B+C+D+E+F= 33
FINAL COORDINATES
N46° 29.(A-6)(B-14)(C)
E013° 29.(D)(E+3)(F-2)