We would like to introduce to you one of the well-known people of Kranj, the greatest Slovenian poet of all time France Prešeren.
→ He is widely regarded as the greatest Slovenian poet of all time.
→ His poetry was part of the Romantic tendencies in the first half of the 19th century.
→ He elevated the Slovenian language through the use of complex poetic forms and motifs.
→ A native of the Gorenjska region from cradle to grave: born in Vrba, died in Kranj.
→ The seventh stanza of Prešeren’s A Toast is the text of the Slovenian national anthem.
France Prešeren was born as the third child and first son of a well-to-do farming family in the village of Vrba in the Gorenjska region on December 3, 1800. As a diligent student, he was entered in the golden book at the elementary school in Ribnica. After completing high school, he went to Vienna in 1821 to study law. Seven years later, after completing his studies, he returned to Ljubljana and began working as a law clerk. His closest friends were Matija Čop, a polyglot professor and expert on Romantic literature, and Andrej Smole, a bon vivant merchant. His poems were published in the Krajnska čbelica anthologies, edited by Miha Kastelic. During the the public discussion over the letters of the Slovenian alphabet in the early 1830s, he and Čop opposed the introduction of the Metelko and the Danjko alphabets. Among his many ill-fated loves, a special place belongs to Julija Primic from a wealthy Ljubljana family, to whom he dedicated A Wreath of Sonnets. Later, he entered into a relationship with her childhood friend Ana Jelovšek and had three children with her. With the untimely deaths of Čop in 1835 and Smole in 1840, which deeply affected him, his poetic creativity began to wane, and he sank deeper into alcoholism. In 1836, he published the lyrical epic poem The Baptism at the Savica, and a decade later, his collection Poems was published, in which he compiled most of his oeuvre, although he had to remove A Toast from it due to censorship. In 1846, his sixth application for a position as a lawyer was approved; his previous applications had been rejected due to his liberal views. He moved to Kranj, where he worked as a lawyer until his death on February 8, 1849, at the age of 49.
Prešeren spent the last years of his life in Kranj, from the fall of 1846 until his death in February 1849. Although he is remembered as a kind-hearted lawyer who represented impoverished clients pro bono, his time in Kranj cannot be considered a particularly happy period of his life. The poet’s mental and physical decline even led to a suicide attempt.
He was buried in the city cemetery of the time that is now a park. Janez Bleiweis organized a campaign that led to the ceremonial unveiling of a stone tombstone for Prešeren in 1852.
In the following decades, Kranj adopted the identity of “Prešeren’s City.” As Prešeren’s significance for the Slovenian literary canon grew, Kranj increasingly promoted its heritage associated with the poet. In 1900, the National Reading Room had a commemorative plaque installed on the house where he died, and shortly thereafter the idea arose to rename Šmarjetna Gora as Prešeren’s Mountain.
After World War II, many more projects dedicated to Prešeren were carried out: several statues of him were erected throughout the city, such as the tall bronze monument from 1952; his house was converted into a memorial museum; and the cemetery was transformed into Prešeren Grove. Numerous institutions, from schools and theatres to restaurants, have been named after him. The day of his death, February 8, is celebrated as the national day of culture and a large-scale event called the Prešeren Fair takes place in Kranj on that day.
* Fotografija Ravnikarjevega modela za spomenik ni na spletu, original je v Arhivu Republike Slovenije, reproducirana pa je v knjigah Življenja spomenikov in Shaping revolutionary memory.
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