The tomb of Fran Jurca's family
Apart from the Church
of St. Lazarus, Fran Jurca's tomb
is certainly the town cemetery’s
most noticeable structure, indicating
that it was built by an influential
Postojna-based family.
The sacred tomb structure was
commissioned in the early 20th
century by Fran Jurca (1845-1926), a local
landowner and prominent wood merchant,
who lived in a villa in the town centre
(Villa Jurca, which now houses a court) and
whose steam-powered sawmill below the
railway station initiated the beginnings of
the timber industry in the area of Postojna.
The mausoleum stands out with both its
neoclassical exterior architecture and its
interior, rounded off with a ceiling painting
featuring Virgin Mary with a dead Jesus
by Maksim Gaspari, and a sculpture of a mother and her child by Svitoslav Peruzzi.
The full-body figures made of marble are
life-size and depict the landowner's wife,
Fani, and their son. After World War II, the
Jurca family was expropriated and the family
tomb was left to deteriorate up until 2006,
when the Municipality of Postojna, based on
an initiative by art historians and descendants
of the Jurca family, decided to restore
the tomb. The restoration project, carried
out under the watchful eye of the Institute
for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of
Slovenia, was completed in 2016.
The tomb, and its two artistic depictions, is
one of the few things in Postojna related to
the influential family from the turn of the
century that has been preserved up until the
present day.
Tip: If you would like to see the tomb’s
interior, ask at the TIC.
Maksim Gaspari (1883-1980), Slovenian
painter, illustrator and restorer, who was born in
Selšček near Cerknica. His works mainly feature
folk customs and landscapes, as well as portraits.
Svitoslav Peruzzi (1881-1936), Slovenian
sculptor, born in Lipe on the Ljubljana Marshes,
became famous for his grave-related and decorative
plastic arts.