In his book “The Julian Alps in Images”, Julius Kugy described Bohinj as follows: “The Bohinj Valley – an open, long basin through which the light green, rock‑borne ephemeral waters of Savica slither, with its sunny meadows of idyllic charm, friendly villages greeting the passer‑by from their peace and quiet, surrounded by mountains that words can hardly describe and their cowls of dark spruce forests, overlooked by the festive throne of Triglav far above.”
Bohinj is a very old area of human settlement. The agriculture there has always been modest, and its inhabitants’ main source of living was pastoralism. The low‑lying grasslands provided enough hay to last over the winter. In order to protect the hay from moisture due to the abundant rain, the people built hayracks that are unique in Europe; the double hayracks called “toplar” provided enough space to store farm tools. A whole group of these picturesque feats of workmanship can be seen near the Studor village in the Zgornja Bohinjska Dolina.
Archaeological findings reveal that Bohinj was already inhabited in the Bronze Age. The first villages of Bohinj began to form during the Iron Age, which was also when local ironworking began to evolve as the area contained enough bog iron to enable the survival of numerous generations. The oldest settlements of Bohinj stem from the 7th century BC. many archaeological artefacts were discovered on Ajdovski Gradec (a hill to the right of Bohinjska Bistrica). This is the location of a late‑Roman early‑Christian settlement that is the most thoroughly studied settlement of the era in Slovenia. The greatest Slovenian poet, France Prešeren, chose this place as the location of the historical last battle between Črtomir and Valjhun in his renowned work Krst Pri Savici (The Baptism on the Savica).
For the people of Bohinj, the World War I began in 1915 when Italy entered the war and the infamous bloodbath of the Isonzo Front began. Bohinj became a military centre where troops and supplies were gathered to be sent to the front, between Batognica and Mrzli Vrh in the Krnsko Pogorje mountains. A narrow‑gauge railway was constructed in 1915 that led from the regular railway in Bohinjska Bistrica to Ukanec. At first, the cars were horse‑drawn and then in 1917 the railway was electrified. Horses were used to haul cargo from the final stop through Komna and then to Bogatinsko Sedlo. In 1915, a cable‑car system was constructed and the supplies could be brought directly to the rear of the battlefront at Krn and Mrzli Studenec. There were three military cemeteries and several barracks in Bohinj.
Plants and animals
Bohinj is home to more than 1,000 different plant species of alpine limestone flora, which is one of the most diverse in Europe. Some species can only be found in Bohinj and their names were inspired by Bohinj or Triglav, the best known of them being the Zois’ bellflower (Campanula zoysii) and the Triglav gentian (Gentiana terglouensis). The fauna of Bohinj is also rather diverse. This diversity stems from the great span of altitude, and the influence of the Mediterranean sea and the bedrock. Among the vertebrate, the best known are the golden eagle, the wood grouse and the black grouse. The most typical and numerous game species is the chamois.