Roofing in Slovenia

Slovenia sits where the Alps, the Pannonian plain and the Mediterranean Karst meet, and its roofs reflect all three. The country's best-known roofed structure is not a house but the kozolec, a freestanding hayrack that Slovenes regard as a symbol of national identity. High in the Kamnik Alps, herders' huts with shingled roofs reaching almost to the ground are another distinctive tradition.

Climate and hazards

Roofs in the Alpine north and west must carry winter snow, while the lowlands have a continental climate and the Karst and coast are milder and Mediterranean. As an EU member, it applies the Eurocodes, which cover snow, wind and earthquake actions on structures.

Roofing history

Traditional rural buildings were roofed with organic materials. The kozolec illustrates the sequence: its roofs were originally straw, later wood, and more recently metal tiles. The oldest kozolec preserved at the open-air museum in Šentrupert dates from 1795.

In the 20th century the architect Jože Plečnik drew on vernacular forms; in 1939 shepherds and dairymaids on Velika Planina built the Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows to his design, modelled on the local herders' huts. The chapel and about 100 wooden dwellings on the plateau were burned during the Second World War; a new chapel was built in 1988.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

Kozolec (hayrack). A permanent timber rack, usually artistically made, used to dry hay, fodder and maize. It is found throughout Slovenia except Prekmurje, eastern Styria and the Slovenian Littoral, and similar structures exist in Friuli, southern Carinthia and East Tyrol. About 80% of all such hayracks are in Slovenia, and more than 30 types can be distinguished. Simple single racks (enojni stegnjeni kozolec) may have only a small roof or a catslide roof (s plaščem), while the roofed double hayrack (toplar, from the Austrian German Doppler, "double structure") joins two racks under one roof; variants add an extension (toplar z repom) or a shed (kozolec s hišo).

Herders' huts of Velika Planina. Mostly single-room timber huts with oval roofs of wooden shingles extending nearly to the ground, which shelter livestock under the eaves.

Codes, standards and regulation

Slovenia applies the Eurocodes for structural design.

Notable roofs

• Dežela kozolcev (Land of Hayracks), Šentrupert: built 2010-2013 and opened in 2013, described as the first open-air museum of its kind, with 17 hayracks among 19 drying structures. Over 650 hayracks have been counted in the surrounding Mirna Valley. About 250 are registered with the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum.
• Simončič Hayrack: the largest in Slovenia.
• Velika Planina: herders' settlement and Plečnik-designed chapel.

A joint bid by three countries to place hayracks on the UNESCO list has been reported by the Slovenian Press Agency.

Local roofing terms

• kozolec - hayrack; colloquially kozuc; stog in Upper Carniola
• toplar (doplar) - roofed double hayrack
• kozolec s plaščem - hayrack with catslide roof
• kozolec s hišo - roofed double hayrack with shed
• Velika Planina - "big pasture"

Sources and gaps

Detailed descriptions of Karst stone-slab roofs and of Alpine shingle-making techniques, data on current roofing materials, national regulations and information on Slovenian roofing manufacturers were not found in published sources.