The renovation of the Škratelj’s homestead
The peak of the spontaneous folk architecture in the Municipality of Divača is definitely represented by the Škratelj’s homestead - a homestead with its design reaching back in the 17th century, which has been pronounced an ethnological monument. It is a homestead typical of the region of Kras with a residential building with the typical chimney called “spahnjenca”, a monumental stone roof, a wooden external aisle called “gank” and a stone staircase, which together with two abandoned outbuildings form an intimate internal area within the homestead. The image of the homestead is completed by a stone wall and on the edge of the yard called “borječ”, there is a well on a slightly raised base which collects all the water coming down the stone roof of the residential building. Its outlook nowadays is predominantly the appearance of a residential building and it is a result of numerous reconstructions from the very beginning to the 19th century.
The Škratelj's homestead existed as a Furman’s tavern with accommodation for the night offered to coachmen and their escort up to the moment when in 1857 the southern railway had been built. In 1876, when they built the state railway leading to Pula, the Furman’s activity started dying out. This caused the ruin of many inns, among which the Škratelj’s homestead, which ceased its activity before World War I. The homestead was abandoned soon after World War II and in the 70’s of the 20th century, reconstruction works were performed on the residential building. They performed the urgent construction and static work and renewed the roof.
At the address Divača 9, in region of Kras which at-that-time was still Austro-Hungarian, on the 7th of July, Ida Kravanja was born, who later used the artistic name Ita Rina. She was the first Slovenian actress who succeeded in the European film scene and by this; she got an important role in the film history. To honour her memory, the Municipality of Divača, in cooperation with the Slovenian Cinematheque (Slovenska Kinoteka) and the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, unit of Nova Gorica, started the renovation of the upper floor of the residential building in 1996.
In the 1998, the place was reorganised into a museum with a permanent exhibition dedicated to Ita Rina, as permanent memory of our first film star. In the 2007, we have solemnly celebrated the 100th anniversary of her birth and proclaimed her birthday the Day of the Municipality of Divača, while the Slovenian Cinematheque dedicated to her a Slovenian-English monograph.
The Škratelj’s house is only one of the constituent parts of the Škratelj’s homestead – an ethnological monument, the outbuildings of which are desperately crying for help, for improvements of its state, adaptation, reconstruction and for new activities to be held there. The renovated homestead will become a place of permanent memory and a monument to all film actors, where important name belonging to the Slovenian film scene will be keeping company to Ita Rina.
For the Municipality of Divača this project represents the final arrangement of this complex and a huge cultural acquisition. The idea of “renovation of the Škratelj’s homestead into the Museum of Slovenian Film Actors in Divača” originated from the initiative of the Slovenian Cinematheque and the agreements between the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Divača, on the basis of which the project was included in the Act Providing the Funds Required for Some Urgent Programmes of the Republic of Slovenia in the field of culture (Annex 3: Organisation of basic spatial conditions for some central public institutions in the area of culture for the years 2004-2008 – Official Gazette RS, issue n.14/2003).
In cooperation with the Faculty of Architecture, we issued an opening invitation to tender for a museum-film building in Divača. The awarded project which most successfully approached the elementary language of the autochthon architecture in the region of Kras and its given environment. On the basis of the chosen project, the renovated Škratelj’s homestead will represent a monumental complex with a completely new content. In the former stable with the hayloft, we will arrange the Museum of Slovenian Film Actors, in the former pigsty there will be a smaller bar with a summer terrace and toilets adapted to disabled people; in the wine cellar and the barn, there will be the multi-media hall which will serve as the area dedicated to workshops, seminars, ceremonies, meetings and summer schools. The ground floor of the Škratelj’s homestead will be rearranged into the central information area of the whole building. The external plateau between the two buildings of the former stable and wine cellar will be intended for an open-air auditorium (summer open-air cinema). The front yard – borjač and the other remaining external areas will be used for social events.
The renovation of the Škratelj’s homestead in Divača will represent a new cultural, educational and tourist centre, important both for the narrow and wide cultural environment. By realising of the set goal, we will also improve the recognisability of both the Municipality and the whole region and our country.
The described renovation of the Škratelj’s homestead into the Museum of Slovenian Film Actors in Divača will be supported by the donation of Norway through the Norwegian Financial Mechanism.
