KOBARID MUSEUM

Mainly devoted to the front of the Soča (Isonzo, in Italian) and to the offensives launched in this sector by the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies between 1915 and 1917. Located in the Mašera House, built in 1739, a building with Mediterranean and Alpine character, the museum was awarded the Valvasor Prize in 1992 and the Council of Europe Prize the following year. In the entrance hall, the intention of the authors is expressed from the outset. Man and his sufferings, whatever his origin, are placed at the centre of History. That is why the flags of the various peoples and nations involved in this tragedy are lined up side by side. In the halls, models of Mount Kern and the upper valley provide a better understanding of the advance and positioning of the troops. The dark room with its pictures of dead bodies is shocking. The white room retraces the soldier's fight against the natural elements, snow, ice, fog. Rommel (1891-1944), a future "desert fox" with his Afrikakorps in 1941, served as a lieutenant on the front line of the Soča. In his Diary, the sketches illustrate Mengore's three-day breakthrough into the Nadiža Valley. In the reconstructed shelter, you will listen to a recording of a letter from a soldier to his father. A 22-minute film projection in French allows us to "relive" the unfolding of these events, which had a terrible toll: 300,000 dead and 700,000 wounded! A monument of history.