Exhibition Šempeter and surroundings during the First World War: 1914 – 1918 Memory and reminder

Historical exhibition on World War I.

We are in the midst of a period in which we are commemorating the 110th anniversary of the initial battles of the First World War, which took place far from here, but in spring next year, just in time for the European Capital of Culture in the wider region of Gorizia, we will be commemorating the 110th anniversary of the start of the fighting on the Soča Front. The First World War, or the Great War as it is known somewhere, had a profound impact on our region and its people, leaving indelible traces. That is why we at the Soška Fronta Association wanted to commemorate this anniversary in a very special way.

We want to completely renovate the photographic part of our permanent exhibition "Šempeter and its surroundings during the First World War" and call it "1914-1918 Remembrance and Reminder", as it will carry a very strong anti-war message. We want to present the events in the wider area of Šempeter during the First World War through the original writings of ten people on 12 symbolic panels (the same number of panels as there were offensives on the Soča front).

In addition to objects and photographs, a significant part of the exhibition will now be made up of the records we have received directly from the descendants of the participants, whom we have had the opportunity to accompany to the former battlefields of the Soča Front in recent years and also through our exhibition, and some of which we have also obtained from museums, archives and private collections. Just as we are different people, so are the testimonies we have collected. In them we meet a mobilised man from Šempeter, an elderly boy from Volčje Draga, a German artillery sergeant, a Hungarian infantry soldier, a Croatian artillery officer, a Polish officer trainee, a mobilised Italian theology student, etc. In short, members of different educational backgrounds, states, nations and armies, but also civilians, who had in common only that they had been in the area at the time and had written down their experiences. Although there is also a touch of patriotism in some of the accounts, the majority of them clearly show a desire for an early end to the war and for peace. 

Our exhibition is the only permanent exhibition dedicated to the Sochi Front in Goriška and is also included in the Walk of Peace.

More information about the exhibition here.