Little Museum of the Isonzo Front Tolmin Bridgehead

1 hr

The collector of the Isonzo Front remains, Peter Kogoj, who is also the owner of the collection The Tolmin Bridgehead, for the last 15 years he has been more intensely searching for objects that were left behind on the battlefield in the area of Tolmin, hence the name of the collection – Tolmin Bridgehead. Since the very beginning of his collecting days which stretch back to the 1990’s he remained faithful to his decision to limit his research to the part of the battlefield which was defended by the 15^th Austro-Hungarian Corps, stretching from Mt. Batognica on the north all the way to the village of Avče on the south. His explorations also took him into the enemy side, to the rear areas of the Italian Army, the village of Volčanski Ruti and further on to the Kolovrat ridge. The last and 12^th Austro-Hungarian-German attack was triggered from the Tolmin Bridgehead, which gave even more fire to the question, what else can be found here that once belonged to the German Army. Objects belonging to the German side are the collector’s favourite items, and his favourite conversation topic. On the ridges towards Kolovrat he was able to locate the micro points of the breakthrough battles of the German units, who among others were also the soldiers that were under the command of First Lieutenant Erwin Rommel, which he counts as one of his biggest achievements. Through the exhibited items, the collector wants to deliberately provoke the feeling of terror in the visitors. With the systematic collection of weapons that were used in close combat, he strives to provoke emotions in the visitors.  The purpose of the collection is not to present the soldiers as the innocent victims of political appetites, but as a person who is willing to do unimaginable things to defeat the enemy in order to survive.

Text: Peter Kogoj
Photos: (1, 2, 4) Peter Kogoj; (3) Fundacija Poti miru