Timeline of Solkan since 1001

On the 28th April 1001, Solkan was first mentioned as “Siliganum” along with “the village that is called Gorica (Goriza) in the language of the Slavs”. Both places are listed in the donation charter by Emperor Otto III, issued in Ravenna on 27 October 1001. The name “Solkan” reappears as “Silkno” in another document by Emperor Otto III, issued in Pavia.

In 1118, Patriarch Ulrich I of Aquileia granted ten farms in Solkan to the monastery of Mužac (Moggio).

Around 1181, the priest John of Solkan is mentioned.

In 1296, the parish priest of Solkan was assisted by three vicars (one of them was appointed in Gorizia).

The Solkan castle is mentioned as a large house above Solkan is mentioned. Count Albert II of Gorizia granted it to priest Andrea from Piuma as a fief together with the surrounding farm.

In 1306, the knight Pelegrin of Solkan appeared for the first time in writing. Later, he appeared as a witness in documents issued by Henry II and Albert, the Counts of Gorizia. Knight Pelegrin granted half of the village of Hrastovlje to his wife Diemuda on 1 November 1322. At this ceremony, Pelegrin’s nephews (Propheta, Pelegrin), were notably present, along with other guests.

On 19 May 1368, Count Meinhard of Gorizia borrowed 61 ducats from his horse supervisor Hainczlein Gassenperger. In return, Meinhard mortgaged one farm under Sveta Gora (cultivated by Konrad), one farm in Potok (cultivated by Kocijan the weaver) and another wasteland (once owned by Lenart Ganter); belonging to the court of Valekeis and located at today’s Solkan cemetery. This information shows that there was a shrine on Sveta Gora even before the apparition that Urška Ferligoj experienced in 1539.

In 1399, with the construction of the church of the Holy Spirit in the castle in Gorizia, the town ceased to be ecclesiastically dependent on Solkan. It was almost simultaneously that the parish priest in Solkan probably changed, with Peter de Rabatta coming instead of Francis of Udine (who was also a canon in Cividale).

On 13 December 1471, Matija Arišic from Solkan was granted several fiefs from Count Leonhard of Gorizia. The document that communicates this transfer of property mentions a mill on the Soča River and a bridge over the Soča River in Solkan.

In 1500, after the death of Lenart, the last Count of Gorizia, the Habsburgs took control of the Gorizia region under a succession treaty, and they ruled here until almost the end of 1918.

In 1523, the land estate in Solkan was divided among the nobles Neuhaus – Rihemberk, Orzoni, Thurn, Dornberk and Bruederle, One of the landowners was also the church of St. Stephen in Solkan.

In 1539, with the apparition of the Mother of God to the shepherdess Urška Ferligoj from Grgar on Skalnica, begins the story of the pilgrimage route of Sveta Gora. On 11 December 1540, the deputy governor of Gorizia, Count Hieronymus Attems, donated the top of Skalnica for the construction of the church. On 12 October 1544, the new church on Skalnica was consecrated and thereafter called Sveta Gora.

In 1597, parish registers of baptisms began to be kept in Solkan.

In 1630, Count Thurn donated a garden to the Solkan Franciscan hospice. At the hospice (a residence for monks and pilgrims and a hospital at the same time), there was also the chapel of St. Anton. The area where the hospice with the garden stood is still called “Klošter” (meaning monastery in the local dialect).

In 1682, an epidemic of plague spread throughout the Goriška region. In Solkan, 112 people died from the disease in four months.

In 1698, the first edition of the books Theologia Radicalis by the Solkan compatriot Janez Marija Žbogar (1654 – 1711?) was published. The book was published twice more (1708, 1725). Žbogar, a Barnabite monk, lived in Westphalia and died in Vienna.

On 28 April 1705, Marko Anton Plenčič, a doctor and a predecessor of modern bacteriology was born. He wrote several specialist books. He lived in Vienna, where he died on September 25, 1786.

On 27 March 1713, rebellious Tolmin farmers gathered in Solkan to start their march to Gorizia. There, they were supposed to achieve the liberation of farmers who were imprisoned by the authorities on 15 March for unpaid taxes.

In June 1717, the image of Our Lady of Sveta Gora was solemnly crowned in the Travnik Square in Gorizia.

On 10 May 1748, Anton Mihelič, a doctor, professor and rector of the University of Prague, was born in Solkan. He died in Prague on 18 August 1818.

On 27 January 1786, the Sveta Gora pilgrim route was abolished due to new imperial laws. The image of Our Lady of Sveta Gora was transferred to the Solkan church. The pilgrim route was reopened in 1793. At that time, the church was renovated and the altar image was reinstalled on 29 September. A plaque was embedded in the façade with the inscription: AND I STOOD ON THE MOUNTAIN AS BEFORE (Ego autem steti in monte sicut prius).

In March 1797, French troops occupied Gorizia and Solkan for the first time.

Around 1830, a special commission making a new cadastre for Solkan published an extensive description of the place. At the time, there were 1165 people living in Solkan (586 men and 579 women), mainly farmers. There were 242 families in the town, 123 houses and two churches. In the wider area of Solkan, there were 50 more houses and one church (on Sveta Gora). Solkan belonged to the landed estate of Grafenberg.

In 1848, the revolutionary events of that year, not least the abolition of the feudal social order, triggered the first conscious emergence of national awareness in Solkan. At that time, the Solkan people had their own “national guard”, which had a Slovenian tricolour.

In 1850, Solkan got a modern municipality with an elected mayor and a municipal council. The Municipality of Solkan also included the cadastral municipalities of Kromberk and Loke. This regime was in place until 1927, when the Municipality of Solkan was attached to the Gorica magistrate.

On 14 July 1867, the Solkan reading room was inaugurated, one of the first reading rooms in the Goriška region. It was the central Solkan cultural and social society. It operated until 1927 when it was forcibly abolished. It held a ceremonial celebration of its fortieth anniversary in 1907. Before the First World War, the Catholic Educational Society operated, along with the Sokol Gymnastics Society and a branch of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius School Society.

In 1875, the founder of Slovenian urology, Dr Rihard Jug (26 January 1875 – 1949) and the pioneer of Slovenian puppet theatre and painter, Milan Klemenčič (7 March 1875 – 1957). In September, on the way to Gorizia and Trieste, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I travelled through Solkan.

On 5 August 1900, the founding general assembly of the Cooperative of Solkan Carpentry Craftsmen was held. The official name of the association was the Carpentry Cooperative in Gorizia (Solkan), registered with the court in Gorizia on 31 May 1900. The cooperative entered liquidation in 1912. Its work was continued by the Carpentry Productive Cooperative (1921), the Carpentry Crafts Cooperative (C.A.M., 1932), the Carpentry Crafts Association (1945) and the Carpentry Crafts Cooperative (1948).

On 19 July 1906, the Gorica-Jesenice railway was opened. On this day, Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand travelled through Solkan. The then-built Solkan railway bridge, with an 85-m main arch, became the largest stone railway bridge in the world.

1915 to 1918: World War I. Solkan was demolished almost to the ground. The population was displaced. In August 1916, the place was occupied by Italian troops, who then withdrew at the end of October 1917. The Italian occupation authority returned to Solkan in early November 1918. According to the Treaty of Rapallo between Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Solkan belonged to Italy and legally belonged to it until the entry into force of the Paris Peace Treaty (10 February 1947) on 15 September 1947, when it became part of the territory of the People’s Republic of Slovenia within the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia.

In January 1922, the communist list won the municipal elections. Anton Poberaj became the new mayor. With the onset of fascism, the mayor was replaced by a special municipal commissioner.

On 15 September 1923, Dr Josip Srebrnič from Solkan (1876-1966) was elected bishop on the island of Krk.

At the National Assembly elections on 15 May 1924, Jože Srebrnič was elected to the Roman Parliament on the list of the Communist Party of Italy. While climbing in the northern wall of Triglav on 11 August, Dr Klement Jug lost his life in a fatal accident.

1938 – 1939: Numerous events honouring the 400^th anniversary of the Sveta Gora pilgrimage route were held.

1939 – 1945: World War II (1939-1945) and the National Liberation War (1941-1945). The beginnings of the organized national liberation movement in Solkan date back to the second half of 1941. During the war, 61 inhabitants were killed in the ranks of the Partisan army, 25 captured fighters and activists died in concentration camps, 12 citizens died in the Italian army, there were 9 civilian victims and 7 citizens were sentenced to death or killed for cooperating with the anti-partisan side.

On 9 September 1943, when Italy surrendered, Slovenian partisans came to Solkan for the first time. This date is celebrated by the Solkan Community Council as its local holiday.

In 1945, four days after the liberation of Solkan (30 April 1945), a new Local National Liberation Committee was elected. The Local Committee of the Liberation Front then established the Cultural-Educational Society “Jože Srebrnič” on 29 August.

On 15 September 1947 Solkan was annexed to Yugoslavia. At that time, the town hosted the political and administrative bodies of the Goriška region until the emerging Nova Gorica was able to take over the task of the regional centre. With the growth of Nova Gorica, Solkan became an integral part of it, first as a separate settlement (19 April 1952) and then as a part of the Nova Gorica settlement (30 June 1955), thus officially losing its name.

On 28 December 1966, at an assembly of voters in Solkan, a decision was made to establish the Solkan Community Council, which came to life at the beginning of 1968 after a year of preparations.

In 1988, after several years of efforts, the Assembly of the Municipality of Nova Gorica passed a resolution to make Solkan a settlement again. The decision was communicated to the people of Solkan on the occasion of the celebration of the local holiday.

In 1991, Solkan becomes part of the independent Republic of Slovenia. The town is an integral part of the Municipality of Nova Gorica.