An exhibition on the Ljubljana Marshes Landscape Park is on at Ljubljana's City Libraries until the end of September.

The touring exhibition on Ljubljana Marshes Landscape Park has opened at Šiška Library, and is on show there until 24 June 2011.

From Saturday 25 June to Saturday 16 July, the exhibition moves to the Jože Mazovec Library in Moste, and then in August to the Prežihov Voranc Library in Vič.

From 29 August to 10 September Bežigrad Library plays host to the exhibition while its tour concludes in the central unit, Oton Župančič Library on Kersnikova in Ljubljana between 12 and 28 September.

 

Ljubljana Marshes Landscape Park

Ljubljana Marshes unfolds right on the doorstep of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, just a few steps from the outermost of the city's streets.

Ljubljana Marshes is the geographical name of the area that lies between Ljubljana, Vrhnika, Krim and Škofljica. The Marshes is the common name for the area of Črna vas, Hauptmanca, Lipe, Ilovica and Ižanska cesta (Ig Road), thus for the part of the Ljubljana Marshes that is now within the City of Ljubljana boundaries.

Almost surrounded by motorways, Ljubljana Marshes does not arouse special interest among the onrushing traveller. What on earth can be so special about a landscape that is just a stone's throw from the capital and bears a name associated with marshlands? Anyone who finds their way into the Marshes will be pleasantly surprised. It's like the black marshy soil sucks up the city noise and stubborn marsh mists conjure away signs of any human presence in these places. Although Ljubljana Marshes owes much of its existence to man's persistent influence, inquisitive eyes are quickly drawn to the endless greenery, and the ears are filled with the melodies of birds, insects and frogs. The wheels of daily life come to a stop.

This more than 150-km² wetland plain is characterised by an endless mosaic of meadows, fields, ditches and hedges that offer habitats to numerous - including vulnerable and endangered - species of flora and fauna. Areas such as Ljubljana Marshes are becoming globally ever rarer and ever more valuable. Their protection is now the subject of both Slovenian and European legislation.

Ljubljana Marshes is the largest non-forested area in Slovenia and is entered on a list of internationally important areas for birds. Among characteristic grassland bird species found on Ljubljana Marshes are the corncrake, a globally endangered bird, and it is here that there is the biggest nesting population in Slovenia. Other nesting species besides the corncrake include the curlew, lapwing, skylark, tree pipit, whinchat, stonechat, marsh warbler, whitethroat, as well as almost half the Slovenian population of the woodcock and the kestrel, which is an endangered bird in Europe.

In addition to species that have relatively stable and numerous populations, there are some that have become absent from the Marshes as they have not been recorded there by experts for a number of years. Otherwise, 107 occasional and regular nesting species can still be observed on Ljubljana Marshes. In addition to birds, 45 mammal species find a habitat here. Among the reptiles, above all along watercourses it is possible to see the dice snake and grass snake, while the terrapin has become very rare. Former wetlands still offer a suitable environment for certain amphibians and numerous invertebrate species to breed, which is of course a prerequisite for the abundance and richness of birdlife.

Systematic drainage, intensive agriculture, reforestation and fertilisation have been the reasons that rich wet meadows have disappeared before our very eyes, and along with them very many rare and endangered species of flora and fauna.

Therefore, efforts to protect this highly important area date back to the early 1990s. As early as 1998, the local authorities within whose boundaries the Ljubljana Marshes lies and three State ministries signed a Co-operation agreement on establishing the Ljubljana Marshes Landscape Park. At a meeting on 9 October 1998, the Slovenian Government adopted a Decree on the Ljubljansko barje Landscape Park under which the Ljubljana Marshes Landscape Park was formally founded. Its foundation was the result of years of effort for the preservation of this exceptional area of countryside in direct contact with the Slovenian capital.