On Sunday I visited the medieval fair in the old part of Ljubljana. I expected it too be a little bit more "medieval" and not so commercial. Although, I did not visit the booths in vain - I had a chance to flip through a book which was printed in 1587 (so, as you can see on the picture written in Latin: MDLXXXVII). The text was printed but the pictures were drawn by hand.
I asked the "pharmacist" if he was not afraid that someone would damage that precious book but he said: "No, because nobody knows it is so old." Hmmm...
I bought some biscuits made of honey, watched the funny medieval Romeo & Juliet show and caressed a poor little skunk that was breathing heavily lying in the sun.
I found out that
The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation is issuing the permits, so that people can treat wild animals so badly.
What I also liked were the panels on which some historical facts about the medieval times were written in Slovenian and English, and I am glad that the fair took place in front of those four medieval houses that still stand in the old part of Ljubljana.
Hopefully there won't be any stronger earthquake in this area - otherwise most of the houses in the old city center will collapse. Some of them are in a pretty bad shape.
It is easy for me to imagine life in medieval Ljubljana but I don't think that it was very pleasant, though. :)
I asked the "pharmacist" if he was not afraid that someone would damage that precious book but he said: "No, because nobody knows it is so old." Hmmm...
I bought some biscuits made of honey, watched the funny medieval Romeo & Juliet show and caressed a poor little skunk that was breathing heavily lying in the sun. 
I found out that The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation is issuing the permits, so that people can treat wild animals so badly. 
What I also liked were the panels on which some historical facts about the medieval times were written in Slovenian and English, and I am glad that the fair took place in front of those four medieval houses that still stand in the old part of Ljubljana. 
Hopefully there won't be any stronger earthquake in this area - otherwise most of the houses in the old city center will collapse. Some of them are in a pretty bad shape. 
It is easy for me to imagine life in medieval Ljubljana but I don't think that it was very pleasant, though. :)
6 comments:
We have fairs like that here occasionally and they are always highly commercial. How crazy about that old book - I'd love to have that opportunity. It reminds me I had started reading "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks last month, but put it down to start something else. Maybe I'll go back to it.
I found a similar thing with the medieval fairs we went to while we were in Europe - quite commercial - although the one in Oslo was good. I'm not sure if the pharmacist quite understood your point about the book - whether anyone knows it is old or not won't make it any less damaged if something happens to it! And the poor little skunk. I thought he was a ferret to start with. What was he doing there?
My grandparents had a book dated back to 1799 but I don't know where it ended, unfortunately. My grandgranddad was one of the founders of Ljubljana's library, maybe I have this love towards the books in my genes. ;)
@Feronia: I guess that the owners of the skunk tried to show us that such pets were popular in medieval times... I find no other reason for keeping it on a (too short) lash.
On a leash?? That's horrible! I would have thought a skunk would be considered a wild animal and so not to be kept as a pet.
Sorry that was me that posted there - I came up as a Anonymous for some reason!
I apologize for the misspelling - on a leash, that's right. They have a permit to keep it as a pet.
Post a Comment