Ljubljansko barje (Ljubljana Marshes) is situated in the south-western area of the Ljubljana Basin. The area is 163 km², which represents 0.8% of the territory of the Republic of Slovenia. Ljubljansko barje has characteristics of polje. The Barje area is a tectonic collapse from two million years ago, formed at the junction of the Alpine and Dinaric area with tectonic subsidence from the transition of the pliocene to the pleistocene. Partly from the end of the last Ice age, the area of today's Barje was covered with a shallow lake that gradually turned into a swamp. 4500 years BC the first farmers were settled in the area of today's Ljubljansko barje. In the shallow flood plains around the lake, small settlements were set up – stilt house settlements. In 1875, the first remain of stilt house settlement was discovered at Ig settlement. Today, there are 40 locations where the formerstilt houses were located.
On 27 June 2011, the area of the former stilt house settlements on the Ljubljansko barje was listed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites alongside other prehistoric stilt hpouses in the wider Alpine region. The selection of 111 of the 1000 known archaeological sites of stilt house settlements in the Alpine countries (Switzerland, Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia) consists of the remains of prehistoric stilt house settlements from 5000 to 500 years before our count. The remains of stilt houses are located below the surface, which allows the conservation of organic matter.
The karst river Ljubljanica flows from several karst springs on the southern and western edges of Barje.The torrential tributaries of Iška in the southeast and Gradaščica in the north have created alluvial fans on the area of Barje. The bottom of the Barje is therefore the lowest in the middle and rises towards the edges. The Ljubljanica River cut into a deep stream a deep river, which has a very small fall in its 20 km long flow: the bottom of the Ljubljanica riverbed at Verd is 285 meters in Ljubljana and only a good meter lower, 284 meters.
The consequence of a low inclination are regular floods that, at the highest water level, create an flood lake of about 80 km² area. The formation of the flood lake is similar to that of the intermittent lake: Lake Cerknica. The frequency of filling and discharging of that lake „Barjansko jezero“, is longer than that of Lake Cerkin because of the completion of the Gruber river chanell in Ljubljana in 1780, which starts at Špica and takes place in the strait between hills: Grajski grič and Golovec. The digged river channeleffectively reduced the risk of annual floods in the lower areas of the Ljubljansko barje and reduced the frequency of the appearance of the lake.
In 2008, the area of Ljubljansko barje was proclaimed as a landscape park. The narrower protected areas of the landscape park are protected natural monuments: the Ljubljanica River, the spring Močilnik, Retovje, Ljubija and the sources of Bistra - Zupanov, Galetov and Grajski izvir, Jezero pri Podpeči and Jurč peat, and the nature reserves Mali plac, Strajanov breg, Goriški mah, Kozlerjeva slopes, Ponds in the valley of Drage near Ig and Iški morost. The landscape park area is divided into three nature conservation areas, which differ in nature conservation and protection level.
Flooded Ljubljansko barje after heavy rains from 17th to 19th September 2010. On Monday I was with my geographical work nearby Domžale when, due to the danger of the high level of the Lake Gradišče, the water lock gagtes were lifted, and as a result the water from the artificial lake accumulation flooded the surroundings of Dob and Podreče near Domžale. On Tuesday, September 21st, in order to document the situation around Plečnik's church in the foggy morning afternoon, I directed towards Črna vas. To the church, the road was still land, but soon I drove past the first houses, which were a few centimeters below the water - at least that's how it looked. When I parked and started photographing, I soon realized that the houses were on the dikes, over which the water rose. For houses, the water was already at a height of a foot. Three kilometers to the south is the village of Lipe, so I decided to go over there and, depending on the situation, decided something then. I met a photo reporter Večer, who suggested that I should continue with the cameraman and journalist RTV-SLO. They took me into the crew and with a rubber boat we went over the flooded marshes and flooded hamlets. I was uncomfortably surprised when I realized, at least according to their words, that after three days of high water they have not received any official help. No help - people who live just a few kilometers from the center of the capital city, officially already part of the city (?). As far as they could, they organized themselves and helped each other. The truth is that right after my arrival to the end of the main road, I brought a van with the help of Caritas. She could not go on any further, because the road was flooded ... but the firefighters who offered their inflatable to Caritas' assistance were coming.
I know the Bar very well, especially from the bicycle seat. Thus, from the perspective of the boat, the landscape was unrecognizable. On the trees that rose above the water, pheasants were pinched, and some poles were noticed on the branches, and on the roofs of the houses, as if nothing had happened, the cats dremucked in the sun. From the mist, the sun began to crawl, which was soon fluttering a maelstrom of fog and a beautiful and warm sunny day.
The surface of the Ljubljansko barje is a low percentage (0.8%) of the surface of Slovenia, and the flood waters are quite ordinary. However, this September flood was exceptional since it was the last such water level in 1933. It is precisely because of the high water potential that the church sanctuary in Črna vas is on the first floor.
author: University graduate geographer (University of Ljubljana, Karst Department): Boštjan Burger
Literature:
* https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1363 (citirano 2012),
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