Why Postojna wanted to become a city?

Abstract

On May 3rd 1909, Postojna was elevated to the status of a city with a diploma, which was also the first document granting city rights written in the Slovene language. Naturally, a city cannot exist without its inhabitants, who take pride in being its citizens and who are prepared to work and to sacrifice their time and at least some of the money gained as a surplus from successful business ventures in order to be able to organise their lives in an urban centre. The stories printed in that invention of the age of Enlightenment (i.e. the newspapers) reflect the inhabitants' attempts to imitate some of the more progressive cultural and ideological patterns of the times which inevitably come into conflict with the traditional customs from the times when carters and foresters had the main say in Postojna. Often contact with newcomers was useful in helping to improve the situation with regard to the one thing that meant the most to both the traditionalists and the city's modern-thinking inhabitants: the Postojna caves.