Monument near the main road

Dovje lies in the upper Sava valley, on the road between Jesenice and Kranjska Gora, and the monument near the main road recalls its most famous parish priest, Jakob Aljaž, who lived from 1845 to 1927. Aljaž was a man of many parts: a priest, a composer, a collector of folk songs and an ardent mountaineer, and in the story of Slovene mountaineering, he has a special place. He is best remembered for an act of determination in 1895, when he bought the summit of Triglav for a symbolic sum and erected a small metal tower there as a shelter and a beacon, so that the highest peak of the Julian Alps would remain in Slovene hands at a time when the German-speaking alpine clubs were building huts and paths across the mountains. The Aljaž Tower, still in place on the summit, has become the symbol of the mountain and of the nation.

Aljaž was also a musician. He composed choral songs, among them the well-known song for male voices, Oj Triglav, moj dom, which is still sung in Slovenia, and he took an interest in the cultural life of his parish. He was a founder of the Slovene Alpine Society, helped to build mountain paths and huts in the valleys below Triglav, and worked to preserve the Slovene character of the region at a time of strong pressure from German culture. In Dovje, he is remembered with affection, and the monument along the main road is a place where travellers can stop and learn something of the man who shaped the valley's identity.

The monument is easy to find, close to the road, and it takes only a few minutes to see. The surroundings make it pleasant to stop: the village lies beneath the long wall of the Karavanke on one side and in view of the Julian Alps on the other, with terraced fields and farmhouses that are characteristic of this part of Gorenjska. On a clear day, the peaks above the valley, including the area around Triglav, can be seen, and it is easy to understand why a priest living here would be drawn to the mountains.

Visitors with a little more time can see other places connected with Aljaž. St. Michael's Church in Dovje, with the cemetery where he is buried, is a short walk away, and the Historic Blacksmith Site and the Historic Alpine architecture, including the semi-circular doors on farmhouses, tell more of the village's character. Mojstrana, a few kilometres up the valley, has the Alpine Museum and is the start of the Vrata Valley, which leads to the north face of Triglav. The monument is free to visit at any time, and it makes a good short stop on the way to Kranjska Gora.