⭐ 8: A figural beehive

Soldier – A Beehive Guard

A wooden soldier-shaped single-celled beehive from the late 18th century or the first third of the 19th century was donated to the Posavje Museum Brežice in 1947 by Stanko Gajšek (1903–1955). A noticeable feature of the figural beehive with a rifle leaning against the soldier's left shoulder is a Napoleonic shako helmet that was worn by Napoleon's soldiers. There is an opening on the soldier's abdominal area for bees to fly out and a two-winged back door, one set on top of the other on the back of the figure, for taking honeycombs out. The beehive, marked with Inventory Number E271, is 164 cm tall and has visible remnants of having been painted with oil paints. Painter and printmaker Marij Pregelj (1913–1967), one of the most prominent representatives of existentialism in Slovenia, depicted the beehive in full colour using the watercolour technique for a guidebook to Yugoslavia (1952–1953).​
For heritage enthusiasts:

In the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, in Slovenia such wooden human- or animal-shaped beehives were placed in front of rural apiaries. They stood to the left or right of the apiary, and their position and iconography symbolically showed that they guarded the apiaries. Figural beehives are very rare. Mostly, they were commissioned and placed next to apiaries by beekeepers who wanted to make the appearance of apiaries more interesting and eye-catching. Apiaries as such were also adorned – they had painted beehive panels.
Outstanding examples of figural human-shaped beehives are on display in the Museum of Apiculture in Radovljica, in the Dolenjska Museum Novo mesto (a soldier-shaped one) and in the Posavje Museum Brežice, where a ‘French soldier’ was joined by an ‘Ottoman soldier’ in January 2020 (donated by Anica Rojec from Ljubljana).
According to teacher Stanislava Staša Šoba (1933–2012), née Gajšek, the daughter of Stanislav Gajšek, who donated the soldier-shaped beehive that has been kept at the museum for more than seven decades, her father had brought the beehive home and placed it in front of the apiary in the garden of their house in Kostanjevica na Krki. As a child, she often played there, right next to the beehive. Her mother was Stana Gerlovič and the traditional proper name of their house name ‘at the Gerlovičs’. The beehive is also mentioned by the academy-trained painter Alenka Gerlovič (1919–2010) as part of her childhood memories in the book titled Okruški mojega življenja (Fragments of My Life), Ljubljana: Forma 7, 2006, p. 19: “The house in the alley has a yard on one side and a garden on the other, where my uncle keeps an apiary. It is guarded by a wooden soldier that has a slit on its belly for bees to fly out, just like a beehive. This soldier is indeed a beehive, only there are no bees in it. Earlier today, my uncle put on a hat with a black veil over his face. Bees from one of his hives had escaped and a bee swarm was hanging from a plum behind a fence by the well, looking just like a bunch of grapes. With the veil in front of his face, my uncle is now singing like a trumpet, ‘Majn herc, es ist ajn binenhaus /die medhen zind di binen / zi fligen ajn zi fligen aus / gradzo vi in ajn binenhaus’ (translation: My dear heart, this a beehive / girls are like bees / flying out, flying in / just like in a beehive)”.
The soldier-shaped beehive was loaned to the City Museum of Ljubljana, where it was exhibited from 11 May to 31 October 2009 as part of a large temporary exhibition titled Napoleon says, “Illyria, arise! (Napoleon rezhe Iliria vstan), which was held to mark the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Illyrian provinces. It was exhibited together with the aforementioned soldier-shaped beehives from Radovljica and Novo mesto.
The figural beehive was featured in the book Ljudska umetnost na Slovenskem (Ljubljana, Državna založba Slovenije, p. 92), published in 1981 by art historian and ethnologist Dr Gorazd Makarovič, and in 2021 in the educational book titled Kranjska sivka: čebelica, od kod in kam? by biologist and educator Dr Barbara Bide. It was also featured on Posavje Museum Brežice's promotional postcard, for which a photo was taken by Zvone Pelko.
 

The soldier-shaped beehive exhibited as part of Posavje Museum Brežice's previous ethnological exhibition.	The soldier-shaped beehive between arcade columns at the Brežice Castle on a postcard issued by the Posavje Museum Brežice. Photo by Zvone Pelko. Published by Posavje Museum Brežice.

On World Bee Day, May 20, which is the birthday of Anton Janša (1734–1773), the pioneer of beekeeping, the Posavje Museum Mrežice inaugurated a museum showcase dedicated to beekeeper Slava Račič (born on 19 Mar 1920, died on 1 Feb 2019), the first of the female beekeepers in the Posavje region who started practicing beekeeping immediately after World War II. Over more than six decades of her exceptional beekeeping career, she contributed significantly to the development and promotion of beekeeping culture. Among other awards, she received the Anton Janša Decoration of the First Grade, presented by the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association for her special contribution the advancement of Slovenian beekeeping. The aim of the exhibited objects is to show the individuals' contribution to the Posavje region's heritage of beekeeping, which has been practiced around here for a long time (dating back to the Neolithic, 4000 BC), to raise people's awareness of the importance of heritage conservation and to preserve it for future generations. The exhibition was on view until the end of May 2021.
 

The beehive shaped like an Ottoman soldier, when it was brought to the Posavje Museum Brežice in January 2020. The front and the back of the figural beehive. Donated by Anica Rojec, Ljubljana, Inv. No.: E 6710.	Beekeeper Slava Račič (1920–2019) in front of her apiary in Velika vas, 1958. Kept by Darja Frankovič Ivačič.

For more information see:

• Bajd Barbara: Kranjska sivka: čebelica od kod in kam?, Ljubljana: Založba Hart, 2021
• Baš Angelos (ur.): Slovenski etnološki leksikon, Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2004, str. 64.
• Gerlovič Alenka: Okruški mojega življenja, Ljubljana: Forma 7, 2006.
• Mihelič Stane: Čebelarstvo, Gospodarska in družbena zgodovina Slovencev, Zgodovina agrarnih panog, Ljubljana : Državna založba Slovenije, 1970, str. 395–408.
• Makarovič Gorazd: Slovenska ljudska umetnost na Slovenskem, Ljubljana: DZS, 1981, str. 92, 93.
• Makarovič Marija: Kmečko gospodarstvo na Slovenskem, Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1978, str. 183–185.
• Porenta Tita: Veliki ljudje slovenskega čebelarstva / The great people of Slovenian beekeeping: Brdo pri Lukovica, Čebelarska zveza Slovenije; Radovljica: Muzeji radovljiške občine - Čebelarski muzej, 2018.

Prepared by: Stanka Glogovič
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