Terra Sancta 1910: The Largest Slovene Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, photographs of Peter Naglič.

The exhibition will be on display at the Maribor Synagogue from 6 September to 10 November 2020.

“God-fearing Slovenes! A unique opportunity is presenting itself to you. The time is right, the prices are low, the journey is tempting,” wrote the Prince Bishop of Ljubljana, Anton Bonaventura Jeglič. What seems to be unusual wording for a church dignitary is in fact the Prince Bishop’s invitation extended to the people to take part in a large pilgrimage to the Holy Land and visit the most sacred places in Christianity: Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The invitation was published in early 1910. On 2 September 1910 the Tyrol, a ship with 540 pilgrims, sailed from Trieste.

One of them, pilgrim no. 50, was Peter Naglič of Šmarca near Kamnik, who carried a camera in his suitcase. He took his frst photographs in Trieste and continued to document the entire journey across the Holy Land. He took the most photographs in Jerusalem, particularly in the church of the Holy Sepulchre and at the Mount of Olives. He also visited Ein Karem, the place where John the Baptist had been born, and travelled by carriage to the Dead Sea. It is not known whether he visited Bethlehem, as not all pilgrims went there and his archive does not feature any photos of the place where Christ was born.

There are many records of this largest-ever Slovene pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but this collection of over a hundred photographs by Naglič are the only photographic source about this interesting chapter of Slovene history.

Dr Marko Frelih
Slovene Ethnographic Museum

Exhibition curator: Marko Frelih.
Design: Tadej Trnovšek.
Technical support: Tadej Trnovšek, Marko Okorn, mag. Irena Potočnik.
Thee exhibition and the publication are supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.
The exhibition and the publication were prepared by Slovene Museum of Christianity and the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.