Last time I had the opportunity to see how a beehive looks from inside.I was absolutely amazed and couldn’t stop watching laborious bees,I am still fascinated by the organisation of those little animals.And as they will always be the most welcome guests in My botanical garden let me talk about some interesting bee-topics from my country today.
Beekeeping has a long tradition in Slovenia. Our bee is Apis mellifera carnica, very laborious and non aggressive bee.
picture from:http://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cebele
Cultivation of buckwheat in the 15th century meant autumn pasture and possible advance in beekeeping. So already in 1689 a beehive timbered of boards is mentioned .In mid 18th century first painted front boards of beehives, first with religious motifs, later also with profane motifs appeared, contributing a big share to the Slovene folk art.
Adam and Eve in Eden
Pilgrims’ Madonna
Wedding
Pegam and Lambergar
pictures from:http://web.bf.uni-lj.si/jbozic/muzej/hivefron.html
Original vintage painted front-boards can be seen in museums today, but souvenir shops have plenty of replicas tourists like to buy.And as it may look like all these aren’t very serious art I have to admit how it surprised me to discover that bees impressed Jože Plečnik, our great archirect.Beehive he projected for his garden in Ljubljana is definitely work of art bees-laborious architects deserve!Good news-Plečnik was born 140 years ago and this anniversary will be celebrated with restoration of his beehive !
architectural beehive in architect’s garden from:http://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/drugo/tudi-cebelnjak-je-del-plecnikove-dediscine/279068
| Jože Plečnik | |
|---|---|
 Jože Plečnik, 1904 |
|
| Born | January 23, 1872 Laibach (modern-day Ljubljana),Austria-Hungary |
| Died | January 7, 1957 (aged 84) Ljubljana, Yugoslavia |
| Work | |
| Buildings | Prague Castle (1920–34) Triple Bridge, Ljubljana, (1929–32) National and University Library(1930–41) |
| Projects | Slovene Acropolis / Cathedral of Freedom (1947) |
from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C5%BEe_Ple%C4%8Dnik
My Botanical Garden 
14 replies on “Apis mellifera carnica from folk art to the architecture”
Consider a link to this website:
http://www.beesinart.com/
Hurrah to bees!
Paula
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Thank you for the link-interezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzting indeed, thou I miss some your work there!;)
Tamara
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Interesting article on the bees. I’ve always wanted to see the queen. We had a section of hive at a local crafts fair and the man exhibiting it kept trying to show her to us, but I never could quite make her out. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
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The queen here was marked with special yellow dot-so even apiarist can find her easily!
Thank you!
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Hi. This is really cool! Do you mind if I ask what country these bees are from? My dad has done bee-keeping in Australia and Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe they were aggressive and he had to wear full protective clothing plus and he still got stung. In Australia, we can walk within centimetres of the hive and they are not fussed.
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Thank you-please read my next post! 😉
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I saw a documentary on Plecnik not too long ago – Lubljana is well-marked by his genius for creating spaces for the people, isn’t it? I didn’t know the connection to bees. Is it mostly acacia honey on your area?
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You are right about Plečnik,we have in Ljubljana his triple bridges, for example.
About honey:We have many,I like Chestnut honey and Hoya honey for myself, there are then still many others-have to check out, indeed-will let you know!
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I was in Istria last fall and tried several honey varieties – but not chestnut! Sound delicious! You live in a very beautiful part of the world – I loved Croatia…
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Chestnut is a god one, indeed!
Yes, it is nice here around,I actually live in Slovenia 😉
All the best,
Tamara
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I was only in a sliver of Slovenia, in the drive from Venice to the Porec area, but I love the mountains and would love to explore some of the caves and villages!
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You won’t have any problems finding plenty of mountains here,some caves are open for tourists to visit and we do have interesting villages (my favorite villages are in Goričko region)-I guess you will need a long vacation to make it!;)
Tamara
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Very, very nice. I will follow your blog. We have a number of beehives at Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, CT USA where I work. The beekeeper harvests the honey and we sell it in our shop. It is quite lovely, and it is wonderful to see the hard work of the bees.
Warm Regards,
Diane Tucker
Naturalist, Hill-Stead Museum
Farmington, CT
USA
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Thank you so much!You have wonderful blog one can dream about, I am happy I found it!
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