Ajdovski zid (“Ajdovski wall”) above Vrhnika is considered to be the longest known section in the claustra Alpium Iuliarum barrier system and measures 6.5 km, with interruptions exceeding 10 km. According to a map by Alfonz Müllner from the late 19th century the wall begins below what is now Verd Railway Station. Archaeologists were only able to document the beginning of the wall on the slope of the Ljubljana hill, and the part of the wall below the railway station was considered destroyed.
Within the framework of the Claustra+ project, we have been able to identify with a lidar image a surface sign that could be part of the mentioned wall, as already outlined by Müllner. Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing method in which a laser is mounted on an aircraft to measure the earth’s surface and thus obtain an accurate map – a digital terrain model.
Due to lush vegetation equipped with machetes, NMS and ZVKDS teams managed to find the “lost” remains of the wall and document it in the length of 200 m. The remains of three towers were also discovered. The Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia will provide for an adequate protection regime.
The preserved wall now measures more than 6.7 km, further consolidating the status of the Ajdovski zid as the longest section in the entire barrier system. For a better performance, at the National Museum of Slovenia, we have started making a 3D virtual reconstruction of the entire wall, which you will be able to see soon.
