Birthplace of France Prešeren
Background
Vrba is one of the oldest villages at the foot of Stol, inhabited by peasants whose additional sources of income used to be trade and transportation with wagons and pack-horses. When the Prešeren house was originally constructed in the 16th century it was mostly made of wood, with only the basement, hall and barn made of stone. After a fire in 1856 the house was rebuilt. It was bought and arranged into a memorial museum in 1939 following an initiative of another native, priest and writer Franc Saleški Finžgar (see Birthplace of Franc Saleški Finžgar, Žirovnica).
It was one of the first Slovene protected cultural monuments and remains an interesting monument of vernacular art. The house has the entrance hall with the staircases, black kitchen and a cellar. Two memorial plaques are built in the entrance façade, commemorating the birth of Dr France Prešeren and Archbishop Anton Vovk (1900–1963).
Programme
Its rooms contain furniture and domestic artefacts dating back to the 19th century. The most important piece of furniture is the poet’s cradle. In 1985 the historical significance of the house was increased by the addition of translations of poems by Dr France Prešeren, including 84 mutually-exclusive publications of Poezije and a range of literature on Prešeren’s life and work. On 3 December 2000 a new exhibition on the life and work of Dr France Prešeren was installed.
Prešeren's birthplace is a meeting point of people, interested in different cultural events, including literary evening and temporary exhibitions (i.e. in 2009 exhibition on Dr Janez Bleiweis).
In front of the house stands a bust of Prešeren's first sculptural depiction, modeled in 1865 by academic sculptor Franc Ksaver Zajec. It was erected in Vrba in 2000 at the 200th anniversary of Preseren's birth.