In addition to the Church of St. Lazarus, the Jurca family tomb is certainly the most noticeable object in the city cemetery, which indicates that it belonged to an influential family from Postojna. The sacral building was built at the beginning of the 20th century by Fran Jurca (1845–1926), a local landowner and prominent timber merchant who lived in a villa in the middle of the town (Vila Jurca, today it houses the court) and who with his steam saw under the railway station placed was the beginner of the wood industry in Postojna.
The mausoleum stands out both with its external neoclassical architecture and its interior arrangement, which is rounded off by the ceiling painting of Mary with the dead Jesus by Maksim Gaspari and the sculpture of a mother and child by Svitoslav Peruzzi. The full-length marble portrait figures are life-size and depict the landowner’s wife Fani and their son. After Second World War, the Jurca family was dispossessed, and the family tomb was left to decay. Until 2006, when the Municipality of Postojna, at the initiative of the art history profession and descendants of the Jurca family, decided to restore the building. The restoration project, which took place under the watchful eye of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, was completed in 2016.
The tomb, with its two artistic depictions, is one of the few things that remained in Postojna from an influential family from the turn of the century.
To see the inside of the tomb, ask at the TIC Galerija.
Maksim Gaspari (1883–1980), Slovenian painter, illustrator, and restorer, originally from Selšček near Cerknica. His works are dominated by motifs of folk customs and landscapes, as well as portrait motifs.
Svitoslav Peruzzi (1881–1936), Slovenian sculptor, born in Lipe on the Ljubljana Marshes. He became famous mainly for grave and decorative sculpturing.
