The lace school (Cipkarska sola) is in the center of things in Idrija, right next to Town Hall, housed in a handsome, solid three-story building of ivory-colored stone built with mine funds in 1876. Idrija isn’t the only Slovene town with a lace school, but this is the country’s largest and best-known, and the acknowledged center of Slovene lacemaking. Outside the school secretary’s office hang framed examples of lace from Malta, Finland, Portugal, Belgium and Italy; Slovenia’s style, whirling in intricate, hypnotic patterns like captured snowflakes, most closely resembles the Italian, and is in no way inferior to it or any of the others.
The history of Idrija lacemaking dates back over 300 years, when it was brought over by the wives of German and Czech mine workers and managers. To this day, just about all of Idrija’s women learn the craft in some fashion, starting at around age six, sometimes younger. The lace school teaches both pre-school and grade-school girls, and also runs programs for adults. Boys in the lace program aren’t unheard of, but, as one might expect, are very rare (and undoubtedly, thick-skinned).
On the day of my visit, the teacher, Dragica Cesnik, darts from desk to desk among the eight small girls, working in pairs in the clean, modern classroom, intently clicking seven pairs of wooden bobbins around a long pillow on which rests their handiwork. All use white cotton thread (colored thread is seldom used, and then mostly for export), with finer needles for finer work.
Telephone the lace school (Cipkarska sola) at (386-05) 71-313 to reserve a guided tour, or ask at the tourist office (if you don’t speak Slovene and no English speaker is around, some Italian or German would help).
Idrija's annual lace festival is held in late August (in 2001, it took place from the 24th through 31st) and is highly recommended for serious students of the craft, or admirers of lace in general.