Vojaško pokopališče 1. vojne Branik II.

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The village of Branik has a rather rich history, mainly in connection with the beautiful castle that stands guard upon the valley. But in more recent times the history of this area is mainly connected to the events of the WW1 and also WW2. During the time frame from 1915 to 1917 the fights on the Isonzo front in the area around Gorizia, were raging less than 30 km away from the village while at the same time the frontline in the Karts area ran even closer. It was in this context that the area of Branik gained military significance. All the inhabitants of the village were moved to refugee camps throughout the empire and the Austrian-Hungarian army had stationed here many different services. The army also set up 2 military hospitals here – one in the school building and the other in the castle above the village. All those soldiers who died in these two hospitals and also some who died on the nearby battlefields, were buried in the village. The military authorities have in fact set up also two military cemeteries in Branik. One of them, the so called Military cemetery Branik I, lies in the center of the village, near the civil cemetery, while the Military cemetery Branik II lies alongside of the main road from Branik to Štanjel, approx. 1,5 km from the village center. This is the bigger of the two, and it is the final resting place of 400 soldiers. The cemetery is not preserved in its original form but you can still see some original concrete tombstones that are lined up on a small wall. Three original officers tombs are still preserved with their tombstones and in addition to that, also a memorial dedicated to the fallen Romanian solders is located on the cemetery. This memorial was set up in 2008 in cooperation with the Romanian governament. In fact more than 20.000 Romanian citizens fought in the ranks of the Austrian-Hungarian army on the Isonzo front, most of them on the battlefields on the Slovenian Karst. If you like history or if you are a military buff, you should visit this place. The cemetery was renovated and it is very well taken care for. The only problem is, that there are no parking spaces near the site and for safety reasons you should avoid to leave the car on the road. There is also a ditch by the road that prevents parking a car there. The solution to this problem is to park the car on a small trail that runs in the vicinity. The visit of the cemetery takes only about 10 to 15 minutes.😺