The Zajc Family

During our trip to Slovenia, we had the blessing of meeting the family that currently owns the house and farm where my great grandmother Mary Podobnik was from. Tracking this line of the family down was hard, especially as grandma had 5 sisters, but started with inheriting a pile of letters all from the Podobnik family. While I have had great success tracking down pre-1900 birth, marriage and death records once I discovered Matricula, I still didn’t quite have a connection to all these names and how they might be related to my great grandmother.

With the help of some folks in an online Slovenian Facebook group, I shared this collection and a Slovenian genealogist reached out to me and directed me to some research he had done, about our family and the village they were from, helping me connect the younger generation that corresponded with my great-great grandmother’s maiden name and her family’s history at House #13. Here’s that post from Robert Fonda (use the translate button at the top as needed!)

Maria Zajec (Zajc, Saiz)’s grandfather was of a family of famous Slovenian artists and carvers. Her father, Anton Zajc included. However the earliest Zajc family history is that Primoz Zajc came to Sovodenj from Koprivnik (a village about 2 miles away) around 1815. He had 5 sons who would go on to become famous carvers and sculptors, and one daughter. It was my great-great grandfather Anton Zajc who stayed at the house in Savodenj while many of his brothers, uncles and nephews in the family traveled to various schools to study. Anton had his own workshop with many assistants at the family property and one of his most notable works sculpting all four altars in the Nova Oselica church which we were able to visit.

We also were able to meet the family who owns the property now, and see the archway that Anton had carved for the cellar. It was a pretty special thing to do! They had a report of the previous owners (aka our family) and family history. Here’s a quick translation and a picture of what the house would have looked before it was renovated in the 1950s.

In the house itself, they have a painting of the original house which is very special:

But the neatest part (aside from their immense welcome and generosity – helped by the fact that our tour guide was the former and well known weather woman of Slovenia) was that they preserved the original stone entryway carved by Anton Zajc which we got to see.

However, our ability to see original works carved by our family did not end there and we missed out on many more that we will need to visit next time. Here’s a brief introduction to the other famous Zajcs, their works and their relation:

Martin Zajc

According to the notes shared with us by the current house owners and their son who had recently done a report with his school on the Zajc family, Martin Zajc took over the family farm (presumably before Anton) after his father died. He would eventually go on to Croatia where, he worked making wooden carvings, wooden ornaments and gilding and renovating altars for churches. He died of smallpox while in Croatia.

Frank Ksaver Zajc

Frank was a prolific sculptor, teaching his sons, as well as working in portraiture. Here’s a brief biography of his work (translated). He is most well known for his work creating the first sculpture of Franc Preseren. And here is a very thorough biography and look at his work. While in Slovenia, we got to see his work in downtown Ljubljana at St. Nicholas’s Cathedral, where the statue of St. Hermagoras and St. Fortunatus were completed by Frank.

Valentin Zajc

While Valentin was still working in the shop in Slovenia, he asked the government to help fund his trip to study in Venice. However, his request was denied, but Valentin was driven to go and left to study penniless in Venice. It is said a wealthy aristocrat saw his work and talent and offered him a commission for a series of park sculptures and a large bust of Garibaldi. Valentin used the money from these jobs to establish his own studio and never returned to Slovenia. You can see some of his work here at the Duomo of St. Peter.

Marko Zajc

Marko worked in Anton’s shop, known for his depictions of lions. He tragically died when walking home in the snow one evening where he was found asleep (drunk? – the translations are a bit tricky on this story) in a snowbank.

Ivan Zajc – Son of Frank Ksaver

Since there was recently a national exhibit about him, I believe they can tell the story best! A timeline of Ivan Zajec’s life from the National Gallery of Slovenia which recently featured an exhibit about him. More about the exhibit and family can be found here and in the summary below:

His most famous work however, was the work done on the Preseren Monument. You can’t visit Ljubljana without seeing and hearing about this monument to the national Poet and author of the Slovenian national anthem. Buried in the story is how Ivan Zajec won a national contest to design this moment and then sculpted some of the lower panels.

Some leads I’m currently working on are a possible connection with our Majdic family. It seems that Ivan Zajec was commissioned to sculpt a relief of the ascension for the Majdič mausoleum in Kranj. This might call for an in-person investigation!