Living Model of Lake Cerknica

The heart of our museum – where the lake comes to life before your eyes

Discover the remarkable world of Lake Cerknica through the museum's central exhibit – a unique living model that brings the lake and its extraordinary water system to life before your eyes.

Set between Mount Slivnica and the densely forested Javorniki Hills, the model presents Lake Cerknica and its wider karst surroundings in miniature. During the guided demonstration, visitors discover how water enters the Cerknica karst field, how the lake forms and expands, and how it eventually disappears through sinkholes and into the mysterious karst underground.

What may seem almost impossible to understand when standing beside the lake suddenly becomes clear: the landscape can be seen as a whole, and the hidden connections between water, surface and underground are revealed.

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💧 See the lake come to life

As water begins to flow through the model, the landscape changes before your eyes.

Visitors can follow the functioning of the springs, streams, watercourses, sinkholes and underground channels and discover why Lake Cerknica can transform from a vast body of water into an almost completely dry karst field.

The demonstration makes it possible to understand a natural process that unfolds across a large landscape and changes continuously throughout the year.

Authentic recordings of water, birds and other animals accompany the presentation, bringing the sounds of the lake into the museum and creating a vivid impression of its rich natural environment.

• Experience the landscape
• Discover the karst water system
• Listen to the sounds of nature
• Understand why the lake appears and disappears

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 🗺️ Lake Cerknica as a whole

One of the special qualities of the living model is that it allows visitors to see Lake Cerknica and its wider surroundings as one interconnected system.

In nature, we experience the lake from individual viewpoints. On the model, however, its wider landscape opens up before us – from the surrounding hills and watercourses to the places where water emerges and where it disappears underground.

The model therefore offers much more than a miniature view of the landscape. It helps visitors understand how the different parts of this extraordinary karst system are connected and why the lake is constantly changing.

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🛠️ A unique work created over three years

The Living Model of Lake Cerknica is the original work of Vekoslav Kebe (with collaborators), a long-time expert on the lake who has observed, studied and experienced its changes over decades.

Its construction took three years and required careful selection of materials, precise craftsmanship and, above all, an in-depth knowledge of the lake and its karst water system.

Every detail is based on the real landscape and on processes that actually take place in nature. The model is therefore not simply an artistic representation, but the result of years of observation, accumulated knowledge and a deep understanding of Lake Cerknica.

It was the first model created to demonstrate the functioning of Lake Cerknica in such a detailed and vivid way, combining an accurate representation of the landscape with a working presentation of its changing water system.

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First understand it – then experience it in nature

Lake Cerknica is a landscape of constant change. What visitors see beside the lake on any particular day is only one of its many faces.

The living model offers an opportunity to first understand the lake as a whole – how the water moves, where it comes from, where it disappears and how the landscape changes with it.

With this understanding, a visit to the real Lake Cerknica becomes a different experience. Details in the landscape begin to make sense, and visitors can explore this extraordinary and sensitive natural environment with greater understanding, curiosity and respect.

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🌍 Languages

The presentation is available in Slovenian and English.

Presentations in German, Italian, French and Czech can also be arranged.

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See Lake Cerknica come to life, discover the secrets of its water system and experience the phenomenon that has fascinated people for centuries.

Begin your journey at the museum – and then step outside to discover the real lake with new eyes.

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