The project “Transfer of Knowledge from Old Salt-pan Workers Regarding Kavedini”, led by the Strunjan Landscape Park Public Institute, is dedicated to saving the invaluable and critically endangered living heritage of the Piran salt pans. Due to the advanced age of the last salt-making masters—who began working in the salt pans back in the 1950s—there is an urgent risk that key practical skills regarding the comprehensive restoration of salt fields will be lost forever.
At the heart of the project is practical, hands-on knowledge transfer in the field. Under the direct mentoring and guidance of two former salt-pan workers, a series of working actions will take place in the abandoned western part of the Strunjan salt pans. Alongside younger salt workers, conservationists, researchers, and local volunteers, participants will restore and re-establish functioning crystallization basins—known as “kavedini”—from scratch. This involves traditional manual tasks such as managing water regimes and wooden sluice gates, thoroughly cleaning out sludge and shells, compacting the foundation using a traditional salt-pan roller (rodul), and preparing the base for “petola”, the crucial bio-layer of marine algae and microorganisms.
The entire restoration process and authentic dialect terminology will be professionally documented, video-recorded, and photo-archived. By doing so, the project not only physically revitalizes the abandoned section of the salt pans and creates an educational training ground for future generations, but it also establishes a solid professional and practical foundation for the long-term preservation and restoration of the entire salt-making ecosystem.