Josip Tičar was a respected doctor in his time, but he was also determined to share Slovenia’s wonders with outsiders at a time when tourism was still in its infancy, and his groundbreaking work is still remembered today.

Josip Tičar was born in the small village of Trboje, not far from Kranj, in 1875. His father died when he was just six years old and his mother wanted him to become a priest, but he was expelled from seminary school when he was found in possession of a book by Charles Darwin.

Tičar was even briefly homeless as a teenager, but he remained undaunted, and he eventually attended medical school in Vienna. He first worked as a doctor in a Ljubljana hospital but was later assigned to the small mountain village of Kranjska Gora.

At the time, tourism was becoming an increasingly important source of revenue for several mountain resorts across Europe. Tičar, who traveled extensively around Europe – and as far away as the Middle East -- believed that Kranjska Gora and the mountains that surrounded the village had the same potential for tourism.

In 1904, he helped to establish the area’s first tourist association. He also created a lake for swimming at Jasna, just outside Kranjska Gora, and helped to promote the new sports of skiing and sledding. Under his initiative, Kranjska Gora was equipped with street lighting and became the home of the regional mountaineering association; Tičar also co-funded Slovenia’s first mountain rescue service. He capped his impressive career by becoming the mayor of the quickly growing resort town in 1907. Tičar died in 1946.

The mountaineering association set up a flagship hut on the Vršič Pass; the hut was later named after Tičar in honor of his groundbreaking work. Still known as the Tičar Hut, it is popular among the thousands of tourists who visit the area each year – and admire the landscapes whose potential Tičar recognized more than a century ago.