Village well in Ajdovec
The village well in Ajdovec represents a rare case of a well built in 1932 with a special pumping system called the “paternoster”. It had a similar mechanism to the pumps along the Nile in Egypt, using metal plates chained together with small cups on them. When spinning, they collect water and transport it to the next part of the pump and pour it at the break of the wheel. Only two such systems are known in Slovenia. After WWII, in the sixties of the last century to be precise, it was abandoned. The well with a hand pump with a volume of 110 cubic metres, which was restored years ago and is today a reserve source of fire water, stands under the parish church of St. Trinity.
Slovenia is rich in water resources and ranks among the most water-rich countries in Europe. In terms of total water per capita it exceeds the European average by almost four times. However, there are areas, such as the Suha krajina, where water is still scarce and where not every house has a plumbing connection.
The oldest discovered wells date from the beginning of the Stone Age, from the 10th and 9th centuries BC. They were discovered in Cyprus, carved into limestone. The first wells in Central Europe were built in the 5th and 6th centuries BC and were protected by a wooden oak frame. Later wells, constructed in the second century BC, had a weaved lid to protect the water.
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The management authority tasked for implementation of the Rural Development programme of the Republic of Slovenia 2014-2020 is Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food.
