Julius Kugy

Julius Kugy (19 July 1858 – 5 February 1944) was a mountaineer, writer, botanist, humanist, lawyer and officer of Slovenian descent. He wrote mostly in German. He is renowned for his travelogues from opening up the Julian Alps, in which he reflected on the relationship between man, nature, and culture. He opposed competing nationalist ideologies in the Alpe-Adria region, insisting on the need of peaceful co-existence among Slovene, Italian and German peoples.

Biography Julius Kugy was born to a Slovenian family in Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire (now in Italy). His father Paul was a farmer from Lind (Lipa) near Arnoldstein in the Carinthian Gail Valley. His mother Giulia was the daughter of the Slovene poet Janez Vesel. The surname Kugy has the same origin as the surnames Kugi, Kogoj, and Kogej. Kugy was educated in a multilingual environment: from an early age he was fluent in three of the four languages of his native Gorizia and Gradisca region: Italian, German, and Friulian. Kugy did not speak Slovene, as he also writes in his book Aus dem Leben eines Bergsteigers. However, he did later learn to read Slovene. During his childhood he would spend the summers in his father's native village of Lind, where he developed his interest in nature and mountains.

Julius attended the German-language secondary school in Trieste and continued his studies at the University of Vienna, graduating in law in 1882. Upon returning to Trieste, he took over the management of the import-export company Pfeifer & Kugy, co-founded by his father.

He explored large portions of the Eastern Alps, dedicating most of his mountaineering career to climbing in the Julian Alps, where he discovered and marked more than 50 new routes. Local guides helped him climb many a previously unconquered peak in the Julian Alps: he became famous for climbing Škrlatica and Jôf di Montasio.

In addition to mountaineering, Kugy was interested in many other subjects such as literature, botany and music. One of the riddles he tried to solve was a mysterious plant species Scabiosa trenta, described by Belsazar Hacquet and later proven by Anton Kerner von Marilaun to be a specimen of the already known Cephalaria leucantha. Together with his friend Albert Bois de Chesne he created the Juliana Alpine Botanical Garden near Bovec. with a sculpture of Kugy by Jakob Savinšek. A number of mountain routes are also named after him, including the famous one in Aurisina near Duino.

In 2008, a Slovenian postal stamp was dedicated to him.

Major works Aus dem Leben eines Bergsteigers ("The Life of a Mountaineer". Munich, 1925). Arbeit, Musik, Berge ("Work, Music, Mountains". Munich, 1931). Die Julischen Alpen im Bilde ("The Julian Alps in Images". Graz, 1933). Alpine Pilgrimage (1st Edition (English) 1934). Translated by H E G Tyndale. Anton Ditzinger, ein Bergführerleben ("Anton Ditzinger: The Life of a Mountain Guide". Graz, 1935). Fünf Jahrhunderte Triglav ("Five Centuries of Triglav"). Im göttliche Lächeln des Monte Rosa ("The Divine Smile of Monte Rosa"). Aus vergangener Zeit ("From Days Past". Graz, 1943).