Zavodnje near Šoštanj, 16 km from Velenje

Kavčnik homestead is an exceptional museum of folk architecture. The main room of the house is more than 400 years old smokehouse with an open fireplace which was used for cooking and heating.

Kavčnik homestead is open to visitors from the 1st May until the 30th of September, from Thursday to Sunday, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m,. for groups also according to previous agreement.
Guided tour of a group lasts approximately an hour.

Additional offer: According to previous agreement we can light fire in the fireplace and offer you some roasted apples. We kindly ask you to contact Velenje museum and previously notify group visits.

More about Kavčnik homestead
Kavčnik homestead in Zavodnje is a pearl of Slovene rural architecture and the southernmost preserved Alpine smokehouse in Europe. This type of houses mainly predominated in Slovene territory from the 11th until the end of the 18th century; than the authorities started to oppose their construction due to the fire hazard risk. They were replaced by contemporary designed constructions with so called "black kitchen".

Today's building is a result of numerous reconstructions and completions and is made of independent rooms in a row. The oldest part of the house is the room for smoking meat - because of its function the owners called it "kuhna". Small windows with a special opening mechanism and the wooden hinges on the front doors of a shed testify that the main building with a shed probably dates from the 17th century. At that time the room for smoking meat was the only room in Kavčnik house.

With the fire burning and the smoke hanging in the air, this room gives visitors the feeling that people still live in it. Burning eyes and lungs full of smoke convince visitors that life used to be much simpler than it is today but still not as romantic as some may think.