Beekeeping is not only about the production of honey, it is also a way of life for more than 10,000 Slovenes. Beekeeping teaches a person responsibility, perseverance, modesty, hard work, love of nature and homeland. Slovenian beekeepers are people of various ages and professions, most of them are amateurs with a small number of beehives who spend their free time with bees. The extensive and diverse tangible and intangible heritage of beekeeping and the use of bee products on Slovenian soil is a testament to the long tradition and incorporation of this rich heritage into everyday life and holidays of individuals, families, social and professional groups. Slovenians are proud of their beekeeping heritage, especially its specialties, such as the Carniolan honey bee, traditional beehives, beehive panels, apiaries and the transport of bees to honeybee forage.

Since the beginning, they have only ever kept Carniolan honey bees (Carniolan gray – Apis mellifera carnica), which have been preserved as a Slovenian autochthonous breed to this day and represent a unique natural and also cultural heritage due to folk art that was motivated by beekeeping in the past. Their knowledge and skills are highly valued and set an example for beekeepers in other countries. Today, Slovenian beekeepers are renowned around the world as foremost experts in their field that are well organized and keep bees in a bee-friendly and sustainable way. » To keep bees means to live with bees, to adapt to the laws of their lives and turn this skill of coexistence to one’s advantage.« (Esenko, 2018)Īs early as 1770, Empress Maria Theresa appointed Anton Janša from Kranj as the first teacher of beekeeping in the Habsburg monarchy.

Soboba beekeeper