In 1887 Jakob Aljaž, later the parish priest of Dovje, climbed Triglav for the first time. On the ridge his guide had to take him by the hand. "I was afraid," he wrote.

He wanted his people to feel at home up there. One winter he drew a little tower in chalk on the floor of his parish house. On 15 April 1895 he bought the summit, 16 square metres, from the villages of Dovje and Mojstrana for one florin. His friend Anton Belec, a tinsmith, made the tower in pieces and asked for nothing. Six porters carried it up in a week, and on 7 August 1895, in fog, it stood in five hours. On the first page of its book Aljaž wrote in Latin: on my own land, for the common good.

The Aljaž Tower still stands on the summit, 2,864 m. Reach it for the first time and someone who has been before gives you three soft taps with a rope.

Who gave you your three taps?

Sources: Peter Mikša, Zgodovinski časopis 69 (2015), from Aljaž's memoirs and the 1895 contract; Slovenian Alpine Museum, Mojstrana; Alpine Association of Slovenia (PZS).

A paper pop-up book made by The Hut Book: the mountain's cards are true sections of the terrain. Terrain produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30, © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA. Photo of the Aljaž Tower: Janezdrilc, Wikimedia Commons (CC0). Music: "Oj planine!" by Jakob Aljaž himself (Dovje, 1904), arranged for zither and piano. Sounds: Freesound (CC0); dobroide (CC BY 4.0).