Abstract

In pictures and words, this article follows the long and rich life path of Avgust Bukovec (1878–1965) in Austria-Hungary, the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs after World War I, then in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, or the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, during the Italian and German occupation in World War II, and then in Tito’s Yugoslavia. It describes his family, upbringing and life in Ljubljana, to where he moved from his birth town of Radovljica as a child and remained for the rest of his life. In his profession as a high-ranking provincial or state official, Avgust Bukovec was also open to art and culture, and especially to natural sciences. He was actively involved in the establishment of the National Gallery in Ljubljana, but above all, his work led to him playing a significant part in the history of Slovenian beekeeping as a wise man, a beekeeper, an active member of the national and Ljubljana beekeeping societies, an organiser of beekeeping societies in Slovenia, a lecturer, an advocate of the cultural heritage of beekeeping and an initiator of its preservation in public museums. Avgust Bukovec was credited with the establishment of the beekeeping museum as part of the national beekeeping society and indirectly for the now unique Museum of Apiculture in Radovljica. He was a writer of professional articles and for almost twenty years a tireless and consistent editor of the professional journal Slovenski čebelar (Slovenian Beekeeper).