Fifth-grade pupils from the Podnanos branch school of Drago Bajc Vipava Primary School pass by the Zdravljica House in Podnanos every day, but on 18 June 2026 they got to know it more closely, from the inside, for the first time. The visit, organised by the Ljudska univerza Ajdovščina as part of the BEroots project – Between Rivers and Lagoons: Artistic Routes, was led by tourist guide Jana Kete. The visit to the Zdravljica House gave the pupils the opportunity to explore in greater depth the story behind the creation of the Slovenian national anthem, much of which unfolded right in their own town.
In the restored house, the pupils tried out interactive content prepared specifically for younger visitors as part of the BEroots project. They composed the anthem's melody, had their photos taken with the program "transferring" their faces onto a portrait of Matija Vertovec, and used artificial intelligence to ask Vertovec questions, which he answered in digital form. The impressions written down after the visit, collected by teacher Maja Funa, show that what appealed to the pupils most was the chance to take part themselves rather than simply listen: composing the melody and lyrics of the Slovenian anthem, conversing with Vertovec, taking photographs, and the relief model of Mount Nanos and the surrounding villages.
The branch school's visit was part of a series of pilot visits to the Zdravljica House, carried out by the Ljudska Univerza Ajdovščina as part of the BEroots project – Between Rivers and Lagoons: Artistic Routes, co-financed by the European Union under the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia Programme.
