One million Euros for the Lipica Stud Farm
Ljubljana, 5 April 2013 – The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, acting as the Managing Authority for the EU structural funds and the Cohesion Fund, issued a decision awarding EU funds for the project “First phase of the overall arrangement of the Lipica Stud Farm: arrangement of the surfaces and facilities related to the tourist programmes realization”. The value of the project, which aims to round up the tourist offer of the Lipica Stud Farm, amounts to 1 million Euros of which the European Regional Development Fund contribution amounts to 850,000 Euros.
The project includes the arrangement of Hof (external surfaces in the centre of the historic core of the stud farm) and the avenue Tržaški drevored, which both represent the historic core of the stud farm and connect the tourist and breeding area of the complex, the reconstruction of the stables in Borjača and the reconstruction of the interior of the stable Jubilejni hlev and the stable Novi hlev, which will greatly improve the standards of accommodation and caring for the horses.
The purpose of the project is to arrange the external surfaces in the centre of the historic area of the stud farm, the avenue Tržaški drevored and the stables, and thus round up the overall tourist offer of the Lipica Stud Farm. The investment is directly integrated with the realization of the stud farm tourist programmes – from guided tours and the new museum to the shows of the Lipica Riding School.
Besides the central, constructed areas of the Lipica Stud Farm, there are many unexploited tourist potentials such as paths, avenues and other elements of the exceptional cultural region which are difficult to access or are inaccessible to visitors. Among such potentials is the avenue Tržaški drevored, a former main entrance axis into Lipica, which is approximately 1.1 kilometres long. Together with the rehabilitation of the historic core of the stud farm, where the avenue Tržaški drevored elapses, the avenue is foreseen to be arranged in such a way that it will be included into the Lipica tourist offer as a regulated footpath, educational path and carriage path which will be, on special occasions, opened as an entrance point used for protocol purposes or as a ceremonial entrance into Lipica.
The majority of visitors visit Lipica because of the horses. They come into contact with the horses through visiting the stud farm, the stables and the shows of the Lipica Riding School. The majority of the facilities and surfaces in the historic core and the stud farm area is very exposed to tourists which means that they represent an important contribution to the perception of Lipica as a tourist destination. Due to their age and decades of insufficient maintenance these facilities are in a relatively poor state which is unsuitable for the tourist destination which we intend to establish in Lipica.
The arranged surfaces represent the first step towards the establishment and improvement of the Lipica Stud Farm tourist offer; also the reconstructed stables will be adequate for a greater quality of the accommodation for the horses.
The project represents a direct contribution to the objectives of the Operational Programme for Strengthening Regional Development Potentials for the period 2007-2013, main type of activity “Integration of natural and cultural potentials”.
