Cobbler’s lamp
Light in the Dark Ages
In the days of the Dark Ages, the only light available came from tallow candles, oil lamps and torches. All these lighting devices give poor and uncertain light for the exacting and precise work of the cobbler's craft.
Slovenian cobblers solved the problem by capturing the light with a system of glass globes filled with water. These distributed and balanced the light in the manner of lenses, which could be lifted or lowered to provide direct light to a particular surface. The placing and the number of the globes varied according to the technical demands of various craft tasks.
Cobbler`s Lamp was together with many other antique objects of practical use, saved from oblivion by two masters of the folk craft, Jernej and Matej Kosmač.
Written by Aleksandra Ceferin on 11/17/98 | permalink |
About Aleksandra Ceferin
Aleksandra Ceferin (M.A., B.A., Dip.Ed.) has introduced Slovenian language as a school subject in Australian school system and founded the Slovenian Teachers' Association of Victoria in 1976. She has extensive experience in language education: as teacher, lecturer, curriculum coordinator, course writer, language consultant and manager, VCE State Reviewer and Chief Examiner. Since 1998 she has been the President of ISSV and the manager and chief editor of its projects. Aleksandra visits Slovenian annually, establishing and maintaining contacts with Slovenia, and initiating exchanges and cooperation between organizations. In 2004 she was the recipient of the National Education Award of RS Slovenia.
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