IVAN SMILJANIĆ ON POLITICAL TREES IN THE RADIO PROGRAMME CULTURAL FOCUS
Did you know that trees can also serve as political monuments? From lime trees and oaks planted in honour of Habsburg rulers to the 88 trees dedicated to Josip Broz Tito and the lime trees commemorating Slovenia’s independence – our landscape is full of living monuments that tell the stories of different periods in our history.
Our colleague, historian Dr Ivan Smiljanić, appeared on Kulturni fokus (Cultural Focus) on Radio Slovenia’s First Programme, where he discussed how different political regimes used the planting of commemorative trees to consolidate their power, mark significant events, and inscribe their ideologies into the landscape.
What happened to these trees when political systems changed? How did their symbolic meanings evolve, and why do we now perceive many of them as ordinary trees?
Ivan Smiljanić explores these questions as part of his postdoctoral research project “The Politics of Trees: Commemorative Tree Planting and the Political Tree Landscape in Slovenia between 1879 and 2021”, which examines the connections between political power, historical memory, and the landscape.
We invite you to listen to the episode “Living Monuments of Political Regimes: From Lime Trees and Oaks for the Habsburgs to Tito’s 88 Trees”, produced by Alja Zore.
The episode is avaliable here: https://prvi.rtvslo.si/podkast/kulturni-fokus/56190783/175251324
Happy listening!