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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN<br />
claiming to be crossing the former Iron Curtain when they cross the<br />
Italian/Slovenian border.<br />
A group of British cyclists are hanging out in the Transalpine Square<br />
outside the Nova Gorica railway station waiting for a train. They take<br />
pictures of each other jumping over the border and standing with one foot<br />
in Italy and one in Slovenia. I ask them what the significance of the place is.<br />
“It’s pretty awesome that you can now just cross over what was once the<br />
Iron Curtain,” says one of the guys and makes an extra jump over the<br />
border line as if to enforce his point.<br />
Some concluding points<br />
The materiality of the border shows the different layers of its history. It<br />
provides an understanding of times of division but also of cross border<br />
contact and reunion. First and foremost the materiality of the border<br />
shows the interaction of people in a highly controlled environment. It also<br />
shows the struggle for control in the border landscape by the military but<br />
also by other actors connected to the border whether for single crossings<br />
or regular interaction. The remains of the military within the border have<br />
to a large degree disappeared and at a first glance they may appear nonexistent.<br />
On closer scrutiny, however, the traces can be seen and different<br />
characters appear. The most apparent information gained from the materiality<br />
of the border is about its different functions. For example, some<br />
remains are more defensive in character, such as bunkers or military stations<br />
that are built to withstand attack and supply troops. Related to these<br />
are also the remains that point to surveillance activities along the border.<br />
Here we see watchtowers, such as the one near the village of Šempeter or<br />
the long paths along the border in Nova Gorica. Perhaps most obvious is<br />
the surveillance along the ridge of Mount Sabotino/Sabotin where the<br />
double paths run along the border.<br />
One of the places where the material of the control exercised at borders<br />
is most clear and still remains is at the border crossings. Here many of the<br />
buildings, lanes and road barriers still stand, but are now abandoned. With<br />
the air of a ghost town the Casa Rossa/Rožna Dolina crossing complex is<br />
now quickly passed by traffic no longer held up by congestion caused by<br />
rigorous checks. Besides controlling the movement of people these crossings<br />
were also part of an important administrative border infrastructure<br />
where pre-EU regulations required control of goods in a stricter fashion.<br />
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