The covers of the shafts are artistically decorated and each town has motifs with the scenes that best represent it. This is an interesting way to communicate with the public, as people’s gazes today are becoming more and more fixed to the ground. Motifs on the modern functional objects of the urban infrastructure unobtrusively point to the importance of the past. The shaft covers had become aesthetic objects. A new art was born that combined raising awareness of the significance of the sewage system and the celebration of local cultural or natural heritage.Some historical places have also chosen the images of the samurai for their motifs, along with their typical weaponry and armours.
Probably completely independent from the boom of art on the shafts in Japan, the municipality of Bled - Slovenia decided to decorate at least a part of its shafts with a motif from the past of their region. A peacock, which was depicted on the broch from the 5th or 6th century, found in a grave on the Bled Pristava, was chosen for the motif on the cover. The peacock in the Christian iconography of that time symbolizes the paradise and immortality.
Author of the exhibition: Dr Daša Pavlovič