A cultural landscape

The characteristic landscape of the Sečovlje Salt Pans has been shaped by human activity and intervention over a period of centuries.

Cultural landscapes are spatially closed areas characterised by a balance of natural and man-made values. The cultural landscapes in the park are characterised by the predominance of natural, even extreme, features, which have been shaped by man's presence and by the traditional, mainly salt-pan, use of the area over generations.

The cultural landscape of the salt pans is created by the interplay of salt fields and pools, embankments and paths, main and side canals, dykes and locks, houses, windmills, etc. All the built and natural elements are important for the distinctive character of the area, and they are in balance with each other. In the salt marshes, the working and living environment are closely intertwined. Man has created them to ensure his existence.

For millennia, the River Dragonja has deposited debris and created a marsh that moves the indistinct land-sea interface from the interior of the valley towards the Gulf of Piran. People soon realised that they could not farm in the marsh and the salty soil, but that they could extract salt. This created an extraordinary place and an authentic way of living and working in harmony with nature that continues to this day.