Many generations of miners’ families called the Giser House their home and left an indelible mark on the building.
The house at Ulica zmage 12 was originally owned by the Bogataj (Wogathey) family. Ownership then passed to the Brus family, who occupied the house with four family members around 1880. The Zupančič, Mihevc and Peljhan families succeeded them. The house was occupied by a maximum of 10 people at a time, which was a relatively bearable number for the residential reality of Idrija. From the first years of the 20th century onwards, the house was entirely owned by the Zupančič family, with whom the present house name is also connected.
The story of the unusual name Giser, also Gisar, comes from the German word Gießer, meaning foundryman, and refers to the occupation of the first house-keeper of the Zupančič family, who immigrated to Idrija from Dvor near Žužemberk before 1890. The Auersperg family had a foundry here until 1891. Zupančič’s foundry profession was apparently representative enough to give birth to a peculiar house name, which has survived to this day. The house remained in the ownership of the Zupančič family for another two generations, with all the male householders professionally connected to the mine right up to the last. In 2003, with the death of the last occupant, the mining house reached the end of its first, mining phase.
