The Vršič Pass, a spectacularly beautiful part of the Julian Alps, is often featured in books about Slovenia and has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. When marveling at the ragged rock faces towering above the road, some visitors may catch a glimpse of a life-like human face. The so-called “Heathen Girl” (“Ajdovska deklica”) is a wholly natural formation, but through the centuries, it has attained a special place in Slovenian lore.

According to pre-Christian tradition, young women with special powers once guided travelers through the often treacherous mountain passes of the Julian Alps, where storms or snow could turn deadly in an instant. The Heathen Girls were also renowned for being fortune tellers, and were able to let farmers know when to sow and reap their grain. In return, they rewarded with offerings of food and drink.

One day, however, a Heathen Girl was called in to tell the fortune of a newborn baby. She prophesized that the boy would one day kill the Goldenhorn, a legendary mountain goat. Because the Goldenhorn was considered a holy animal, the prophecy angered the girl’s sisters, who had her turned into stone.

Other versions of the Heathen Girl story exist throughout the Slovenia, but the one explaining her face in the rocks above the Vršič Pass is the most famous.

For centuries, her haunting face was visible only to those who dared to venture high into the mountains. During World War I, however, Russian POWs built the Vršič Pass Road at a great cost of life. Ever since, increasing numbers of visitors have explored this wild part of the Julian Alps – and caught a glimpse of the legendary Heather Girl, her face forever frozen in stone.