At first glance, Mozirje, a small town snuggled in Slovenia’s Savinja Valley, seems like an unexceptional place. But despite appearances, the area is a major destination for visitors from across Slovenia and beyond. Most of them are drawn to the town’s flower park, known as the “Mozirje Grove” (known in Slovenian as “Mozirski gaj.”)

The area now occupied by the park once served as a village commons, where villagers led cattle to graze. Over the years, the pasture was abandoned and became overgrown with bushes and weeds. Parts of the old commons were even used as a garbage dump.

In the mid-1970s, however, local residents decided to transform the area and get rid of what had become an embarrassment for the town. The first steps were gradual: Local fishermen helped to set up a fishpond with several local varieties of fish. But the pond was just the beginning of a massive transformation of the area.

In 1978, extensive gardens were opened to the public, and the Mozirje Grove quickly became the pride of the town. Its wide variety of flowers included no fewer than 100,000 tulips and soon after the grand opening, it hosted a major Yugoslav horticultural fair.

Encouraged by the enthusiastic response, the team heading the park decided to expand its scope beyond flowers. Several traditional buildings - including a granary, a mill, and a blacksmith’s cottage - were moved to the park in order to enlighten visitors about life in the Savinja Valley many generations ago.

The road to success was not an easy one. Occasional flooding caused damage to the flower beds and a major flood in 1990 all but swept away the park, along with all the hard work that had been invested in it. Still, local residents volunteered to clean up the damage, and the park was ready to accept visitors the following season.

In 1994, the local horticultural society took over the management of the park, and the Mozirje Grove hasn’t looked back since. It has hosted a number of international flower shows, many of them dedicated to specific varieties of flowers, such as tulips and water plants. The park’s permanent flower beds introduce visitors to a wide variety of plant life from across Slovenia, Europe, and beyond. A local birdwatching society has even been entrusted to take care of the park’s birds, which have found the park’s lush greenery a perfect breeding environment.

Today, more than 150,000 visitors flock to the Mozirje Grove each year. Some of the features in the park – a Japanese garden, a tree-lined road dedicated to the EU, and an herbal garden – were never imagined by the park’s founders, but they all continue the tradition began by a group of passionate locals more than 40 years ago.