The area of the Soča Valley was part of the Soča Front in World War I between 1915 and 1917. Boys and men of many nations fought, died and suffered along the Soca. Numerous remains from this period have been preserved (rifle trenches, fortifications, caverns, memorials, military cemeteries), which constitute a cultural and historical heritage of national and international importance.
In 1990, the Kobarid Museum was founded to present the events on the front, and in particular the 12th Battle of the Battle of the Bulge, known as the Breakthrough at Kobarid – the Miracle at Kobarid. The narrative power of the museum has won it accolades at home and abroad. In September 2000, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the programme “Posočje – The Walk of Peace” as a national and international project and, in December, initiated the establishment of the “Foundation Poti miru v Posočju”.
The Foundation has been linking up all the important points and organisations along the former Sochi Front, and even more intensively since 2012, and in March 2015 inaugurated the Walk of peace from the Alps to the Adriatic.
As Kranjska Gora played an important supply role in the hinterland of the Soča Front during the First World War, the Peace Trail was extended to Kranjska Gora in 2020. The Walk of Peace ends in Kranjska Gora at the Peace Park, which was built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Russian chapel under Vršič. It tells the whole story of the road to Vršič through antique photographs.
