Winner of the last stage will get famous situla

We already wrote about history of “amber city” Novo mesto, city that will host 4^th and final stage of 24^th edition of the international race Tour of Slovenia. This time we have an interesting story about the trophy for this stage, one that will be presented by mayor of Novo mesto and awarded to the winner of the day.

We’re talking about famous situla, symbol of Novo mesto, that dates back to period of hallstatt (early iron age), and was probably made in 5^th century B.C. This kind of urn is made out of bronze metal and was used for rituals, it has a handle and is usually decorated with relief images and ornaments. In the period of hallstatt it was most likely used for serving drinks on the ceremonies. In a way there is no better award that a cyclist could get on this race.

Situala art is found in the area from Bologna (Italy) across Slovenia to Austria. Most common motives on them are human and animal figures, different decorations and scenes from everyday life of the time. 22 of them were found in Slovenia, mostly in Novo mesto, Grosuplje and Vače. Found artifacts are stored in the Museum of Dolenjska in Novo mesto, in 2006 the city was also named the city of situlas. Large scale situla is also found on one of the roads that lead to the city of Novo mesto.