Cultural associations

Various forms of cultural and other activity organised by a variety of circles, societies and clubs played a role of inestimable importance in strengthening the national awareness of the Slovenes and raising their level of culture. It was not until the constitutional changes of 1860, which among other things permitted all the nations of the Habsburg Empire to establish their own cultural associations, that these forms of cultural activity could begin to flourish.
Associational life initially took the form of reading circles or societies, which from the 1860s onwards were the centre of cultural life and the political struggle for survival. Nationally conscious members of the intelligentsia organised reading society events known as bèsede, at which speeches, recitals and choral singing served to demonstrate Slovene cultural identity and cultivate national consciousness. The first reading circle within Slovene ethnic territory was founded in Trieste in 1861. After around 1870 the original reading circles began to lose their vitality and new forms of cultural activity connected to national awakening emerged, including choral societies, bands, tamburitza orchestras, reading circles, cultural societies, educational associations, and so on. These continued to multiply in the period from the 1890s until the start of the First World War. Most suspended their activities during the war but resumed them soon afterwards. By the end of 1927, Fascist Italy had dissolved all Slovene cultural associations and confiscated their property.