In the Princely Town of Celje, just a few metres from the train station, a statue of Alma Karlin greets you. If you walk down along the Savinja river or get lost in the streets of the old town of Celje, you’ll come across an imposing building that goes by the name Stara grofija (The Old County) and is home to the Celje Regional Museum. It showcases the rich cultural heritage of the town’s inhabitants and the Slovenian history as well as all kinds of interesting temporary exhibitions.
As a traveller, I was most impressed by the “Asia Utterly Bewitched Me” exhibition that marks the 120th anniversary of Alma’s birth. The museum also keeps a part of her legacy at her request.
A small and petite woman who didn’t think of herself as such, but rather simply as feminine (so that men wouldn’t be tempted). She saw no special value whatsoever in her physical appearance. She only burned with tremendous courage and passion for discovering new lands, which propelled her on an eight-year journey around the world (November 1919–December 1927), and for writing.
As she herself said: “I’m a being of female sex. If I were to say that I’m a woman, people would immediately be tempted to think that I’m burdened with a marital ‘other’, but I roam about on my own like some hermit crab; besides, they might ascribe to me specific feminine charms, which I don’t have. I’m not particularly broad or particularly tall, and my exterior has nothing worth mentioning. That’s probably true of my interior as well, but since everybody is inclined to see himself in a good light and because ‘know thyself’ is one of the mist difficult skills of living, I flatter myself that I know how to write. A person must have at least one illusion! And this illusion is also the reason for my journey around the world.”
Alma Maximiliana Karlin was born on 12 October 1889 in Celje. After finishing primary school she enrolled in French and English courses and then went on to teach both languages. She then decided to move to London where she worked at a translation agency. She visited rich collections of items from all over the world at the British Museum. During World War I, she lived in Norway and Sweden. After her return to Celje, she founded a language school and went on a journey around the globe with Erika (her typewriter). The journey was first planned to take three years, but was delayed took altogether eight (almost nine) years. Along with all the beauty and wonders of the world, on her journey, Alma also came face to face with sickness (malaria and dysentery). She made short and long stops while travelling and earned money writing articles, teaching, translating and doing similar work, so she could continue her journey. Erika became her companion during long dark nights, lit only by candlelight, when the first drafts of her novels were beginning to take shape and the typewriter keys made notes of her impressions, feelings and the things she saw.
German newspapers described her as the first white woman in the 20th century who went on an uninterrupted journey around the world all on her own. Not as a tourist but as an explorer and an artist who earned a living from her own knowledge.
In the 1930s she became one of the most popular and most read female writers of travelogues that were selling in the German market like hotcakes, even during the Great Depression.
Her mindset, her distinct way of explaining things, the possibilities when it came to wordplay – this was definitely Alma’s writing style that was mysterious and magical for the time, and became timeless.
Quite a few books have been translated into Slovenian. It is through these books that we learn about Alma’s world.
(The following titles are English approximations) Out Into the World with Alma book collection:
Alma brought many artefacts, souvenirs, gifts and photographs from her journey around the world, but the most extensive are her postcard, seed and herbarium collections. She was very interested in culture and traditions of the locals she met while travelling.
Her eight-year journey, which started in Celje, continued across the ocean to America and then Asia with a stopover in Australia and then back to the Asian mainland, is vividly illustrated in the museum. The journey took her to the African lands and then back to Celje, her hometown. If you’re interested in details and specificities of the exhibition, you’re welcome to take a tour at the Celje Regional Museum. The Princely Town welcomes you with all its landmarks and, since you can’t see it all in one day, you’re welcome at the MCC Hostel, which is an excellent starting point if you want to explore the Princely Town.
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