Peter Kozler

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Peter Kosler.

Peter Kozler or Kosler (February 16, 1824 - April 16, 1879) was a Slovene-Gottscheer lawyer, geographer, cartographer, activist and manufacturer, born in Koče, a village south of Kočevje in what was then Austrian Kingdom of Illyria and is now Slovenia. He was of an Ethnic German origin, but identified himself with Slovenian culture and advocated a peaceful co-existence of the Slovene and German culture in Carniola.

He is probably most famous for creating the first map of Slovene Lands, called Zemljovid Slovenske dežele in pokrajin ("A map of the Slovene Land and Regions") in a scale 1:576000. The map was made during the Spring of Nations in 1848, but published only in 1854 in an almanac called Kratki slovenski zemljopis ("Short Slovenian Geography"), which is regarded as the first geography atlas using exclusively Slovenian toponyms. In the map, which became famous as "Kozler's Map", a red line was drawn, showing the national border of Slovenians. It was soon confiscated by the Austrian military authorities and made available to the public only in 1861. Kozler was also shortly imprisoned by the Austrian authorities for this reason.

Born in a relatively well-to-do family, he made a fortune with beer manufacturing and was the founder of the UNION Brewery. He gave large amounts of money to support Slovenian cultural associations and institutions.

Kozler died in Ljubljana.

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Kozler bought a mansion just outside the center of Ljubljana (at the beginning of Šiška district), known as the Cekinov grad, and renovated in it in a neoclassical style. Today, the mansion is the National Museum of Contemporary History.

The Kozlers also owned a palace in the center of Ljubljana, close to the Congress Square and Čop Street, which was regarded as one of the finest baroque buildings in the city. The palace was torn down by the Communist authorities in the late 1960s in order to widen the nearby street, which caused a public outcry and marked a milestone in the development of post-war urbanism in Ljubljana.

Kozler also owned a plot of land in the Ljubljana Marshes, known as Kozler's Thicket. During World War Two, the plot was used as a mass grave for victims of the Slovenian Home Guard torturer and killer Franc Frakelj.