Slovenia is laying claim to lighting the biggest charcoal pile in Europe near the town of Dole pri Litiji in the country’s heartland. It is four meters high and has a circumference of 42 meters.
Inside is a conical space for 300 cubic meters of beech wood and hornbeam. “This is the biggest (charcoal) pile in Europe,” said Joze Sprah of the Slovenian Institute of Forestry. “The pile unites very different people. People have come from France, Austria, and Germany, of course. This undoubtedly means something for the Slovenian countryside.”
Inside the pile, a fire is lit to produce charcoal. Spruce needles and a layer of soil are put around the chimney to make sure the air is circulating and the pile does not burn down.
The fire is not allowed to burn fiercely, rather just a little to get the process of making charcoal going.
Slovenia is home to the largest number of such piles Europe-wide.
