He was a Carniolan nobleman, member of the Royal Society of London, a student of history, geography, archeology, mathematics, magic, and alchemy, a world traveler, soldier and commander, explorer, collector, historiographer, geographer, ethnographer, topographer, cartographer, natural scientist, technician, a possessor of a magnificent library that included all important scientific texts of that time, writer, drawer, editor, publisher, explorer of the Lake Cerknica, inventor of the process of single-piece bronze sculptures pouring, author of the plan to bore a tunnel under the Ljubelj mountain, the first systematic Slovenian cartographer, founder of the first graphic company, the first copper-plate engraver, founder of Slovenian historiography, geography and ethnology, perhaps the first Slovenian free mason, a man of unusual destiny who wrote The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola and with it the Slovenian history. After the Protestant pioneers (Trubar, Dalmatin, Bohorič, Krelj), Valvasor represents the summit of the creative cultural consciousness in Slovenia. Due to his contribution to science, knowledge, and culture, Valvasor is one of the key personalities of Slovenian and European history. His Glory is a unique and invaluable work, never repeated again. Valvasor was blessed with an extraordinary mind, determination, and courage. He was a member of foreign nobility but nonetheless worked as possessed for his homeland up to his financial and physical breakdown. Glory to his memory!
Kdor že pristopaš, poglej, in z mano boš moral priznati,
da na podobi le-tej mož je odličen dovolj.
Rod starodavni njegov, zasluge na Marsovem polju,
s polja umetnosti trud, menim, dovolj ga slave.
Gruča domača s Parnasa, Apolon, vsi zrejo z zavistjo,
kdo je in kaj. Ti pa le delo njegovo poglej.