1.
Slovenia
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Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a nation state in southern Central Europe, located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and it covers 20,273 square kilometers and has a population of 2.06 million. It is a republic and a member of the United Nations, European Union. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana, additionally, the Dinaric Alps and the Pannonian Plain meet on the territory of Slovenia. The country, marked by a significant biological diversity, is one of the most water-rich in Europe, with a river network, a rich aquifer system. Over half of the territory is covered by forest, the human settlement of Slovenia is dispersed and uneven. Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of South Slavic, Germanic, Romance, although the population is not homogeneous, the majority is Slovene. South Slavic language Slovene is the language throughout the country. Slovenia is a largely secularized country, but its culture and identity have been influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism. The economy of Slovenia is small, open, and export-oriented and has strongly influenced by international conditions. It has been hurt by the Eurozone crisis, started in the late 2000s. The main economic field is services, followed by industry and construction, Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats, in December 1918, they merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, in June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country. Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and there is evidence of habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ±700 BP, in the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon such as pierced bones, bone points, and needle were found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe, in the transition period between the Bronze age to the Iron age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of situlas in Novo Mesto, in the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the 1st century BC
2.
Slovene language
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Slovene or Slovenian belongs to the group of South Slavic languages. It is spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide and it is the first language of about 2.1 million Slovenian people and is one of the 24 official and working languages of the European Union. Standard Slovene is the standard language that was formed in the 18th century, mostly based on Upper and Lower Carniolan dialect groups. For example, the Resian and Torre dialects in the Italian Province of Udine differ most from other Slovene dialects, the distinctive characteristics of Slovene are dual grammatical number, two accentual norms, and abundant inflection. Although Slovene is basically an SVO language, word order is very flexible, Slovene has a T-V distinction, second-person plural forms are used for individuals as a sign of respect. Slovene and Slovak are the two modern Slavic languages whose names for themselves literally mean Slavic. Slovene is an Indo-European language belonging to the Western subgroup of the South Slavic branch of the Slavic languages, furthermore, Slovene shares certain linguistic characteristics with all South Slavic languages, including those of the Eastern subgroup, such as Bulgarian. The Slovene language also has commonalities with the West Slavic languages. Like all Slavic languages, Slovene traces its roots to the same group of languages that produced Old Church Slavonic. The earliest known examples of a distinct, written Slovene dialect are from the Freising Manuscripts, the consensus estimate of their date of origin is between 972 and 1093. These religious writings are among the oldest surviving manuscripts in any Slavic language and this linguistic border remained almost unchanged until the late 19th century, when a second process of Germanization took place, mostly in Carinthia. Between the 9th and 12th century, proto-Slovene spread into northern Istria, during most of the Middle Ages, Slovene was a vernacular language of the peasantry, although it was also spoken in most of the towns on Slovene territory, together with German or Italian. Although during this time, German emerged as the language of the nobility, Slovene had some role in the courtly life of the Carinthian, Carniolan and Styrian nobility. This is proved by the survival of certain ritual formulas in Slovene, the words Buge waz primi, gralva Venus. The first printed Slovene words, stara pravda, appeared in 1515 in Vienna in a poem of the German mercenaries who suppressed the Slovene peasant revolt. Standard Slovene emerged in the half of the 16th century, thanks to the works of Slovene Lutheran authors. During this period, German had a influence on Slovene. Many Slovene scientists before the 1920s also wrote in languages, mostly German
3.
Croatian language
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It is the official and literary standard of Croatia and one of the official languages of the European Union. Croatian is also one of the languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a recognized minority language in Serbia. Croatian is written in Gajs Latin alphabet, besides the Shtokavian dialect, on which Standard Croatian is based, there are two other main dialects, Chakavian and Kajkavian. It is still used now in parts of Istria, which became a crossroads of various mixtures of Chakavian with Ekavian/Ijekavian/Ikavian dialects, the cultural apex of this 17th century idiom is represented by the editions of Adrianskoga mora sirena by Petar Zrinski and Putni tovaruš by Katarina Zrinska. However, this first linguistic renaissance in Croatia was halted by the execution of Petar Zrinski. Subsequently the Croatian elite in the 18th century gradually abandoned this combined Croatian standard, specifically, three major groups of dialects were spoken on Croatian territory, and there had been several literary languages over four centuries. The leader of the Illyrian movement Ljudevit Gaj standardized the Latin alphabet in 1830–1850, the uniform Neo-Shtokavian then became common in the Croatian elite. In the 1860s, the Zagreb Philological School dominated the Croatian cultural life, drawing upon linguistic, while it was dominant over the rival Rijeka Philological School and Zadar Philological Schools, its influence waned with the rise of the Croatian Vukovians. Croatian is commonly characterized by the Ijekavian pronunciation, the use of the Latin alphabet. Some differences are absolute, while some appear mainly in the frequency of use, Croatian, although technically a form of Serbo-Croatian, is sometimes considered a distinct language by itself. Differences between various forms of Serbo-Croatian are often exaggerated for political reasons. Most Croatian linguists regard Croatian as a language that is considered key to national identity. The issue is sensitive in Croatia as the notion of a language being the most important characteristic of a nation is widely accepted. The terms Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat are still used as a term for all these forms by foreign scholars. Within ex-Yugoslavia, the term has largely replaced by the ethnic terms Serbian, Croatian. In 2013, the EU started publishing a Croatian language version of its official gazette, Standard Croatian is the official language of the Republic of Croatia and, along with Standard Bosnian and Standard Serbian, one of three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also official in the regions of Burgenland, Molise, additionally, it has co-official status alongside Romanian in the communes of Carașova and Lupac, Romania. Croatian is officially used and taught at all the universities in Croatia, there is no regulatory body that determines the proper usage of Croatian
4.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
5.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
6.
Hungarian language
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Hungarian is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary it is spoken by communities of Hungarian people in neighbouring countries. Like Finnish and Estonian, it belongs to the Uralic language family, its closest relatives being Mansi and it is one of several European languages not part of the Indo-European languages, and the most widely-spoken European language that does not belong to the Indo-European family. The Hungarian name for the language is magyar or magyar nyelv, the word Magyar is used as an English and Hungarian word to refer to Hungarian people as an ethnic group. Hungarian is a member of the Uralic language family, the name of Hungary could be a result of regular sound changes of Ungrian/Ugrian, and the fact that the Eastern Slavs referred to Hungarians as Ǫgry/Ǫgrove seemed to confirm that. Current literature favors the hypothesis that it comes from the name of the Turkic tribe Onogur, there are numerous regular sound correspondences between Hungarian and the other Ugric languages. For example, Hungarian /aː/ corresponds to Khanty /o/ in certain positions, for example, Hungarian ház house vs. Khanty xot house, and Hungarian száz hundred vs. Khanty sot hundred. The distance between the Ugric and Finnic languages is greater, but the correspondences are also regular, during the later half of the 19th century, a competing hypothesis proposed a Turkic affinity of Hungarian. Following an academic debate known as Az ugor-török háború, the Finno-Ugric hypothesis was concluded the sounder of the two, foremost based on work by the German linguist Josef Budenz. The traditional view argues that the Hungarian language separated from its Ugric relatives in the first half of the 1st millennium b. c. e. in western Siberia, east of the southern Urals. The Hungarians gradually changed their lifestyle from settled hunters to nomadic pastoralists, in Hungarian, Iranian loans date back to the time immediately following the breakup of Ugric and probably span well over a millennium. Among these include tehén ‘cow’, tíz ‘ten’, tej ‘milk’, increasing archaeological evidence from present-day southern Bashkortostan found in the previous decades confirms the existence of Hungarian settlements between the Volga River and Ural Mountains. The Onogurs later had a influence on the language, especially between the 5th-9th centuries. This layer of Turkic loans is large and varied, and includes words borrowed from Oghur Turkic, e. g. borjú ‘calf’, dél ‘noon, many words related to agriculture, to state administration or even to family relations have such backgrounds. Hungarian syntax and grammar were not influenced in a dramatic way during these 300 years. After the arrival of the Hungarians into the Carpathian Basin the language came into contact with different speech communities, Turkic loans from this period come mainly from the Pechenegs and Cumanians who settled in Hungary during the 12th-13th centuries, e. g. koboz ‘cobza’, komondor ‘mop dog’. Hungarian borrowed many words from especially the neighbouring Slavic languages, in exchange, these languages also borrowed words from Hungarian, e. g. Serbo-Croatian ašov from Hung ásó ‘spade’. Approximately 1. 6% of the Romanian lexicon is of Hungarian origin, on the basis of the growing genetic evidence, the accepted origin theory is contested by geneticists too
7.
Upper Carniola
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Upper Carniola is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jesenice, Tržič, Škofja Loka, Kamnik and it has around 300,000 inhabitants or 14% of the population of Slovenia. Its origins as a political entity can be traced back to the 17th century. This division was described by the scholar Johann Weikhard von Valvasor in his 1689 work The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola. The districts were known in German as Kreise, nevertheless, the regional identity remained strong also thereafter. The Carniolan regional identity soon faded away, but the identification with its sub-units remained strong. To the north, Upper Carniola is delimited by the Austrian state of Carinthia, the historic Lower Styria region to the east, and the Slovenian Littoral to the west. An 1809 atlas shows the border with Lower Carniola to the southeast generally following the line of the Sava, Ljubljanica, Iščica, the landscape is characterised by the mountains of the Southern Limestone Alps, predominantly by the Julian Alps and the Karawanks range at its northern rim. Historically, Ljubljana was part of Upper Carniola, since the 19th century, Kranj, not Ljubljana, has been considered the unofficial capital of Upper Carniola. The modern notion of Upper Carniola does not fully correspond to the historical borders, for example, the Municipality of Jezersko used to be part of the Duchy of Carinthia, in 1918, it was occupied by Slovene volunteers and annexed to Yugoslavia by the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain. Now it is generally considered an integral part of Upper Carniola. The borders of Upper Carniola are only vaguely similar those of Slovenias Upper Carniola Statistical Region, traditionally, most of the people of Upper Carniola have spoken the Upper Carniolan dialect, which is one of the geographically most extended and linguistically most compact Slovene dialects. It covers most of the province, except for some areas in south-western and north-western Upper Carniola. It belongs to the Upper Carniolan dialect group, which includes the Selca dialect, spoken in the mountainous Upper Carniolan villages of Železniki, Selca, Dražgoše. Nevertheless, other dialects are spoken in Upper Carniola, as well, in the village of Rateče, people speak the Gail Valley dialect, which belongs to the Carinthian dialect group. In the area around Kranjska Gora and Gozd Martuljek, a transitional dialect between the Carinthian and Upper Carniolan dialect group is spoken, this is known as the Kranjska Gora subdialect, in the mountainous areas of eastern Upper Carniola, dialects from the Rovte dialect group are spoken. Beginning in the 18th century, the Upper Carniolan dialect became the basis on which standard Slovene was developed, the poet and journalist Valentin Vodnik, who was born in Šiška, now a suburb of Ljubljana, also wrote in the Upper Carniolan dialect. The first two Slovene language newspapers, Lublanske novice and Kmetijske in rokodelske novice were also published in the Upper Carniolan regional variety of Slovene, the poetic language of France Prešeren, the Slovenian national poet, also has many specific Upper Carniolan features
8.
Lower Carniola
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Lower Carniola is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region. The southernmost region down to the border with Croatia on the Kolpa River is called White Carniola, within the Kočevje Rog karst plateau, the mountains reach an elevation of up to 1,099 m. The historic centre of Lower Carniola is Novo Mesto, and other towns include Kočevje, Grosuplje, Krško, Trebnje, Mirna, Črnomelj, Semič, in the 17th century, the Habsburg duchy of Carniola was internally divided into three administrative districts. This division was described by the scholar Johann Weikhard von Valvasor in his 1689 work The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola. The districts were known in German as Kreise, while the bulk of the population spoke Slovene, the German-speaking exclave of the Gottschee Germans existed around Kočevje in the south. Nevertheless, the regional identity remained strong also thereafter, the Carniolan regional identity soon faded away, but the regional identification with its sub-units remain strong. In the early 21st century the Brotherhood and Unity Highway was replaced with the modern A2 motorway, Lower Carniolan dialect group Gottscheerish Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region Media related to Lower Carniola at Wikimedia Commons
9.
White Carniola
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White Carniola is a small traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia. It is the southernmost part of the historical Lower Carniola region, as the area could only be reached from northern Lower Carniola by mountain passes, the inhabitants cultivate a certain distinctness. The region corresponds to the municipalities of Metlika, Črnomelj. The terrain is characterised by low karst hills and extended birch forests, the main river is the Kolpa with its Lahinja, Dobličica and Krupa tributaries. White Carniola is known for Grič and Kanižarica pottery from clay with a distinct calcite content, as well as for high-quality wines, such as metliška črnina, belokranjec, a distinguishing part of Bela krajina is its folk heritage. It still has many events, which show traditional local costumes, music, played on a regionally known instrument called tamburica. A distinctive feature is also the pisanica, a coloured Easter egg decorated in a characteristic manner using beeswax that is nowhere else in Slovenia. Belokranjska pogača, a type of bread has recently been granted with the European Unions Traditional Speciality Guaranteed designation. The name Bela krajina literally means white march, the noun krajina march refers to a border territory organized for military defense. The adjective bela white may refer to the trees in the area in comparison to black trees in the neighboring Kočevje area. It may also be an old designation for west, referring to the location of the region in comparison to the Croatian Military Frontier. Non-linguistic explanations connect the designation bela with the white linen clothing of the population. The German designation Weißkrain is the result of a hypercorrection based on the adjective belokrajnski, the Counts of Weichselberg, descendants of Saint Hemma of Gurk, established the Imperial Weiße Mark in the acquired territories. They established their residence at Metlika, and therefore in contemporary sources their lands were referred to as the County of Möttling. With the Ottoman conquest of Serbian territories, groups of Serbs fled to the north or west, of the western groups, some settled in White Carniola. In September 1597, with the fall of Slatina, some 1,700 Uskoks with their wives and children settled in Carniola, the following year, with the conquest of Cernik, some 500 Uskok families settled in Carniola. Several castles were built in the region, especially during the Ottoman Wars from the 15th century onwards, as in Črnomelj, Gradac. The remains of the fortress in Pobrežje were destroyed in World War II
10.
Inner Carniola
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Inner Carniola is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral in the west and its administrative and economic center of the region is Postojna, while other minor centers include Logatec, Cerknica, Pivka and Ilirska Bistrica. The English name Inner Carniola, like the Slovene name Notranjska, is a translation of German Innerkrain, the name was created by analogy with Inner Austria, referring to the southwestern Habsburg hereditary lands. Inner Carniola was a kreis of the Duchy of Carniola, ruled by the archducal House of Habsburg within the Inner Austrian lands since the 14th century, the territorial arrangement was described by the scholar Johann Weikhard von Valvasor in his 1689 work The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola. Part of the Napoleonic Illyrian Provinces from 1809, Carniola returned to the Austrian Empire by the 1814 Treaty of Paris, first administrated within the Austrian Kingdom of Illyria, the Carniolan duchy again became a Habsburg crown land from 1849 till 1919. After World War One, the part of the region was occupied by Italian military. In 1920, the Treaty of Rapallo transferred the part of the region to the Kingdom of Italy. The eastern third was included into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Italy was given the districts of Vipava, Postojna, Ilirska Bistrica, Senožeče, and Idrija. The region was divided among the provinces of Gorizia, Trieste, with the rise of Fascism, it was subjected to a policy of violent Italianization until the downfall of Fascism in Italy
11.
Duchy of Carniola
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The Duchy of Carniola was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, established under Habsburg rule on the territory of the former East Frankish March of Carniola in 1364. A hereditary land of the Habsburg Monarchy, it became a constituent land of the Austrian Empire in 1804, a separate crown land from 1849, it was incorporated into the Cisleithanian territories of Austria-Hungary from 1867 until the states dissolution in 1918. The borders of the historic Carniola region had varied over the centuries, in the north, it bordered the Imperial Duchy of Carinthia, from the Predil Pass and Fusine along the main ridge of the Karawanks range up to Jezersko. In the northeast and east, it bordered on the Duchy of Styria, i. e. the present-day Štajerska or Lower Styrian lands beyond the Sava River, which until 1456 were held by the Counts of Celje. In the southwest, beyond the Dinaric Alps, the Counts of Görz held the remaining Friulian territory, the remains of the Margraviate of Istria south of the Karst Plateau and the Brkini Hills were also administered from Carniola. In its final extent, re-established in 1815, the duchy had an area of 9,904 square kilometres, in 1914, before the beginning of World War I, it had a population of a little under 530,000 inhabitants. Until 1860, these sub-regions coincided with the districts of Ljubljana, Novo Mesto and they were later divided into smaller units, called political districts. Between 1861 and 1918, Carniola was divided into districts consisting of 359 municipalities. The districts were, Kamnik, Kranj, Radovljica, the neighbourhood of Ljubljana, Logatec, Postojna, Litija, Krško, Novo Mesto, Črnomelj, the political districts were in turn divided into 31 judicial circuits. The former March of Carniola, i. e. Upper Carniola and it was nevertheless temporarily still held by the Carinthian rulers in personal union, like the Meinhardiner duke Henry VI, who died in 1335 without a male heir. Alberts son Rudolf IV of Austria, the Founder, in the course of his Privilegium Maius, rudolph also founded the town of Novo Mesto in Lower Carniola, then named Rudolphswerth. In 1457, the Inner Austrian territories were re-united with the Archduchy of Austria under the rule of the Habsburg emperor Frederick III. When Fredericks descendant, Emperor Ferdinand I, died in 1564, Charles son, Emperor Ferdinand II, inherited all the dynastys lands in 1619 and the duchy formed a constituent part of the Habsburg Monarchy ever since. Napoleon subsequent to the 1809 Treaty of Schönbrunn formed the short-lived Illyrian Provinces from the territories in Carniola, Carinthia, Croatia, Gorizia and Gradisca. The Final Act of the 1815 Congress of Vienna restored the Illyrian Provinces to the Austrian Empire, the home legislature consisted of a single chamber of thirty-seven members, among whom the prince-bishop sat ex-officio. The emperor convened the legislature, and it was presided over by the k. k, the landed interests elected ten members, the cities and towns eight, the commercial and industrial boards two, the village communes sixteen. The land budget of 1901 amounted to 3,573,280 crowns, the Austrian Imperial-Royal government was represented by the Imperial-Royal president, appointed by the emperor, and the Imperial-Royal Government in Ljubljana. In the majority of other Austrian crown lands these were known as Imperial-Royal Lieutenant, in 1918, the duchy ceased to exist and its territory became part of the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and subsequently part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
12.
Slovene Littoral
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The Slovene Littoral is one of the five traditional regions of Slovenia. Its name recalls the former Austrian Littoral, the Habsburg possessions on the upper Adriatic coast, the region forms the westernmost part of Slovenia, bordering with the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It stretches from the Adriatic Sea in the south up to the Julian Alps in the north, the Slovene Littoral comprises two traditional provinces, Goriška and Slovenian Istria. The Goriška region takes its name from the town of Gorizia now in Italy, Slovenian Istria comprises the northern part of the Istria peninsula and provides, on the Slovenian Riviera coastline with the ports of Koper, Izola, and Piran, the countrys only access to the sea. After Ljubljana, the Slovene Littoral is the most developed and economically most prosperous part of Slovenia, the western part of Slovenian Istria is a bilingual region where both Slovene and Italian may be used in education, legal and administrative environments. The northern part of the Slovene Littoral is part of the larger Gorizia Statistical Region, after they had acquired the Carniola hinterland in 1335, the Habsburgs gradually took possession of the coastal areas. In 1500 they inherited the lands of Gorizia, when the last Count Leonhard of Gorizia died childless. The Habsburg Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca was established in 1754, with the Istrian march and the Imperial Free City of Trieste it was re-arranged as the Austrian Littoral crown land in 1849. Incorporated into the Julian March a forced Italianization of the Slovene minority began, intensified after the Fascists under Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922, the Slovenes in Italy lacked any minority protection under international or domestic law. Numerous Slovenes emigrated to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, others fought against Italian occupation in the anti-fascist TIGR organization, after World War II, according to the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties, the bulk of the region with the upper Soča Valley fell to Yugoslavia. Parts of the area were re-arranged as the Free Territory of Trieste, while Italy retained the urban centres of Gorizia, in 1954 also recovered the main port of Trieste. As a result, the new urban centres on the Slovenian side of the border developed, battles of the Isonzo Goriška Morgan Line Treaty of Osimo Karst Plateau Vipava Valley Soča Slovenian wine Venetian Slovenia Media related to Slovene Littoral at Wikimedia Commons
13.
Carinthia (Slovenia)
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Carinthia, also Slovene Carinthia or Slovenian Carinthia, is a traditional region in northern Slovenia. It has no centre, but a local centre in each of the three central river valleys among the heavily forested mountains. Since the entry of Slovenia into the European Union in May 2004, much effort has made to re-integrate Carinthia as a cultural, tourist. The historic region has no status as an administrative district within Slovenia. The Municipality of Jezersko south of the Seeberg Saddle mountain pass, all these municipalities border on the Austrian state of Carinthia in the north. The landscape of Carinthia is very diverse, with predominance of hilly and mountainous relief, the climate is partially an alpine climate, and partially a transitional continental climate. An important element is temperature inversion, over two thirds of Carinthia is covered by forest and the percentage is still increasing. The predominant tree species are beech, fir, and spruce, the lower areas have been polluted by lead due to a lead mine. Despite this, Carinthia is home to game and alpine animal species above the timberline. The Drava River is home to many fish, the name derives from the early mediæval Slavic principality of Carantania, whose territory stretched from the present-day Austrian state of Carinthia down to the Styrian lands on the Sava river. The area was part of the Imperial Carinthian duchy established in 976 and ruled by the House of Habsburg from 1335, upon the Austrian defeat in World War I, the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1919 occupied southern Carinthia. During the 1941 Balkan Campaign of World War II, the area was annexed by Nazi Germany and put under the administration of the Reichsgau of Carinthia, led by Friedrich Rainer. Upon the German Instrument of Surrender in May 1945, Yugoslav Partisans entered the region, the area around Dravograd and Prevalje is the site of several mass graves. After the war, the formed part of the Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Slovenia. The Carinthia Statistical Region had 73,754 inhabitants in 2008, with an uneven settlement, nonetheless, due to low birth rate and shorter life span, the number of inhabitants is decreasing. The biggest employer is the processing industry, many people are commuters, working in Ljubljana, Maribor, Velenje and Austria. In 2008, there was high unemployment,10. 5% in the mining town of Črna na Koroškem and 11.8 in Ravne na Koroškem. In the 1990s, the lead and zinc mine in the Meža Valley, the most highly industrialized valley of the region, the only factory in the area around the mine still operating is TAB, a manufacturer of batteries
14.
Styria (Slovenia)
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Styria, also Slovenian Styria or Lower Styria, is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, the first two parts, predominantly German-speaking, today form the Austrian state of Styria. The southern third, predominantly Slovene-speaking, is part of Slovenia. The Austrian rulers had the estates developed benefitting the Lower Styrian towns, according to the last Austro-Hungarian census of 1910, Lower Styria had around 498,000 inhabitants, of which around 82% were Slovene and around 18% German speakers. After a short fight with German-Austrian paramilitary units, the current border was established, acknowledged by the provisional Styrian assembly at Graz, by December 1918, all of Lower Styria was de facto included in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. A protest by German-speaking Marburg citizens resulted in the Marburg Bloody Sunday, confirmed by the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the border between Yugoslav and Austrian Styria mostly followed the ethnic-linguistic dividing line between Slovenes and ethnic Germans. Nevertheless, several Slovene-speaking villages around Leutschach, Spielberg, Soboth, according to the 1921 Yugoslav census, some 22,500 ethnic Germans lived in Yugoslav Styria. They represented around 4. 5% of the population of the region. In 1931, this dropped to around 12,500 or 2. 3% of the regional population. In 1922, the County of Maribor was formed, comprising most of the territory of Slovene Styria, plus the Prekmurje, after the coup detat of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in January 1929, the counties were abolished and replaced with nine Banates. In April 1941, Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Slovene Styria was annexed to the Third Reich, a policy of violent Germanization was introduced. Public use of Slovene language was prohibited, and all Slovene associations were dissolved, members of all professional and intellectual groups, including many clergymen, were expelled. Between April 1941 and May 1942, around 80,000 Slovenes were expelled from Lower Styria, as a reaction, a resistance movement developed. Many areas of Lower Styria witnessed fierce fighting between German troops and Slovene partisan units, after World War II, Yugoslav authority over the region was established and Slovene Styria became an integral part of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. Between the 1950s and 1970s, many areas of the region underwent rapid industrializations, towns like Maribor, Celje and Velenje became among the most important industrial centers of Slovenia and Yugoslavia. Lower Styria has no status as an administrative or statistical unit within Slovenia. The bulk of Lower Styria is subdivided between the Drava Statistical Region with its seat in Maribor, and the Savinja Statistical Region with its seat in Celje, nowadays, many of these peripheral areas are no longer considered part of Styria. An exception is the Prlekija subregion, which is widely considered part of Styria
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Prekmurje
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It maintains certain specific linguistic, cultural and religious features that differentiate it from other Slovenian traditional regions. It is named after the Mur river, which separates it from the rest of Slovenia, in Hungarian, the region is known as Muravidék, and in German as Übermurgebiet. The name Prekmurje was introduced in the century, although it is derived from an older term. Before 1919, the Slovenian-inhabited lands of the Vas County in the Kingdom of Hungary and Austria-Hungary were known under the name Slovene March or Vendic March, the part of modern Prekmurje that belonged to the Zala County was not considered to be part of the Slovenian March. After 1919, this name was rediscovered and introduced again, now for administrative purposes, by the new Yugoslav administration. It however did not gain popularity among the locals, the name Slovenian March was still used by the local inhabitants till the mid 1920s. The current Hungarian name for Prekmurje, Muravidék, dates from the period and is a translation of the Slovenian Murska krajina. From the mid 1930s onward, Prekmurje became widely used in the press, after World War II, this name replaced all previous denominations. North-east of Lendava, there is a small hilly sub-region, known as Lendava Hills, the administrative and commercial centre of the region is the town of Murska Sobota. The only other town is Lendava. Other larger rural centres are Dobrovnik, Turnišče, Beltinci, the majority of the inhabitants of the region are ethnic Slovenes. There are also a sizable Hungarian and Romani minorities in the region, in 1921, the total population of the area numbered 92,295 people, including 74,199 Slovene speakers,14,065 speakers of Hungarian, and 2,540 German speakers. Since then, the number of Hungarian speakers has been falling slowly but steadily, the German-speaking community, which used to be concentrated in three villages near the Austrian border and in Murska Sobota, was either expelled from the area or assimilated after World War II. Since the early 1950s, Hungarian has had co-official status in the areas of settlement of the Hungarian minority. Three municipalities are completely bilingual, while two are only partially, two municipalities, Hodoš and Dobrovnik, have a Hungarian majority. Prekmurje has traditionally been the most heterogeneous Slovene region regarding religious affiliation, besides a Roman Catholic majority, there is a significant Protestant minority, concentrated in the Goričko hills, which represents between one fourth and one fifth of the population of Prekmurje. Three municipalities have a Lutheran majority, while in Moravske Toplice, before World War II, there used to be a significant Jewish community, as well, mostly concentrated in the towns of Murska Sobota and Lendava. In the 1930s, two thirds of all Slovenian Jews lived in Prekmurje, most of them perished in the holocaust
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Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
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Austrian Circle
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The Austrian Circle was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. It was one of the four Imperial Circles created by decree after the 1512 Diet at Cologne, the Austrian Circle was largely coterminous with the Hereditary Lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, dominated by the Archduchy of Austria. Beside the Habsburg lands, it included the Prince-Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen, nevertheless, the Austrian Circle was dissolved when Emperor Francis II resigned on 6 August 1806. The circle was made up of the states
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House of Habsburg
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The House of Habsburg, also called House of Hapsburg, or House of Austria, was one of the most influential royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by the Habsburgs between 1438 and 1740, from the sixteenth century, following the reign of Charles V, the dynasty was split between its Austrian and Spanish branches. Although they ruled distinct territories, they maintained close relations. The House takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland, in the canton of Aargau, by Count Radbot of Klettgau. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the name as his own. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th, 12th, by 1276, Count Radbots seventh generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg had moved the familys power base from Habsburg Castle to the Duchy of Austria. Rudolph had become King of Germany in 1273, and the dynasty of the House of Habsburg was truly entrenched in 1276 when Rudolph became ruler of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918. A series of dynastic marriages enabled the family to expand its domains to include Burgundy, Spain and its colonial empire, Bohemia, Hungary. In the 16th century, the separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior Habsburg Monarchy branches. The House of Habsburg became extinct in the 18th century, the senior Spanish branch ended upon the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and was replaced by the House of Bourbon. It was succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Lorraine, the new successor house styled itself formally as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, although it was often referred to as simply the House of Habsburg. His grandson Radbot, Count of Habsburg founded the Habsburg Castle, the origins of the castles name, located in what is now the Swiss canton of Aargau, are uncertain. There is disagreement on whether the name is derived from the High German Habichtsburg, or from the Middle High German word hab/hap meaning ford, the first documented use of the name by the dynasty itself has been traced to the year 1108. The Habsburg Castle was the seat in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges, in the 13th century, the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia. They were also able to high positions in the church hierarchy for their members. Territorially, they often profited from the extinction of other families such as the House of Kyburg. By the second half of the 13th century, count Rudolph IV had become one of the most influential territorial lords in the area between the Vosges Mountains and Lake Constance
19.
Austrian Empire
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The Austrian Empire was an empire in Central Europe created out of the realms of the Habsburgs by proclamation in 1804. It was an empire and one of Europes great powers. Geographically it was the second largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire and it was also the third most populous after Russia and France, as well as the largest and strongest country in the German Confederation. Proclaimed in response to the First French Empire, it overlapped with the Holy Roman Empire until the dissolution in 1806. The Ausgleich of 1867 elevated Hungarys status and it became a separate entity from the Empire entirely, joining with it in the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Changes shaping the nature of the Holy Roman Empire took place during conferences in Rastatt, on 24 March 1803, the Imperial Recess was declared, which reduced the number of ecclesiastical states from 81 to only 3 and the free imperial cities from 51 to 6. This measure was aimed at replacing the old constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, taking this significant change into consideration, the German Emperor Francis II created the title Emperor of Austria, for himself and his successors. In 1804 the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, who was ruler of the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, founded the Empire of Austria. In doing so he created a formal overarching structure for the Habsburg Monarchy, to safeguard his dynastys imperial status he adopted the additional hereditary title of Emperor of Austria. Hungarys affairs remained administered by its own institutions as they had been beforehand, thus under the new arrangements no Imperial institutions were involved in its internal government. The fall and dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire was accelerated by French intervention in the Empire in September 1805, on 20 October 1805, an Austrian army led by general Karl Mack von Leiberich was defeated by French armies near the town of Ulm. The French victory resulted in the capture of 20,000 Austrian soldiers, Napoleons army won another victory at Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. Francis was forced into negotiations with the French from 4 to 6 December 1805, the French victories encouraged rulers of certain imperial territories to assert their formal independence from the Empire. On 10 December 1805, the prince-elector Duke of Bavaria proclaimed himself King, finally, on 12 December, the Margrave of Baden was given the title of Grand Duke. In addition, each of these new countries signed a treaty with France, the Treaty of Pressburg between France and Austria, signed in Pressburg on 26 December, enlarged the territory of Napoleons German allies at the expense of defeated Austria. Certain Austrian holdings in Germany were passed to French allies—the King of Bavaria, the King of Württemberg, Austrian claims on those German states were renounced without exception. On 12 July 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine was established, comprising 16 sovereigns and this confederation, under French influence, put an end to the Holy Roman Empire. On 6 August 1806, even Francis recognized the new state of things and proclaimed the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, as he did not want Napoleon to succeed him
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Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories
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Kranj
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Kranj is the fourth-largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 37,373. It is located approximately 20 kilometres northwest of Ljubljana, the centre of the City Municipality of Kranj and of the traditional region of Upper Carniola is a mainly industrial city with significant electronics and rubber industries. The nucleus of the city is a medieval old town, built at the confluence of the Kokra. The city is served by the Kranj railway station on the route from Ljubljana to Munich, Germany, slovenias national airport, Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is also very close to Kranj, considerably more so than its nominal client, Ljubljana. Kranj was attested in sources in the 5th century and c.670 as Carnium. The Slovene name is derived from Slavic *Korn’ь, borrowed from Romance Carnium in late antiquity, like the Latin regional name Carnia, it is derived from the northern Italic tribe known as the Carnī. The name of the tribe is derived from the Celtic root *karno- peak, hill. The German name of the town was Krainburg, the name of the historical region of Carniola is a Latin diminutive form of Carnia. Archaeological finds show that Kranj was settled in prehistoric times, the Romans founded the settlement of Carnium at the confluence of the Sava and Kokra. In the 6th century, a major Germanic settlement stood at the site. The Gothic settlement was continued by the Lombards and existed until c, AD580, when it was destroyed by invading Slavs. Traces of the old Slavic settlement date from the 9th and 10th centuries, as the seat of the margraves of Carniola in the 11th century, it was the most important settlement in the territory. The town itself is believed to have developed in the early 13th century, citizens of the town of Kranj appear in a document from 1221 and it was the seat of a court whose jurisdiction extended between that of Radovljica and Kamnik. In 1414 a decision was issued relieving the citizens of the town from paying tolls, in 1422 an ordinance required houses to be built of stone to prevent fires. A parish school was established in Kranj in 1423, and the year the right was granted to Kranj to elect its own judge. Kranj was laid waste in 1471 in an Ottoman attack, emperor Frederick III granted Kranj the right to collect tolls in documents from 1488 and 1493, and a 1493 document also granted the town the right to hold fairs twice a year. The town hospice records date back to the 15th century, crafts developed in Kranj during the Middle Ages. Mills first developed along the Sava and Kokra rivers, and this was followed by butchers, fur merchants, hide and wood processors, habsburg efforts to maintain Viennas monopoly on trade with Italy resulted in trade routes bypassing Kranj
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Kamnik
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Kamnik is a town in northern Slovenia. It is the settlement of the Municipality of Kamnik. It encompasses a part of the Kamnik Alps and the surrounding area. The town of Kamnik has ruins of two castles as well as examples of historical architecture. The name Kamnik was first mentioned in the 11th century, the first time it was mentioned as a town was in 1229, when it was an important trading post on the road between Ljubljana and Celje. This makes the one of the oldest in Slovenia. In the Middle Ages, Kamnik had its own mint and some families among its residents. The town was among the most influential centers of power for the Bavarian counts of Andechs in the region of Carniola at the time, the only remnant of the Bavarian nobility are the two ruined castles which are both strategically built on high ground near the town center. The Franciscan monastery built in the town itself is a testament to its importance, the building is well preserved and has undergone extensive renovation in recent years. Historical suburbs of the town include Šutna, Na Produ, Novi Trg, Pred Mostom, Graben, and Podgoro. In 1934 the following formerly independent settlements were annexed by Kamnik, Fužine, Žale, Zaprce, Kratno, Pugled, Zgornje Perovo, Spodnje Perovo, Bakovnik, most of the old town center is built in an Austro-Hungarian style. Most of the facades have been renovated in recent years but the process is still ongoing, Kamnik is the site of a mass grave from the period immediately after the Second World War. The Cuzak Meadow Mass Grave is located in the southeast part of the town, the grave contains the remains of several hundred soldiers and civilians, mostly Croats but also some Serbs, that were murdered on 11 May 1945
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Ljubljana
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Ljubljana is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It has been the cultural, educational, economic, political, during antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the area. Ljubljana itself was first mentioned in the first half of the 12th century and it was under Habsburg rule from the Middle Ages until the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. Situated at the middle of a route between the northern Adriatic Sea and the Danube region, it was the historical capital of Carniola. The origin of the name is unclear. In the Middle Ages, both the river and the town were known by the German name Laibach. This name was in use as an endonym until 1918. The city is called in Italian Lubiana and in Latin, Labacum or Aemona For most scholars, the problem has been in how to connect the Slovene and he supported the thesis that the name of the river derived from the name of the settlement. The name Laibach, he claimed, was actually a hybrid of German and Slovene, the symbol of the city is the Ljubljana Dragon. It is depicted on the top of the tower of Ljubljana Castle in the Ljubljana coat of arms and it symbolizes power, courage, and greatness. There are several explanations on the origin of the Ljubljana Dragon and it was there that Jason struck down a monster. This monster has evolved into the dragon that today is present in the city coat of arms and it is historically more believable that the dragon was adopted from Saint George, the patron of the Ljubljana Castle chapel built in the 15th century. In the legend of Saint George, the dragon represents the old ancestral paganism overcome by Christianity, according to another explanation, related to the second, the dragon was at first only a decoration above the city coat of arms. In the Baroque, it part of the coat of arms. Around 2000 BC, the Ljubljana Marshes in the vicinity of Ljubljana were settled by people living in pile dwellings. Prehistoric pile dwellings and the oldest wooden wheel in the world are among the most notable archeological findings from the marshland and these lake-dwelling people lived through hunting, fishing and primitive agriculture. To get around the marshes, they used dugout canoes made by cutting out the inside of tree trunks and their archeological remains, nowadays in the Municipality of Ig, have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site since June 2011, in the common nomination of six Alpine states. Around 50 BC, the Romans built a military encampment that later became a permanent settlement called Iulia Aemona and this entrenched fort was occupied by the Legio XV Apollinaris
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
25.
Julian Alps
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They are named after Julius Caesar, who founded the municipium of Cividale del Friuli at the foot of the mountains. A large part of the Julian Alps is included in Triglav National Park, the second highest peak of the range, the 2,775 m high Jôf di Montasio, lies in Italy. The Julian Alps cover an estimated 4,400 km2 and they are located between the Sava Valley and Canale Valley. They are divided into the Eastern and Western Julian Alps, there are many peaks in the Eastern Julian Alps over 2,000 m high, and they are mainly parts of ridges. The most prominent peaks are visible by their height and size, there are high plains on the eastern border like Pokljuka, Mežakla and Jelovica. Only the Kanin group lies in part in Slovenia, the main peaks by height are, Jôf di Montasio Jof Fuart High Mount Kanin Important passes of the Julian Alps are, The Vršič Pass,1,611 m, links the Sava and Soča valleys. It is the highest mountain pass in Slovenia
26.
Karawanks
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The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps on the border between Slovenia to the south and Austria to the north. With a total length of 120 kilometres in an east-west direction and it is traversed by important trade routes and has a great tourist significance. Geographically and geologically, it is divided into the higher Western Karawanks and it is traversed by the Periadriatic Seam, separating the Apulian tectonic plate from the Eurasian Plate. The Karawanks form the continuation of the Carnic Alps east of the Slizza stream near the tripoint of Austria, Slovenia and they are confined by the Drava Valley in the north and the Sava in the south, separating it from the adjacent Julian Alps. In the east, they border on the Kamnik–Savinja Alps and Pohorje ranges, a number of mountain passes on important trade routes cross the range, like Wurzen, Loibl or Seeberg, which have been used since prehistory. Nowadays the Austrian Karawanken Autobahn runs from Villach to the Karavanke motorway tunnel, a parallel railway line crosses the range through the Karawanks railway tunnel. The Karawanks are a popular mountaineering area with numerous mountain huts, many of the peaks offer a good view of the Klagenfurt basin on the Austrian side and the Ljubljana basin on the Slovene side. The northern Austrian side is rocky and precipitous while the Slovenian side is steep, covered with spruce forests. The Karawanks were settled already in the Stone Age, as indicated particularly by findings from the Potok Cave, in Roman times, they represented the southern border of the Noricum province, and later, of the Slavic principality of Carantania. The ancient geographer Claudius Ptolemy mentioned the Karwankas mountains about 150 AD, the name probably is derived from Celtic karv, a tradition that has survived in the Košuta massif. From the first half of the 11th century, the Karawanks formed the border between the territory of the Duchy of Carinthia and the adjacent March of Carniola in the south. After Carniola had been elevated to a duchy in 1364, both became part of Inner Austria and were crown lands of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1526 up to World War I. In the final weeks of the Second World War the Karawanks passes witnessed intense fighting, the 24th SS Kampfgruppe commanded by SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Heinz Harmel was ordered to keep the Karawanken passes open between Yugoslavia and Austria. This task was critical in allowing German forces to withdraw from Yugoslavia in order to surrender to British rather than Yugoslav forces. The Kampfgruppe succeeded in its task, and was one of the last German units to surrender. After World War II the Karawanks remained the border between Austria and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and finally the independent Slovenia from 1991
27.
Nanos (plateau)
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Nanos is a karst limestone plateau at the eastern border of the Inner Carniola in southwestern Slovenia. The plateau is about 6 kilometres wide and 12 km long in the extension of the Dinaric Alps. The highest point of the plateau is Dry Peak, the plateau is traversed by the Slovene Mountain Trail, the oldest interconnecting trail in Slovenia. The most popular destination on Nanos and part of the trail is Pleša Peak with the Vojko Lodge below its summit, in 1987, the southern and western slopes of Nanos were declared a regional park with an area of 2,632 hectares. In Antiquity, Nanos was known as Ocra, strabo reckoned it the last peak of the Alps. In the 1st century, the pass at Nanos was an important route for civilian and military traffic from Trieste to Ljubljana and it lost its importance when a faster road connected Emona to Aquileia further north in the 2nd century. Nanos is mentioned as Nanas in Johann Weikhard von Valvasors 1689 work The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, Nanos has an important symbolic place in the history and identity of Littoral Slovenes. In September 1927, the anti-Fascist insurgent organization TIGR was founded on the Nanos Plateau, on 18 April 1942, the Battle of Nanos took place at Nanos. There are around 35 residents domiciled on Nanos Plateau and their most highly valued product is the Nanos cheese, produced already in the 16th century and, since October 2011, the protected designation of origin label. Today, it is made of cow milk, although before World War II, the number of sheep on the plateau dropped significantly since then. Residents are also living from tourism, the Nanos transmitter is a FM-/TV-broadcasting facility consisting of a 50 m guyed tower, a guyed mast, which may be a bit less tall, and a small guyed mast. The transmitter building has many dishes for radio relay links, the Nanos transmitter went into service in 1962 and played an important role in introducing PAL-standard color TV in the former Yugoslavia. The facility was attacked during the Slovene independence war in 1991, codebook of the Cosmos, Vol. IV of the historical novel series Romanike by Codex Regius begins at Nanos. Media related to Nanos at Wikimedia Commons Nanos on Geopedia
28.
Triglav
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Triglav, with an elevation of 2,863.65 metres, height is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. The mountain is the pre-eminent symbol of the Slovene Nation and it is the centrepiece of Triglav National Park, Slovenias only national park. Triglav was also the highest peak in Yugoslavia before Slovenias independence in 1991, various names have been used for the mountain through history. An old map from 1567 named it Ocra mons, whereas Johann Weikhard von Valvasor named it Krma in the half of the 17th century. According to the German mountaineer and professor Adolf Gstirner, the name Triglav first appeared in sources as Terglau in 1452. The next known occurrence of Terglau is cited by Gstirner and is from a description of the border in 1573. Early forms of the name Triglav also include Terglau in 1612, Terglou in 1664, the name is derived from the compound *Tri-golvъ, which may be understood literally because the mountain has three peaks when viewed from much of Upper Carniola. It is unlikely that the name has any connection to the Slavic deity Triglav, in the local dialect, the name is pronounced Tərgwòu̯ in contrast to standard Slovene Tríglav. The first recorded ascent of Triglav was achieved in 1778, on the initiative of the industrialist, Triglavs height was first measured on 23 September 1808 by Valentin Stanič. The first to put the name of the mountain on a map, written as Mons Terglou, was Janez Dizma Florjančič, who in 1744 published the map Ducatus Carniolae Tabula Chorographica. The first map its name appeared on written as Triglav was Zemljovid Slovenske dežele in pokrajin by Peter Kosler, completed from 1848 until 1852, during World War II, Triglav symbolically captured the primary drive by the Slovene resistance to the Fascist and Nazi armies. The Slovene Partisans wore the Triglav cap from 1942 until after 1944, at the top of the mountain stands a small metal structure, the Aljaž Tower. It acts as a shelter and a triangulation point. Along with Triglav, it is also a landmark of Slovenia, the towers namesake was the priest, mountaineer and patriot Jakob Aljaž. In early 1895, he drew up, with a piece of chalk on the floor of his room in the parish of Dovje, in April that year he purchased the summit of Triglav for the sum of one Austro-Hungarian gulden. Having done so, he secured himself the right to erect a building on the mountain top, the tower was constructed from iron and zinc coated sheet steel by Anton Belec from Šentvid near Ljubljana. He and four workers brought the parts of the tower to the summit of Triglav, the opening took place that same day. Aljaž donated the shelter to the Slovene Alpine Society, in the beginning, there were three four-legged chairs, a summit register, a spirit stove, and the image Triglav Panorama by Marko Pernhart in the tower
29.
Sava
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The Sava is a river in Central and Southeastern Europe, a right tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia, along the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its central part is a border of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. The Sava forms the border of the Balkan Peninsula. The Sava is 990 kilometres long, including the 45-kilometre Sava Dolinka headwater rising in Zelenci and it is the greatest tributary of the Danube by volume of water, and second-largest after Tisza in terms of catchment area and length. It drains a significant portion of the Dinaric Alps region, through the tributaries of Drina, Bosna, Kupa, Una, Vrbas, Lonja, Kolubara, Bosut. The Sava is one of the longest rivers in Europe and among a handful of European rivers of that length that do not drain directly into a sea. The population in the Sava River basin is estimated at 8,176,000, the Sava is navigable for larger vessels from the confluence of the Kupa River in Sisak, Croatia, approximately two-thirds of its length. The Sava River is formed from the Sava Dolinka and the Sava Bohinjka headwaters in northwest Slovenia, the Sava Dolinka rises at the Zelenci Pools near Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, in a valley separating the Julian Alps from the Karavanke mountain range. The spring is located near the Slovene-Italian border at 833 metres above sea level, the Sava Dolinka spring is fed by groundwater possibly exhibiting bifurcation of source karst aquifer to the Sava and Soča basins. Nadiža creek, a losing stream flowing nearby, is the source of Zelenci Pools water. The Sava Dolinka is considered the Savas initial, 45-kilometre segment, the Sava Bohinjka originates in Ribčev Laz, at the confluence of the Jezernica, a short watercourse flowing out from Lake Bohinj and the Mostnica River. The watercourse flows 41 kilometres —including the length of the Savica—east to Radovljica, downstream from the confluence, the river is referred to as the Sava. The Sava is located in Southeast Europe, flowing through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and its total length is 990 kilometres, including the 45-kilometre Sava Dolinka and the 945-kilometre Sava proper. As a right tributary of the Danube, the river belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin and it is also the largest tributary of the Danube by discharge. The river course is used to describe the northern boundary of the Balkans. Before the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, the river was located completely inside Yugoslav borders, downstream of Radovljica, the Sava proceeds southeast towards Kranj. Between Kranj and Medvode, its course comprises the Lake Trboje and the Lake Zbilje reservoirs, built for the Mavčiče, the Sava then flows through the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, where another reservoir is located on the river, adjacent to the Tacen Whitewater Course
30.
Kamnik Bistrica
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The Kamnik Bistrica is an Alpine river in northern Slovenia, a left tributary of the Sava River. It springs from the Kamnik Alps near the border with Austria, the Kamnik Bistrica flows through the town of Kamnik, where it is fed by the Nevljica River. It flows into the Sava south of Videm, about 10 km east of Ljubljana, media related to Kamnik Bistrica at Wikimedia Commons Condition of the Kamnik Bistrica - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days
31.
Sora (river)
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The Sora is a right affluent of the Sava River in the northeastern part of Slovenia. The Sora gathers its waters mainly from the Škofja Loka Hills and its source branches are the Poljane Sora, named after the Poljane Valley, and the Selca Sora, named after the Selca Valley. The Poljane Sora is larger and is 43 kilometres in length and they flow together in Škofja Loka and continue the flow as the Sora for the next 9.2 kilometres until Medvode, where the Sora joins the Sava. Including the Poljane Sora, the Sora is 52 km in length and this makes it the 15th longest river of Slovenia. The Sora is of torrential character and often floods and its average discharge at the outflow is 25 cubic metres per second. Its largest discharge, measured in 1990, was 690 m3/s, media related to Sora at Wikimedia Commons Condition of Sora at Železniki and Suha - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days
32.
Ljubljanica
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The Ljubljanica, known in the Middle Ages as the Ljubija, is a river in the southern part of the Ljubljana Basin in Slovenia. The capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, lies on the river, the Ljubljanica rises south of the town of Vrhnika and outflows in the Sava River about 10 kilometres downstream from Ljubljana. Its largest affluent is the Mali Graben Canal, including its source affluent the Little Ljubljanica, the river is 41 km in length. The Little Ljubljanica joins the Big Ljubljanica after 1,300 m, the Ljubljanica has become a popular site for archaeologists and treasure hunters to dive for lost relics and artifacts. One of the significant findings is a yew spearhead, found in 2009 in Sinja Gorica. It has been dated to about 35,000 to 45,000 before present, the Szeletien period, and supplements the scant data about the presence of Stone Age hunters in the Ljubljana Marshes area. Exactly why the Ljubljanica became a dumping ground is unknown. These treasures may have offered to the river during rites of passage, in mourning. The Ljubljanica has become an attraction in Europe for treasure hunters. This has created a debate between local historians and international treasure seekers. It is believed that the river has offered up between 10,000 and 13,000 objects, of which many have been lost to the public, many pieces have been sold into private collections, or are hidden away by the original treasure hunters. In 2003, to curb this trend, Slovenias national parliament declared the river a site of cultural importance
33.
Mirna (Sava)
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The Mirna is a river in southeastern Slovenia. The river, in which the marathon swimmer Martin Strel first learned to swim, is a tributary of the Sava River in the province of Lower Carniola. It is 44 kilometers long, starts below the settlement of Velika Preska, flows through the Mirna Valley and joins the Sava at Dolenji Boštanj, the largest settlement on the river is Mirna. The river is traversed by the Sevnica–Trebnje Railway, the river was mentioned for the first time in 1028 in relation to a 1016 document by Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor. The name Mirna is derived through dissimilation from the verb *nyrati to arise from the ground and this is attested by medieval transcriptions of the name containing the letter n. The upper part of the river is sometimes named Mirnščica or Mirenščica, the expert on Slovene language Ivan Gregorčič and the geographer Maja Topole have characterised the latter form as incorrect
34.
Krka (Sava)
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The Krka is a river in southeastern Slovenia, a right tributary of the Sava. With a length of 95 km, it is the second-longest river flowing in its entirety in Slovenia, the name Krka was first attested in written sources in 799 as Corca. The Slovene name is derived from Slavic *Kъrka, based on the Romance name *Corcra or *Corca, many rivers had this name, or similar names, in antiquity. The name is believed to be of pre-Romance origin and may be based on onomatopoeia, the Krka sources at Gradiček near the village of Krka, about 10 km southwest of Ivančna Gorica and around 25 km southeast of Ljubljana, before flowing southeast. It passes the town of Žužemberk, Dolenjske Toplice, the town of Novo Mesto, Otočec Castle and its largest tributary is the Prečna, the continuation of the Temenica River. Krka An Interactive map of the Krka from source to confluence, condition of Krka - graphs, in the following order, of water level and temperature data for the past 30 days
35.
Kupa
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The Kupa or Kolpa river, a right tributary of the Sava, forms a natural border between north-west Croatia and southeast Slovenia. It is 297 kilometres long, with its part having a length of 118 km. The Kupa originates in Croatia in the region of Gorski Kotar, northeast of Rijeka. It flows a few kilometers eastwards, receives the small Čabranka River from the left and it then continues eastwards between the White Carniola region in the north and Central Croatia in the south. The Kupa receives influx from the river Lahinja from the left in Primostek, passes Vrbovsko and it then reaches the city of Karlovac, where it receives influx from two other rivers from the right, Dobra and Korana. The Kupa continues flowing to the east, where it merges with Glina from the right as well as Odra from the left, fairly unpolluted downstream to Karlovac, the upper Kupa is a popular place for bathing in summer. The section from Stari Trg down to Fučkovci since 2006 is part of the Slovenian Krajinski park Kolpa nature reserve, the hydrological parameters of the Kupa are regularly monitored at Radenci, Kamanje, Karlovac and Jamnička Kiselica. Source of Kupa pictures Panoramic of the source Awarded EDEN - European Destinations of Excellence non traditional tourist destination 2010
36.
Black Lake (Triglav Lakes Valley)
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Black Lake is the lowest-lying lake in the Triglav Lakes Valley, part of the Julian Alps in Slovenia. It is named for its location in a basin in the middle of the forest, because of its relatively low elevation, it is the warmest of the Triglav Lakes. At the surface, its temperature in summer is 9 °C and it is 150 m long,80 m wide, and up to 6 m deep. The Alpine Newt, endemic to the Alps, lives in it, media related to Black Lake at Wikimedia Commons
37.
Lake Bohinj
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Lake Bohinj, covering 318 hectares, is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia. It is located within the Bohinj Valley of the Julian Alps, in the northwestern Upper Carniola region, Lake Bohinj is 4.2 km long and 1 km at its maximum width. It is a lake dammed by a moraine. The largest of the streams flow into the lake, the Savica, is fed from Črno jezero. The outflow at the end is the Jezernica creek which merges with the Mostnica to form the Sava Bohinjka. As found out already by Belsazar Hacquet in the 18th century, much more water leaves Lake Bohinj than enters it, which is explained with subterranean sources of water. The clear waters are the habitat of trout, burbot, European chub, common minnow and Arctic char, eight genera of molluscs. It is a day trippers destination for swimming and other water sports. On the shore is a statue of the legendary Goldhorn chamois, Lake Bohinj web cam Lake Bohinj 1920x1080 photos
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Lake Bled
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Lake Bled is a lake in the Julian Alps of the Upper Carniolan region of northwestern Slovenia, where it adjoins the town of Bled. The area is a tourist destination, the lake is 35 km from Ljubljana International Airport and 55 km from the capital city, Ljubljana. The lake is of mixed glacial and tectonic origins and it is 2,120 m long and 1,380 m wide, with a maximum depth of 29.5 m and has a small island. The lake is situated in an environment, surrounded by mountains. The medieval-era Bled Castle stands above the lake on the north shore, the Zaka Valley lies at the west end of the lake. The World Rowing Championships in 1966,1979,1989 and 2011 were held at Lake Bled, the church has a 52 m tower and there is a Baroque stairway from 1655 with 99 stone steps leading up to the building. The church is visited and weddings are held there regularly. Traditionally it is considered good luck for the groom to carry his bride up the steps on the day of their wedding before ringing the bell, Tourism in Slovenia Bled island website Lake Bled Tourism Exploring With Josh Location
39.
Mary, mother of Jesus
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Mary, also known by various titles, styles and honorifics, was a 1st-century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin, the miraculous birth took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, the Gospel of Luke begins its account of Marys life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to canonical gospel accounts, Mary was present at the crucifixion and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to the Catholic and Orthodox teaching, at the end of her life her body was assumed directly into Heaven. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion and she is claimed to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, there is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, many Protestants minimize Marys role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references. Mary also has a position in Islam, where one of the longer chapters of the Quran is devoted to her. Marys name in the manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name ܡܪܝܡ. The English name Mary comes from the Greek Μαρία, which is a form of Μαριάμ. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament, in Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husbands involvement. The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, Aeiparthenos as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions. For example, the title Our Lady of Sorrows has inspired such masterpieces as Michelangelos Pietà, the title Theotokos was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. However, this phrase in Greek, in the abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ, is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God, some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title Queen Mother has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, the scriptural basis for the term Queen can be seen in Luke 1,32 and the Isaiah 9,6. Queen Mother can be found in 1 Kings 2, 19-20 and Jeremiah 13, other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals or occasions for calling on Mary
40.
Lake Cerknica
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Lake Cerknica is an intermittent lake in the southern part of the Cerknica Polje, a karst polje in Inner Carniola, a region in southwestern Slovenia. The lake, oriented in the Dinaric direction from northwest to southeast, is present for the most part of the year, when full, it is the largest lake in the country. The plain is surrounded by the Javornik Hills to the south, the area of the lake mainly reaches 28 square kilometres, but can reach up to 38 km2 and the surface level varies from 546 m to 551 m above sea level. The lake is an important wildlife resort, especially as a place for many bird species. Botanically, it is distinguished by amphibious plants and it is therefore a part of two Natura 2000 areas of protection and the focus of the Inner Carniola Regional Park, which covers additional Natura 2000 areas in the broader region. The climate in the area is continental, with a temperature of 9.2 °C. The largest settlement at the border of the lake is Cerknica, various watersports, including windsurfing, are popular on the lake. In the autumn, when the rainfall is slight, the lake is drained into the reservoirs lying below its level. The changes in level are, however, very irregular, sometimes the lake does not disappear for several years, and it can remain dry for over a year, as it did in 1834–35. It is rich in fish, which disappear and return with the water, strabo in his Geography mentions a marsh called Lugeon which has been identified with Lake Cerknica, Lougeon being Strabos Greek rendition of a local toponym, perhaps of Illyrian origin. He proposed a model of filling and emptying the lake, based on Cartesian mechanics, the first to accurately describe the functioning of Lake Cerknica was Tobias Gruber in 1781, followed in 1784 by Belsazar Hacquet. Lake Cerknica at official Slovenia travel guide
41.
Dante Alighieri
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Durante degli Alighieri, simply called Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages. In the late Middle Ages, the majority of poetry was written in Latin. In De vulgari eloquentia, however, Dante defended use of the vernacular in literature, as a result, Dante played an instrumental role in establishing the national language of Italy. In addition, the first use of the interlocking three-line rhyme scheme, Dante has been called the Father of the Italian language and one of the greatest poets of world literature. In Italy, Dante is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta and il Poeta, he, Petrarch, Dante was born in Florence, Republic of Florence, present-day Italy. The exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is believed to be around 1265. This can be deduced from autobiographic allusions in the Divine Comedy, in 1265, the sun was in Gemini between approximately May 11 and June 11. Dante claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans, but the earliest relative he could mention by name was Cacciaguida degli Elisei, born no earlier than about 1100. Dantes father, Alaghiero or Alighiero di Bellincione, was a White Guelph who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the middle of the 13th century. Dantes family had loyalties to the Guelphs, an alliance that supported the Papacy and which was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines. The poets mother was Bella, likely a member of the Abati family and she died when Dante was not yet ten years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. When Dante was 12, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati, contracting marriages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. But by this time Dante had fallen in love with another, Beatrice Portinari, years after his marriage to Gemma he claims to have met Beatrice again, he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice but never mentioned Gemma in any of his poems. The exact date of his marriage is not known, the certain information is that, before his exile in 1301. Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino and this victory brought about a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take any part in life, one had to enroll in one of the citys many commercial or artisan guilds, so Dante entered the Physicians. In the following years, his name is recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic. A substantial portion of minutes from meetings in the years 1298–1300 was lost, however
42.
Divine Comedy
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The Divine Comedy is a long narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c.1308 and completed in 1320, a year before his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work in Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature, the poems imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written and it is divided into three parts, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. On the surface, the poem describes Dantes travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise or Heaven, but at a level, it represents, allegorically. At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy, consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called the Summa in verse. The work was simply titled Comedìa and the word Divina was added by Giovanni Boccaccio. The first printed edition to add the word divina to the title was that of the Venetian humanist Lodovico Dolce, the Divine Comedy is composed of 14,233 lines that are divided into three canticas – Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso – each consisting of 33 cantos. An initial canto, serving as an introduction to the poem and generally considered to be part of the first cantica, the number three is prominent in the work, represented in part by the number of canticas and their lengths. Additionally, the scheme used, terza rima, is hendecasyllabic, with the lines composing tercets according to the rhyme scheme aba, bcb, cdc. Written in the first person, the tells of Dantes journey through the three realms of the dead, lasting from the night before Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300. The Roman poet Virgil guides him through Hell and Purgatory, Beatrice, Dantes ideal woman, within each group of 9,7 elements correspond to a specific moral scheme, subdivided into three subcategories, while 2 others of greater particularity are added to total nine. For example, the seven sins of the Catholic Church that are cleansed in Purgatory are joined by special realms for the Late repentant. The core seven sins within Purgatory correspond to a scheme of love perverted, subdivided into three groups corresponding to excessive love, deficient love, and malicious love. In central Italys political struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines, Dante was part of the Guelphs, who in general favored the Papacy over the Holy Roman Emperor, florences Guelphs split into factions around 1300, the White Guelphs and the Black Guelphs. The last word in each of the three canticas is stelle, the poem begins on the night before Good Friday in the year 1300, halfway along our lifes path. Conscious that he is ruining himself and that he is falling into a low place where the sun is silent, Dante is at last rescued by Virgil, the circles number 9, with the addition of Satan completing the structure of 9 +1 =10. Having survived the depths of Hell, Dante and Virgil ascend out of the undergloom to the Mountain of Purgatory on the far side of the world. The Mountain is on an island, the land in the Southern Hemisphere
43.
Inferno (Dante)
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Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieris 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso, the Inferno tells the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, Canto I The poem begins on the night of Maundy Thursday on March 241300 A. D. shortly before dawn of Good Friday. The narrator, Dante himself, is years old. The poet finds himself lost in a wood, astray from the straight way of salvation. He sets out to climb directly up a mountain. The three beasts, taken from the Jeremiah 5,6, are thought to symbolize the three kinds of sin that bring the unrepentant soul into one of the three divisions of Hell. According to John Ciardi, these are incontinence, violence and bestiality, and fraud and malice, Dorothy L. Sayers assigns the leopard to incontinence and it is now dawn of Good Friday, April 8, with the sun rising in Aries. The beasts drive him back despairing into the darkness of error, however, Dante is rescued by a figure who announces that he was born sub Iulio and lived under Augustus, it is the shade of the Roman poet Virgil, author of the Aeneid, a Latin epic. Canto II On the evening of Good Friday, Dante is following Virgil but hesitates, Virgil explains how he has sent by Beatrice. Beatrice has been sent with prayers from the Virgin Mary and of Saint Lucia, rachel, symbolic of the contemplative life, also appears in the heavenly scene recounted by Virgil. The two of them begin their journey to the underworld. Dante and his guide hear the screams of the Uncommitted. These are the souls of people who in life took no sides, the opportunists who were for neither good nor evil, among these Dante recognizes a figure implied to be Pope Celestine V, whose cowardice served as the door through which so much evil entered the Church. Mixed with them are outcasts who took no side in the Rebellion of Angels and these souls are forever unclassified, they are neither in Hell nor out of it, but reside on the shores of the Acheron. Naked and futile, they race around through the mist in eternal pursuit of an elusive, wavering banner while relentlessly chased by swarms of wasps and hornets, who continually sting them. Loathsome maggots and worms at the sinners feet drink the putrid mixture of blood, pus and this symbolizes the sting of their guilty conscience and the repugnance of sin. This may also be seen as a reflection of the spiritual stagnation they lived in, after passing through the vestibule, Dante and Virgil reach the ferry that will take them across the river Acheron and to Hell proper
