Litija (; [ Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru, vol. 6: Kranjsko. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 90, 92–93.]) is a town in the Litija Basin in central Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Litija. It is located in the valley of the Sava, east of the capital Ljubljana, in the traditional region of Upper Carniola. The entire municipality is now included in the Central Sava Statistical Region; until January 2014 it was part of the Central Slovenia Statistical Region. The town is home to about 6,500 people.
Name
Litija was mentioned in written documents in 1256 as
apud Litigiam and
apud Lvtyam (and as
Lutya in 1363,
Littai in 1431,
Luttey in 1444, and
propre Lutiam in 1480). Medieval transcriptions indicate that the name was originally *
Ljutija, derived from *
Ľutoviďa (vьsь) (literally, 'Ľutovidъ's village'). Suggestions that
-ija is a suffix or that the name is derived from German
Lutte '(mining) drain' are less likely.
[Snoj, Marko. 2009. Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana: Modrijan and Založba ZRC, pp. 236–237.] Other
False etymology include Johann Weikhard von Valvasor's suggestion that the name evolved from
litus, the Latin word for 'riverbank'.
The town was officially known as
Littai in German until 1918.
[Klein, Wilhelm. 1967. Die postalischen Abstempelungen auf den österreichischen Postwertzeichen-Ausgaben 1867, 1883 und 1890.]
History
Litija developed as a trading post between
Trieste, Ljubljana, and
Croatia. The town gained
Market town in the 14th century. In Roman times mining developed in Litija and remained one of the primary sources of income until the 1965, when the biggest of the mines closed. In 1849 the Austrian Southern Railway reached Litija and boosted its economy. This development, however, also meant a decline in some of the traditional local professions. The Litija post office was opened in December 1852.
[Handbook of Austria and Lombardy-Venetia Cancellations on the Postage Stamp Issues 1850-1864, by Edwin MUELLER, 1961.] After the Second World War, Litija annexed the formerly independent settlements of
Podsitarjevec, Gradec, Grbin, and Podkraj.
[Savnik, Roman, ed. 1971. Krajevni leksikon Slovenije, vol. 2. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, pp. 270–272.]
Landmarks
The
parish church in the settlement is dedicated to
Saint Nicholas and belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ljubljana. The current building was built in 1884 and extended in 1997.
[ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage reference number ešd 1970]
Notable people
Notable people that were born or lived in Litija include:
-
France Bezlaj (1910–1993), linguist
-
Luka Svetec (1826–1921), politician
-
Peter Jereb (1867–1951), composer
-
Viktor Parma (1858–1924), composer
-
Rudolf Badjura (1881–1963), writer and mountaineer
-
Mira Pregelj (1905–1966), painter
-
Milan Borišek (1920–1950), glider pilot
==Gallery==
External links
