The Savinja () is a river in northeast Slovenia which flows mostly in the Upper and Lower Savinja Valley () and through the cities of Celje and Laško. The Savinja is the main river of the Kamnik Alps (Sln. Savinjske Alpe). It flows into the Sava at the town of Zidani Most. It has often , such as in the 1960s, 1990, and 1995. The Savinja has a length of and a catchment area of .
Sources
The stream is created by
Rinka Falls, which flows along a regulated riverbed to the lower end of the Logar Valley, where it flows into Jezera Creek, from which point it becomes the Savinja River. This spring has been proclaimed a
natural heritage object, and Rinka Falls is one of the most beautiful and best-known waterfalls in Slovenia. It is the highest waterfall of the 20 waterfalls in the Logar Valley and is visited throughout the year. In the winter it is popular for ice-climbers. The best view of the waterfall is from Kamnik Saddle ().
Tributaries
The main
tributary of the Savinja are the Jušef and the Klobaša at Solčava, the Lučnica at Luče, the Ljubnica at
Ljubno, the
Dreta at
Nazarje, the Paka at Šmartno ob Paki, and the Ložnica and
Voglajna with the Hudinja at Celje.
Water quality
The quality of water is first-class to
Radmirje, then it falls to second class and after to third.
Hydronym and etymology
The name
Savinja (attested in written sources in 980 as
Sovuina) is derived from
*Savьn′a, in turn derived from the
hydronym Sava, of which it is a
tributary. The German name
Sann was attested later. In the local dialect, the river is known as
Sáńe. The form *
Savьn′a should have yielded
Savnja as the current Slovene name, but it was reshaped on the model of
Hudinja. The name is believed to ultimately not be of Slavic origin, but of older pre-Slavic origin.
[Snoj, Marko. 2009. Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana: Modrijan and Založba ZRC, p. 368.]
The German language name Sann was also used in some older English sources; for example, in the ninth edition of Encyclopædia Britannica from 1911.
Some other names for the river include:
-
fluvius Sana (9th century)
-
Souina (980)
-
inter fluenta Souuuę et Sounę (1016)
-
Seuna (1016)
-
Souna (1025,1028)
-
inter fluenta Souuuae et Sounae (1028)
-
Sounital (1042)
The Celtic goddess Adsaluta, whose altars were found in the area of the settlement of Sava, was long identified with the Savinja.
Life along the river
Raftsmen from Ljubno traveled along the river until the 1950s. In their memory, a bronze sculpture of a
raftsman (
Splavar), created in 1961 by
Boris Kalin, stands on the river's left bank in Celje.
[ Savinjsko nabrežje s kipom splavarja, delo akad. kiparja Borisa Kalina // Fotogalerija]
External links
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Condition of Savinja at several locations (proceeding from its upper stream to its lower stream):
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Nazarje - graphs, in the following order, of water level and flow data for the past 30 days (taken in Nazarje by ARSO)
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Letuš - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Letuš by ARSO)
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Medlog - graphs, in the following order, of water level and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Medlog by ARSO)
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Laško - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Laško by ARSO)
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Veliko Širje - graphs, in the following order, of water level, flow and temperature data for the past 30 days (taken in Veliko Širje by ARSO)
