Velenje (; [ Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru, vol. 4: Štajersko. 1904. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 272.]) is the sixth-largest city of Slovenia, and the seat of the Municipality of Velenje. Velenje was owned by the Habsburgs for several centuries, which is reflected in the exceptionally rich legacy of castles and manors. The city is located in the traditional Slovenian region of Styria, among the rolling green hills of the Šalek Valley, with the Kamnik–Savinja Alps to the west and the Pohorje to the east. The city of Velenje was officially opened on September 20, 1959, according to a unified construction plan. Velenje is marked by mining with the Velenje Coal Mine, popular due to its longwall mining method, opened in 1875 and still operating, where over 260 million tons of coal have been mined. The old part of the Coal Mine is home to the Slovenian Coal Mining Museum.
The Velenje Coal Mine, under the then-director Nestl Žganek, had by far the greatest influence on the development of the city. Words from that time that are still worth recording today:
The Velenje miners, who spend their working day underground, need large, bright, modern apartments, and lots of green spaces and parks around the housing estates!
Name
Velenje was first attested in written sources in 1264 as
Weln (and as
Welan in 1270, and
Belen and
Welen in 1296). The name derives from *
Velen′e selo 'Velenъ's village'. A less likely hypothesis derives the name from the Slovene common noun
velen(je) 'pasture for livestock'.
[Snoj, Marko. 2009. Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana: Modrijan and Založba ZRC, pp. 450–451.] The name of the town was changed to
Titovo Velenje (literally, 'Tito's Velenje') in 1981 in honor of the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito. The name
Velenje was restored in 1990, just before the declaration of Slovenian independence in 1991.
[ Spremembe naselij 1948–95. 1996. Database. Ljubljana: Geografski inštitut ZRC SAZU, DZS.] In the past, the German name of the settlement was Wöllan.
History
Mass grave
The Koželj Mass Grave () from the period immediately after World War II, is located in the Goll Woods (Gollova hosta) below Big Koželj Hill (Veliki Koželj) beside a tributary of Trubušnica Creek. It contains the remains of a truckload of Slovene civilian prisoners, including many Velenje natives, that were transported from the prisons in
Celje and shot on June 15, 1945.
[Dežman, Jože. 2009. Poročilo Komisije vlade Republike Slovenije za reševanje vprašanj prikritih grobišč: 2005-2008. Ljubljana: Družina, p. 1909.][Republika Slovenija, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. 2007. Informacija o urejanju prikritih grobišč. Ljubljana, p. 7.][ Republika Slovenija, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. 2010. Terenske preiskave lokacij, kjer so evidentirana prikrita vojna grobišča v Republiki Sloveniji: Seznam lokacij, kjer se izvedejo terenske preiskave. Ljubljana, p. 32. ] The site is marked by an official inventory sign
[ Photo of inventory sign (no. 093) at the Koželj Mass Grave.] and a small concrete plaque.
[ Photo of plaque at the Koželj Mass Grave.]
Modern history
The 1889 Old Velenje (), the old part of today's city, was a small market town with 364 citizens, located downtown at the foot of
Velenje Castle. The
lignite mining industry in the area contributed to the expansion of the town before World War II.
After the war, Velenje rapidly advanced and developed into a modern city. The city was planned and built in the 1950s, in the time of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. The manufacturer of , Gorenje, moved its headquarters to the city from the nearby settlement of Gorenje.
The central Tito Square officially opened on September 20, 1959, and features the tallest statue of the Yugoslav leader Tito in the world (about ). It was designed by Antun Augustinčič and Vladimir Herljević.
Geography
Velenje is located in northeast Slovenia, some 85 km from the capital
Ljubljana, and the country's second- and third-largest cities
Maribor and
Celje, are 75 km and 25 km away, respectively, with
Graz (Austria) around 130 km away.
Zagreb is 175 km away and former capital of the Austria-Hungary Empire
Vienna is 330 km away. Velenje is well connected by train and bus to other destinations, and is also easy to reach by car.
[ Official catalogue and tourist map]
Climate
Culture
The Velenje Cultural Center, in the northwestern part of the square, was built in 1959 according to plans by Oton Gaspari, and opened in November 1960. Its façade was decorated with a relief by Stojan Batič, and its interior was designed by Riko Debenjak. The hall was the 1990s center of
in Velenje. Today, it hosts the public institute Velenje Festival, which holds various cultural activities. The hall also houses a puppet theatre and a
Concert dance theatre.
Economy and education
Velenje is one of the strongest economic centers in Slovenia, equipped with modern
infrastructure. Economic development is based on the energy, metal-processing, and construction industries. The only operating
lignite mine in Slovenia is located immediately west of the city.
["Slovenia."
]
/ref> Environmental protection, craft, and trade services have been experiencing solid development. The city has three large shopping centers. These include Hypermarket Mercator Velenje, Velenjka, and Velenje Shopping Center.
Velenje is an employment, administrative, and educational center of the wider Savinja–Šalek region. It has six primary schools, seven secondary/high schools, a university, and a music school.
Transportation
The drive from Ljubljana takes about one hour. Velenje's city center is relatively easily covered on foot, or by bicycle. Bicycles can be rented from the tourist office in Villa Bianca.[ Official traffic information centre]
There are up to 15 trains per day to Ljubljana and Maribor during the week, all of which require a transfer in Celje and take about 2 to 3 hours. Fares cost between €8 and €13 one-way. There are only four trains on Saturdays, and none on Sundays. Velenje's train station is located just west of the city centre.
Velenje's bus station is on Šalek Street (), just east of the Mercator shopping center. There are frequent local and regional buses during the week, with up to five direct buses on weekdays to Ljubljana and up to 22 to Celje.[ Free public transport]
The nearest airport is Ljubljana Airport,[ Ljubljana Airport website] with Graz, Klagenfurt, and Zagreb airports relatively nearby.
Sports
Work in a coal mine was always extremely strenuous, but visionaries enabled miners to come up with bold plans to have quality sports infrastructure available in their free time for regeneration and thus a satisfactory quality of health despite working in not always humane environments. The coal mine has always been a pillar of sports development and, in its vision of building a city, has created a whole host of sports and multi-purpose facilities that still successfully serve people today.
Velenje holds the only long Adventure racing in Slovenia, called Adventure Race Slovenia, which is known across Europe and is held every weekend in June. It was first held in 2003 by the Lake Dragon Scout Group.
The handball club RK Gorenje Velenje and football club NK Rudar Velenje are based in Velenje. The city is the birthplace of Jolanda Čeplak, a Slovenian middle distance athlete and Olympic bronze medalist. It is also the hometown of the Slovenian tennis player Katarina Srebotnik.
Religion
The parish church in Velenje dates to the 13th century with 16th- and 17th-century additions. It is dedicated to Saint Martin, and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Celje. A significant portion of Velenje's populace today describe themselves as Atheism.
International relations
Twin towns and sister cities
Velenje is twinned with:
-
Esslingen am Neckar, Germany
-
Neath Port Talbot, Wales
-
Split, Croatia
-
Pljevlja, Montenegro
-
Udine, Italy
External links
