Vrhnika (; ;[ Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru, vol. 6: Kranjsko. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 120.] ) is a town in Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Vrhnika. It is located on the Ljubljanica, 21 km from Ljubljana along the A1 motorway.
Geography
Vrhnika lies at the southwest end of the
Ljubljana Marsh near the sources of the Ljubljanica River, where the Ljubljana Basin opens up between the foot of Ljubljana Peak (, ) and Ulovka Hill (). Močilnik Springs is located south of the settlement; together with nearby
Retovje Springs, water flows mainly from the subterranean streams of the Unica to produce the Little Ljubljanica River (Mala Ljubljanica) and Big Ljubljanica River (Velika Ljubljanica), which in turn join to create the
Ljubljanica River.
The territory of the town extends south onto the Logatec Plateau (), where the Big and Little Drnovica Collapse Sinkholes () are found.
[Čepon, Barbara. 2010. Vrednotenje naravnih znamenitosti v Občini Vrhnika za turistično rabo. Bachelor's thesis. Ljubljana: Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za krajinsko arhitekturo, p. 25.]
Name
The settlement at the location of today's Vrhnika was attested in antiquity as
Nauportus in Latin, and as Ναύποντος and Νάμπορτος in Greek. Medieval attestations of the name include de superiory Laybaco in 1300,
Oberlaybach in 1308 (and
Ober Laybach in 1309), and
Vernich in 1481, corresponding to the modern Slovene name. Historically, the town was known as
Oberlaibach (literally, 'Upper Ljubljana') in standard German. The Slovene toponym is probably a compound of
vrh 'top, summit' +
nika or nikve 'creek, spring', referring to the source of the
Ljubljanica. The Latin name
Nauportus is a compound of
navis 'boat' +
portus 'transfer', referring to a place where cargo had to be transferred from boats to pack animals or carts along a trade route. A mythological reinterpretation of the Latin name as referring to the portage of a boat itself (specifically, the
Argo) appears in Pliny the Elder's
Natural History.
[Snoj, Marko. 2009. Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana: Modrijan and Založba ZRC, pp. 468–469.] A depiction of the
Argo also appears on the town's coat of arms.
History
In Roman times,
Nauportus was an important communication point.
[Curk I. et al. (1993). In the footsteps of Roman soldiers in Slovenia. Ljubljana: Zavod Republike Slovenije za varstvo naravne in kulturne dediščine Slovenije. ] Vrhnika as it exists today started to develop in the High Middle Ages.
Vrhnika became a market town and was among the wealthiest towns in Carniola[Johann Weikhard von Valvasor: The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, published 1689, translated extracts published 1984 by Mladinska knjiga, pp. 240, 241.] up to the early 18th century, when it started to lose importance. Nevertheless, it remained one of main transportation junctions in Inner Austria because of its strategic location on the crossroads between the trade routes from Trieste to Vienna and from Rijeka to Klagenfurt.[Orožen Adamič M., Perko D., Kladnik D. (1995). Krajevni leksikon Slovenije. Ljubljana: DZS. ] The development of the town was strongly impaired by the construction of the Austrian Southern Railway in the 1840s, which bypassed it. From then on, it started losing importance, becoming a satellite town of Ljubljana, which it has remained up to this day.
Mass grave
Vrhnika is the site of a mass grave from the period immediately after the Second World War. The Pikec Valley Mass Grave () is located at the bottom of a sinkhole southwest of the town, on Sveč Hill near the Vojc house. It contains the remains of six German prisoners of war that were murdered in May 1945.
[Dežman, Jože. 2009. Poročilo Komisije vlade Republike Slovenije za reševanje vprašanj prikritih grobišč: 2005-2008. Ljubljana: Družina, p. 1909.]
Notable people
Notable people that were born or lived in Vrhnika include:
-
Baltazar Baebler (1880–1936), chemist
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Baltazar Baebler.]
-
(1891–1953), hiking and tourism specialist
-
Ivan Cankar (1876–1918), writer
-
(1877–1953), journalist and editor
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Karel Cankar.]
-
(1906–1992), painter
-
(1906–1985), writer
-
Janko Grampovčan (1897–1974), economist
-
Francis Jager (1869–1934), beekeeping and orchard expert
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Francis Jager.]
-
(1858–1927), merchant
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Gabrijel Viktor Jelovšek.]
-
France Kunstelj (1914–1945), author, playwright, and editor
-
(1816–1890), sculptor
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Franc Lah.]
-
Andrej Lenarčič (1859–1936), agricultural specialist
[Doma in po svetu. 1936. Trgovski list 19(139) (29 December): 4.]
-
(1856–1939), merchant
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Josip Lenarčič.]
-
Anton Maier (1859–1943), education specialist
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Anton Maier.]
-
Ignacij Mihevc (1870–1939), politician and journalist
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Ignacij Mihevc.]
-
(1924–2006), poet and writer
-
(1851–1930), painter
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Simon Ogrin.]
-
(1921–2013), communist politician
-
Radoslav Silvester (1841–1923), poet and composer
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Radoslav Silvester.]
-
(nom de guerre Fric; 1904–1944), People's Hero of Yugoslavia
-
Jakob Voljč (1878–1900), poet and writer
[ Slovenski biografski leksikon: Jakob Voljč.]
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