Slovenske Konjice

Slovenske Konjice
Town and Municipality

View of Slovenske Konjice from the castle

Coat of arms

Location of the Municipality of Slovenske Konjice in Slovenia
Slovenske Konjice

Location of the Town of Slovenske Konjice in Slovenia

Coordinates: 46°20′18.17″N 15°25′23.58″E / 46.3383806°N 15.4232167°E / 46.3383806; 15.4232167Coordinates: 46°20′18.17″N 15°25′23.58″E / 46.3383806°N 15.4232167°E / 46.3383806; 15.4232167
Country  Slovenia
First mention 1146
Government
 • Mayor Miran Gorinšek
Area
 • Total 97.8 km2 (37.8 sq mi)
Elevation 322 m (1,056 ft)
Population (2008)[1]
 • Total 13,612
 • Density 140/km2 (360/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+01)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+02)
Area code(s) 03
Website Slovenske Konjice website
Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia

Slovenske Konjice is a town and a municipality in northeastern Slovenia. The area was part of the traditional region of Styria.

Municipality of Slovenske Konjice

The municipality is now included in the Savinja Statistical Region.[2] It is the administrative and cultural centre of the Dravinja Valley. The municipality borders on the municipalities of Šmarje pri Jelšah and Šentjur to the south, Vojnik to the west, Zreče to the northwest, Oplotnica to the north, Slovenska Bistrica to the east, and Rogaška Slatina to the southeast. It spreads over 97.8 square kilometres (37.8 sq mi) and has a population of 13,600. About 100 km (62 miles) from Ljubljana, Graz, or Zagreb, it is easily reachable by the A1 motorway and via the small airport near Loče.

History & Town sights

The town of Slovenske Konjice lies under the northern slopes of Mount Konjice (Slovene: Konjiška Gora) and the winegrowing Škalce Hills. On a hill above the town to the southwest are the ruins of Konjice Castle, an extensive 12th-century castle with later additions, that was abandoned in the 18th century.[3] Immediately above Old Square (Slovene: Stari trg) stands the medieval Trebnik Mansion.[4] The 850-year-old dense town line is a sloping square, from Trebnik Manor past St. George's parish church, along a small stream in an open channel, down to the Dravinja River. The new square (Mestni trg) is on the other bank of the river, connected with the old square by bridge with horse heads on the corners.

The parish church is dedicated to Saint George (Slovene: sveti Jurij) and belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maribor. It dates to the late 13th century with 18th-century additions (side baroque chapel).[5] Town was mentioned in written sources dating to 1165 as a seminal parish. The castle was first mentioned in 1148 and the market town in 1236. The town itself was not surrounded by walls. At the times of Ottoman raids the church with the vicarage served as a fortified refuge. A second church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Anne. It dates to the mid-16th century with a 17th-century belfry and Baroque additions.[6]

Old Square

The main street and the transversal connections above the Dravinja are lined with longitudinal or transversally positioned one-storey secular houses with well-preserved Gothic cores and Renaissance additions. The façades were restyled in the 19th century (Biedermeier, Historicism). A rarity is the Art Nouveau building of the ex savings bank. A Marian column near the church dating to the mid-18th century and a columnar shrine dedicated to Saint Florian above the stream (the author of both is Franc Zamlik, 1750) dominate the open square. The town core is well preserved, with no aggressive breakthroughs of the roofs and diverse concepts inside the condensed nucleus.

Konjice played its part during the Slovenian peasant revolt of 1515, with rebels here composing a letter with their demands to send to the emperor in Vienna.[7] Economic development was boosted after construction of main Vienna to Trieste road in the 18th century. During the 19th century the town got a local court. The Austrian Southern Railway was built in 1846, but it ran 15 km (9 mi) east of Konjice. On 20 June 1892 works started on a narrow gauge (760 mm) steam railroad line called Konjičanka from Poljčane to Slovenske Konjice, which was opened on 20 December 1892. On 29 June 1921 it was extended to Zreče. It was closed in 1963, and the tracks were removed in 1970. A Museum locomotive K.3 (Gonobitz), build by Krauss factory at Linz, used on this line, is on display at the Slovenian Railway Museum in Ljubljana.

Forms of the written name

Over the centuries the name Konjice appears in written documents in various forms: Gonviz (1251), Gombicz (1370), Gannabitz (1570), Gonaviz (1594), Gonavitz (1630), Gonwitz (1636), Gonowitz (1662), Ganowiz (1680), Gonnawitz (1680) and the German: Gonobitz.

"Konjice" got the adjective "Slovenske" in the 1918, during Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in order not to be confused with the town of Konjic in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Owners of the castle

Tourism

The Škalce and Konjiška gora areas have many trails where local people go for walks. Slovenske Konjice's sights.

The town has been rewarded for its efforts with the national "Most Beautiful Excursion Destination" award by Tourist Association of Slovenia for many years in a row.

The town of Slovenske Konjice hosts an international festival of underwater film and photography called "Sprehodi pod morjem" (Walkig beneath the Sea), which is held every year at the end of January (on the last Thursday of the month).

Culture

Sport

Prominent persons

Prominent persons from the municipality of Slovenske Konjice include:

References

Sources

English:

Slovene:

Twin towns – Sister cities

Slovenske Konjice is twinned with:

International projects

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Slovenske Konjice.
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