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Template:Municipality of Slovenia

Radovljica is a town and a municipality in the Northern part of Slovenia, in the Upper Carniola region. The municipality has around 18.000 inhabitants and spreads over 118 km². Radovljica is the hometown of dramatist and historian Anton Tomaž Linhart and the architect Ivan Vurnik.

Geography

The Municipality of Radovljica is part of the Alpine world. Its territory is split by the Sava river and bordered on the north by the Karavanke mountain range (the highest peak within the municipality is Veliki vrh-Begunjscica at 2060 m), on the south-east by the last part of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps and on the south by the Jelovica karst plateau. On the left (eastern) bank of Slovenia’s longest river stretches the Radovljica Plain, known locally as the Dezela (de-ZHElah), or “The Plain.” The right bank constitutes the area known as Dobrava and the Lipnica brook valley, becoming a karst valley as one turns towards Kropa. Neighbouring municipalities are Zirovnica, Trzic, Naklo, Kranj, Zelezniki, Bohinj and Bled. The Radovljica Plain, the Dezela , is an extreme north-west part of the Ljubljana Basin. The De`ela is a flat, terraced landscape punctuated with hills topped with overgrown forests while the Karst environment of Dobrava is even more hilly and densely overgrown.

The halves of the municipality are separated by the river Sava. Two tributaries – the Sava Bohinjka and the Sava Dolinka – come together just below the town of Radovljica, forming the country’s longest river and the only one in the municipality. There are also many brooks, many of which have a torrential character but all of them empty into the Sava. Although there are no lakes in the municipality (except for a small made-made lake known as “Sobec Lake” located on the like-named campground) the aquatic richness of the region is supplemented with underground brooks, marshland and the Peracica and Sum waterfalls. The region also offers highly diverse flora and fauna. The exceptionally favourable climate conditions are reflected in the highest number of sunny days of any region in Gorenjska – both in the warm summer and in the cool, but not too cold, winter – and in the rather uniform monthly precipitation. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of 18°C while the coldest is January with an average of -2°C. It can get colder in areas of the upper regions of the Karavanke and Jelovica.

History

Recent archaeological excavations in the region of present-day Radovljica have uncovered settlements from the Middle Palaeolithic Age (40,000 BC), making it the oldest settled area in Gorenjska discovered thus far. A number of sites also yielded archaeological finds from more recent times. The first permanent settlement arrived in the first half of the first millenium BC during the Hallstatt period of the early Iron Age. Rich discoveries from the Brezje area – nowadays known as the “alter of Gorenjska” – bear witness to the highly-developed culture which reached its high-point in the 5th century BC. The period two centuries later was shaped by Celtic culture and the economic rise galvanised by the forging of iron. This indirectly attests to the inclusion of the region into the Noric Kingdom, celebrated for its renowned Noric steel (“ferrum noricum”).

With the decades of conquest before the birth of Christ the region was absorbed into the Roman Empire the following century, in whose possession it remained until the fall of the Empire. Remnants of ancient Roman culture have been preserved in a number of places in the present-day municipality. The most notable archaeological finds have been in the area of Lesce, close to the Roman road which ran through the center of the De`ela towards Kranj, as well as from Predtrg in Radovljica, Brezje, Begunje, Kropa and Ljubno. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the second half of the 5th century AD, the traditions and way of life of ancient times remained for a number of decades. The settlement of Ajdna on the southern slope of Mt. Stol is the most well-known and researched settlement from this time. There one can still see the archaeological remains of an early Christian church, remnants of the settlement and grave-sites. Most of the local archaeological discoveries from before and during the period of classical antiquity and from the Great Slavic Migrations are stored in local and national museums, but unfortunately most of these collections are not accessible by the general public. During the period of the Great Slavic Migrations (the 6th and 7th Centuries) the territory was visited for a short time on their way to northern Italy by the Germanic Langobards, who didn’t leave any visible and lasting traces. It was completely different with the Slavs, who began to settle the area in the 7th century. A new order was formed with the former inhabitants gradually and peacefully, and following inclusion in the Frankish Empire in the 9th century, was eventually founded on the feudal system and Christianity.

The peak of feudal development in our region is tightly connected with the noble family of the Ortenburgs, who had their origins in Spittal in Austrian Carinthia. After the partitioning of family property, Radovljica, first mentioned in sources by its German name Ratmansdorf in 1169, was chosen as the region’s new centre. The Ortenburgs owned two castles in the Radovljica territories: Kamen Castle (Stone Castle) near Begunje and Lipnica (Wallenberg) Castle, which was also the seat of their authority, on the opposite side of the valley beneath the Jelovica Plateau. Although Radovljica, which began to develop into a trading centre, was somewhat removed from the main road that ran through the De`ela, it sat on a defensively favourable position atop a narrow ridge above the Sava river. While the colonisation of the Carniolan lands paralleled the development of Radovljica a rural settlement grew in the area near Predtrg.

The Ortenburgs devoted great attention to the advancement of iron forging, not only in Radovlijca but also all across their holdings. As a result, blacksmith communities emerged in Kropa, Kamna Gorica and Kolnica. The administrative, political and secular systematisation of the lands was completed with the transfer of the seat of the parish from the town of Rodine farther north to Radovljica sometime between 1273 and 1296. Radovljica was granted trading rights around 1333. In the 14th and the beginning of the 15th centuries the Radovljica lands assumed the definitive form that would remain unchanged for centuries: farming and raising livestock was widespread on the left bank of the Sava, while the ecclesiastical, artisan and trade centre of the region was in Radovljica. On the right bank of the Sava iron forging flourished thanks to the abundant natural resources. It was in the late middle ages when the settlements of Radovljica, Kropa, Begunje and Lesce – which today remain the most important places in the municipality – reached their definitive form. 22 When the last of the Ortenburgs died in 1420 their domains were handed over to the Counts of Celje, who were the most powerful noble family of that time in Slovenian territory. But only three decades later the Celje family also died out without an heir and the Radovljica territory came into the hands of the Habsburg noble family. The transfer of ownership of the lands did not take place peacefully, however. In the battle for succession Radovljica was laid siege to and partially burned. The new owner of the lands, Emperor Friderik III, continually increased the importance of Radovljica. First, in 1465 he centralised legal authority in the town and roughly a decade later awarded it new trading privileges. Because of the increased danger of Turkish attack he spearheaded the renovation of the town’s existing defences as well as the building of a defensive wall. Radovljica’s status was elevated to that of town around 1500.

Throughout this period the Habsburgs firmly supported the Lambergs, the owners of Kamen Castle in Begunje, whose military, economic and political ascent began during this time. In spite of the instability caused by natural disasters and turbulent sociopolitical events, the 16th century nevertheless also brought economic and cultural progress. A strong earthquake in 1511, compounded by other damage, led to the fall of Lipnica Castle (Wallenberg), and as a result the seat of administration eventually moved to Radovljica. Four years later, existing social conditions triggered a pan-Slovenian peasant uprising, at the head of which were the peasants Klander and one whom history has remembered only as the “krofasti kroja~,” (the “Doughnut Tailor”), both from Radovljica. The revolt came about more because of restrictions by the nobility and townspeople on peasant trade and artisan activities than because of oppressive conditions. Even though a large number of serfs united under the banner of rebellion, actual combat with an army led by the nobility never came about on the Radovljica territory. After the military defeat of the rebel army in the eastern parts of Slovenia the uprising also died out in the Radovljica lands. The second half of the century was dominated by the Protestant Reformation. The battle for Protestantism in the region wasn’t limited to Radovljica, but also spread across the countryside and into the iron-forging settlements.

A peaceful period followed after the success of the Counter- Reformation, a weakening of the Turkish threat of invasion and a new consolidation of Imperial authority at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century. In 1616 the Counts of Thurn- Valsassina purchased the Radovljica lands from the Habsburgs, maintaining them for more than 300 years. The town of Radovljica, however, witnessed no major changes – perhaps culturally to a certain degree but not economically. During the same period, the power of the countryside grew as a class of enterprising peasants became increasingly more successful by supplementing their farming with the trade and transport of goods. The 17th and 18th centuries also became known as the golden age of iron forging in the region. The iron-forging “barons” – the Mazzols and Gro{eljs from Kropa and the Kapus family from Kamna Gorica – were among the first harbingers of a new period shaped by commerce, which also brought about the decline of the feudal system. The most important representative of this age of enlightenment was born in Radovljica in 1756: the first Slovene dramatist, pedagogue and historian Anton Toma` Linhart. The town of Radovljica however did not quite know how best to take advantage of the economic and cultural movements of the Baroque and the Enlightenment. In 1787 the town lost the self-administration rights that it had boasted for a century, and came under the direct administration of the Thurn-Valsassina family. Following the short period of the reconstituted Illyrian Provinces, imposed on the region by the occupying French (1809-1813), it wasn’t until 1840 when a regional authority was established with its seat in Radovljica. During the political movements of 1848, the “Spring of Nations,” Radovljica and Kropa distinguished themselves in the battle “for” and “against” the Slovene nationalism movement.

Another major economic and cultural push came at the second half of the 19th century, aided in a large part by the construction of the railway in Gorenjska. Up until the fall of the Habsburg Monarchy at the end of the First World War, life in much of the present-day municipality was characterised by powerful nationalist cultural and political movements, beginning with the establishment of Slovene clubs, societies and co-ops, then spreading with the increasingly vocal political battles in which Slovene members of parliament played important roles in both the provincial and the state assemblies.

During the First World War, primarily in the battles raging on the nearby So~a Front, the Italian battlefields and in the battle for the northern border in Carniola following the end of war, local soldiers fought for national equality and freedom. More than 240 men and boys from the municipality perished on various battlefields in World War I. Even though national demands were not completely fulfilled following the formation of the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918 (known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after 1929), this was a period in which pretty large economic and cultural progress was made. Farther development was interrupted by the Second World War. After the surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army in April 1941, Gorenjska was incorporated into Nazi Germany and Radovljica was made the administrative centre of the immediate region. The criminal Nazi regime, which set about the task of systematically eradicating Slovene culture and incorporating the territory into “Greater Germany,” already met with armed revolt in the summer of 1941. The leaders of the uprising were mainly nationalist patriots. More than 11,500 people were locked up by the Gestapo, the Nazi police, in a prison in Begunje. 849 of them lost their lives, while more than 1,700 were sent to various concentration camps. The Nazis also exiled a number of social, political and economic leaders from the region to Serbia and Croatia in 1941 and the beginning of 1942. The Second World War took nearly twice as many lives on the region’s soil as the First World War two decades earlier.

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed at the end of World War II and remained for decades. The municipality of Radovljica was one of the largest municipal regions in the country. Development was based primarily on industrialisation and the expansion of schools, health services and culture, as well as tourism primarily around the lakes of Bled and Bohinj. Great effort was spent in developing the tourism potential of the region, from tourist-cultural institutions to sport facilities. With the democratic changes following the brief war of June 1991, an independent and free nation of Slovenia was finally established. Administrative reform in 1994 established the current borders of the

Municipality of Radovljica. With its historical legacy and cultural and tourism offerings the region represents an important part of the mosaic of Slovenia, a nation which from May 1, 2004, is a member state of the European Union.

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