Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica
—  Town and Municipality  —
Location of the Municipality of Nova Gorica in Slovenia
Nova Gorica Location of the Town of Nova Gorica in Slovenia
Coordinates: 45°58′N 13°39′E / 45.967°N 13.65°E / 45.967; 13.65Coordinates: 45°58′N 13°39′E / 45.967°N 13.65°E / 45.967; 13.65
Country	Slovenia
Government
- Mayor	Matej Arčon (LDS)
Area
- Total	309.0 km2 (119.3 sq mi)
Population (2002)[1]
- Total	32,763
- Density	106/km2 (274.6/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+01)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+02)
Website	nova-gorica.si

Nova Gorica (pronounced [ˈnɔʋa ɡɔˈɾitsa]; population: 13,852 (town); 21,082 (incl. suburbs); 31,000 (municipality)) ^[2] is a town and a municipality in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy. Nova Gorica is a new town, built after 1948 when the Paris Peace Treaty established a new border between Yugoslavia and Italy, leaving nearby Gorizia outside the borders of Yugoslavia, thus decapitating the Soča and Vipava Valleys and the north-western Kras Plateau from their traditional regional centre. Nova Gorica is the principal urban centre of the traditional region of Goriška in the Slovenian Littoral.^[3]

Since May 2011, Nova Gorica is joined together with Gorizia and Šempeter-Vrtojba in a common trans-border metropolitan zone, administered by a joint administration board.^[4]

The name

View of Nova Gorica and Solkan

The name Nova Gorica literally means "New Gorizia." However, most people from the area simply call the town Gorica (i.e., 'Gorizia'), while they refer to the neighboring Italian town as "Old Gorizia" (Slovene: stara Gorica). This use is also reflected in Slovenian license plates (GO for Gorica), the name of the local association football club ND Gorica, and the local student association (Klub goriških študentov 'the Gorica Student Club').

The word "gorica" is a diminutive form of the Slovene "gora", "mountain."

Culture and education

Nova Gorica hosts one of the four national theatres in Slovenia. The Museum of Goriška is also located in the town's Kromberk district, hosted in the Kromberk Castle.

The University of Nova Gorica is located in the suburb of Rožna Dolina. The Nova Gorica Grammar School, located in the city centre, is one of the most renowned high schools in Slovenia.

Kostanjevica Hill

See also: Kostanjevica Monastery

To the south of the town lies Kostanjevica Hill, home to the Church of The Annunciation of Our Lady and a 17th-century Franciscan monastery whose treasures from the past are rich indeed.^[5] The last members of the Bourbons, the French royal family, are buried in a crypt beneath the church (Charles X himself, and members of his family and entourage including his son Louis-Antoine de France, and his grandson Henri d'Artois, nephew of Louis (neither Louis-Antoine nor Henri ever reigned as kings)). He fled France following the revolution in 1830, finding refuge in Gorizia, and eventually eternal peace. Also buried there is Pierre Louis Jean Casimir, a Bourbon nobleman who also died in exile (in 1839).^[6]

Nova Gorica viewed from Sveta Gora.

Sveta Gora

Opposite Kostanjevica Hill, north of the town is Sveta Gora (Holy Mountain), a peak of 682 m that has attracted pilgrims for 450 years. The view from there is exceptional, and on a clear day visitors can see as far as Istria, Venice, the Dolomites, and the Kamnik and Julian Alps. The mountain top is home to a magnificent basilica, where concerts are occasionally held, a Franciscan monastery, and a museum of the Battles of the Isonzo.

Politics

The municipality of Nova Gorica is governed by a mayor, elected every 4 years by popular vote, and a municipal council of 32 members. Both in local and national elections, Nova Gorica has been considered an electoral stronghold of the left, in particular of the Social Democrats. Since the early 1990s, the local political influence has been largely contended between the Social Democrats and the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, which are both considered left wing parties. In the national elections, conservative parties (especially the Slovenian Democratic Party) tend to receive better results than in local elections, although remaining far behind the left wing forces. The Nova Gorica electoral district is the home district of the current Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor.

Notable residents

• Matej Bor, poet
• Diego de Brea, theatre director
• Jure Franko, ski champion
• Aleš Kokot, football player
• Jimmy Mac Hayne, musician
• Branko Marušič, historian
• Tomaž Marušič, politician
• Iztok Mlakar, singer-songwriter
• Dušan Pirjevec Ahac, philosopher and literary critic
• Vojteh Ravnikar, architect
• Uroš Seljak, physicist, cosmologist
• Jani Šturm, football player
• Igor Vidmar, rock musician
• Danilo Zavrtanik, physicist and academic scholar
• Samuel Žbogar, politician

Solkanski most over the river Soča.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Slovenia

Nova Gorica is twinned with:

• Aleksandrovac, Serbia
• Klagenfurt, Austria
• Otočac, Croatia
• San Vendemiano, Italy

See also

• University of Nova Gorica
• Piazza della Transalpina

References

1. ^ Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, census of 2002
2. ^ Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
3. ^ Nova Gorica Municipality site
4. ^ http://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/cronaca/2011/05/12/news/patto-gorizia-nova-gorica-c-e-la-firma-1.56599
5. ^ Kostanjevica Monastery site
6. ^ Slovenian Tourist Board site

External links

• Official Website
• Tourist Information Center
• University of Nova Gorica