Vrhnika

Municipality_of_Slovenia|nativename=Vrhnika
coat=
location=
area=126.3 km²
population=17,729
males=8,671
females=9,058
mayor=Marjan Rihar, SDS
avg_age=41.56 years
residental_density=29.93 m²/person
households=5,812
families=5,009
workers=8,799
unemployed=772
salary_date=August 2003
avg_salary_bruto=200,220 SIT
avg_salary_neto=130,057 SIT
students=737

Vrhnika is a town and a municipality in Slovenia. It is situated on the Ljubljanica River, 21 km from Ljubljana.

History

In Roman times , Vrhnika was known as Nauportus when it was considered as important communication point. [In the footsteps of Roman soldiers in Slovenia, 1993, COBISS|ID=35642624]

Vrhnika developed in the High Middle Ages. It other historical names were German name "Ober Laibach" or "Ober Laybach".

Vrhnika became a market town and was considered to be among the wealthiest towns in Carniola [Janez Vajkard Valvasor, The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, published 1689, reprint 1984 by Mladinska knjiga, f.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 croassroads between the Trieste-Vienna and Rijeka-Klagenfurt trade routes. The development of the town was however strongly damaged by the construction of the Austrian Southern Railway in the 1840s, which bypassed the town. From then on, it started losing importance, becoming a satellite town of Ljubljana, which has remained up to this day.

Vrhnika is the birthplace of one of the most important Slovene writers, Ivan Cankar.

References

External links

* [http://www.vrhnika.si/ Vrhnika] , official page of municipality (in Slovenian)
* [http://www.vrhnika.net/ Vrhnika] , all Vrhnika events on one place (in Slovenian)
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legio_I_Germanica