Kamnik is the name of a municipality in
SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
as well as the town that serves as its administrative, cultural, economic, and educational center. The municipality is in north central Slovenia. It encompasses a large part of the
Kamnik AlpsThe Kamnik Alps , , are a mountain range, part of the Southern Limestone Alps in north Slovenia and at the border of Austria. The name is derived from the town Kamnik. Because the main river of the chain is the Savinja, the mountains are also called the Savinja Alps , . The river Kamniška Bistrica...
and the surrounding area. The town of Kamnik has ruins of two
castleA castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress, in that it describes a residence of a monarch or...
s as well as many examples of historical
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
.
History
The name Kamnik was first mentioned in the 11th century. The first time it was mentioned as a town was in 1229, when it was an important trading post on the road between
LjubljanaLjubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is located in the centre of the country, historically part of the Inner Carniola, and is a mid-sized city of some 280,000 inhabitants. Ljubljana is regarded as the cultural, scientific, economic, political and administrative centre of...
and
CeljeCelje is the third largest city in Slovenia. Exhibiting the typical characteristics of a Central European city, it is the regional center of Lower Styria and the administrative seat of the municipality of the same name - the Urban Municipality of Celje...
. This makes the town one of the oldest in Slovenia. In the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
, Kamnik had its own mint and some aristocratic families among its residents. The town was among the most influential centers of power for the
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n counts of
AndechsThe Benedictine abbey of Andechs is a place of pilgrimage on a hill east of the Ammersee in the Landkreis of Starnberg in Germany, in the municipality Andechs. Andechs Abbey is famed for its flamboyant Baroque church and its brewery...
in the region of
CarniolaCarniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is nowadays Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918...
at the time. The only remnant of the Bavarian nobility are the two ruined castles which are both strategically built on high ground near the town center. The
FranciscanThe term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders, also known as the Orders of Friars Minor, that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St. Francis", or a member of one of these orders. As well as Roman Catholic there are also small Old Catholic and...
monastery built in the town itself is a testament to its importance. The building is well preserved and has undergone extensive renovation in recent years. Zaprice Castle, which stands outside the town, was built in a later period.
Most of the old town center is built in an
Austro-HungarianAustria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, or Dual State, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe...
style. Most of the facades have been renovated in recent years but the process is still ongoing.
Famous natives
- Fran Albreht
Fran Albreht was a Slovenian poet, editor, politician and partisan. He also published under the pseudonym Rusmir....
, author
- France Balantič
France Balantič was a Slovene poet. His works were banished from schools and libraries during the Titoist regime in Slovenia, but since the late 1980s, he has been re-considered as one of the foremost Slovene poets of the 20th century.- Life :Balantič was born in Kamnik, in the Slovenian region of...
, poet
- Jurij Japelj
Jurij Japelj, also known in German as Georg Japel was a Slovene Jesuit priest, translator and philologist. He was part of the Zois circle, a group of Carniolan scholars and intellectuals that were instrumental in the spread of Enlightenment ideas in the Slovene Lands...
, philologist
- Rudolf Maister
Rudolf Maister Vojanov was a Slovene military officer, poet and political activist. The soldiers who fought under Maister's command in northern Slovenia became known as "Maister's fighters"...
, military leader
- Francis Xavier Pierz
Francis Xavier Pierz was a Roman Catholic priest and missionary to the Ottawa and Ojibwa Indians. He is also responsible for attracting large numbers of Catholic German Americans to settle in Central Minnesota...
, American prelate
- Jakob Savinšek
Jakob Savinšek, was a Slovene sculptor, illustrator and poet.- Life :Savinšek was born in the Upper Carniolan town of Kamnik, then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes , where he spent his youth. After finishing secondary school in Ljubljana, he studied medicine at the University of...
, sculptor and illustrator
- Bojan Kraut
Bojan Kraut was a Slovenian and Yugoslav mechanical engineer who wrote "Strojniški Priročnik" , which is known among engineers from former Yugoslavia.- Biography :...
, engineer
Tourism
Notable tourist attractions in Kamnik:
- The Church of the Our Lady
- The Church of St. Primus
- The spa in Tunjice
- The Volčji Potok
Volčji Potok is a village on a terrace on the left bank of the river Kamniška Bistrica in the Kamnik municipality in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia.The local church is dedicated to Saint Oswald....
ArboretumAn arboretum is a collection of trees. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
, a permanent exhibition of about 3,000 species of flowers, trees, and other floraIn botany, flora has two meanings. The first meaning, flora of an area or of time period, refers to all plant life occurring in an area or time period, especially the naturally occurring or indigenous plant life...
- The Snovik
Snovik is small settlement in the Tuhinj Valley in the Kamnik Municipality in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia.The recently developed Snovik Spa is located near Snovik. It utilizes thermal water from the area with indoor and outdoor pools and offers a range of health programmes, recreational...
Spa
- The unique architectural tradition of the Velika Planina
Velika Planina is dispersed high-altitude settlement of mostly shepherds' dwellings on a karstified mountain plateau in the Kamnik Alps in Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. It is also the name of the barren plateau itself and all the pastures on it...
plateau
- The Kamniška Bistrica
Kamniška Bistrica is an Alpine river in northern Slovenia, left tributary of the river Sava. It springs from the Kamnik Alps , near the border with Austria. It is 33 km long. The Kamniška Bistrica flows through the town of Kamnik, where it is fed by the river Nevljica. It flows into Sava in Dol pri...
Valley
External links