Breg () is one of ten villages in the

Municipality of Žirovnica The Municipality of Žirovnica (; sl, Občina Žirovnica) is a municipality in Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the village of Breznica. In the Završnica Valley, behind the Reber range that overlooks the villages, the first public ...

in the

Upper Carniola Upper Carniola ( sl, Gorenjska; it, Alta Carniola; german: Oberkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jeseni ...

region of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Geography

The older part of the settlement lies close to the banks of the

Sava River The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...

. The newer part of the village lies further north, toward the main road. There are open fields towards the east of the village, and it borders on a forest along the banks of the Sava towards the west.

Name

Breg was attested in written sources as ''Reine'' in 1348, ''Rain'' in 1359, and ''Rayn'' in 1444.

History

A 1994 archaeological excavation around the church in the village revealed graves from the later period of Slavic settlement in the area (9th to 19th century).

Church

St.

Radegund Radegund ( la, Radegundis; also spelled ''Rhadegund, Radegonde, or Radigund''; 520 – 13 August 587) was a Thuringian princess and Frankish queen, who founded the Abbey of the Holy Cross at Poitiers. She is the patron saint of several churches ...

's Church, a Gothic structure, was first mentioned in 1468 as a church belonging to the

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

Radovljica Radovljica (; german: Radmannsdorf) is a town in the Upper Carniola region of northern Slovenia. It is the administrative seat of the Municipality of Radovljica. Geography The town is located on the southern slope of the Karawanks mountain range, ...

, but is an older building with Romanesque foundations, partly reflected in the shape of nave and its flat ceiling. Most of the remaining structure is from the mid-17th century. There are two entrances to the church, one from the 14th century and a dated

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

portal from 1629. The bell tower with its typical onion-shaped roof is Baroque. There are frescoes of St. Radegund and St. Lawrence on the southern wall. St. Michael fighting a dragon is depicted on the northern wall and there is a baroque painting of St. Christopher on the southern exterior. There is evidence of a wall encircling the church, probably built in the 15th century to protect local inhabitants against Turkish raids in the area.A brief history of the Žirovnica area (in Slovene)
/ref> This was demolished in the 17th century, when the church was being rebuilt.

References

External links

*
Breg on GeopediaŽirovnica Tourist Association site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breg, Zirovnica Populated places in the Municipality of Žirovnica