Dolenja Vas (; sl, Dolenja vas, german: Niederdorf''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 120.) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

southwest of

Cerknica Cerknica (; , german: Zirknitz''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 120.) is a town in the Karst region of southwestern Slovenia, with a p ...

in the

Inner Carniola Inner Carniola ( sl, Notranjska; german: Innerkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral (the ...

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 ...

Name

The name ''Dolenja vas'' literally means 'lower village'. ''Dolenja vas'' and names like it are quite common in Slovenia and other Slavic countries, and they indicate that the settlement lay at a lower

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

than nearby settlements. It lies about lower than neighboring Cerknica. The village was known as ''Niederdorf'' in German in the past.

History

Ancient settlement of the area is testified by the discovery of the remains of a

Hallstatt Hallstatt ( , , ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammergut ...

- or Roman-era fortress on Tržišče Hill above the village. The site included a large cache of weapons. An

Urnfield The Urnfield culture ( 1300 BC – 750 BC) was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe, often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and p ...

burial site was discovered on the southeast slope of the hill and was excavated in 1877. Southwest of this there was a second fortress, the embankments of which are well preserved.

Mass grave

Dolenja Vas is the site of a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

associated with the Second World War. The Balant Valleys Shaft Mass Grave ( sl, Grobišče Brezno v Balantovih dolinah) is located southwest of the settlement. The narrow shaft has been explored to a depth of and contains unidentified remains.

Church

The local church, built southwest of the settlement, is dedicated to

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. "Laurel wreath, laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, perse ...

and belongs to the

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Cerknica. The church dates from 1616 and contains a gilded altar dedicated to Saint Margaret.

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Dolenja Vas include: * Lojze Perko (1909–1980), artist * Franjo Sterle (1889–1930), painter

References

External links

*
Dolenja Vas on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Cerknica {{Cerknica-geo-stub