Mali Rigelj (; also ''Mali Rigel'',''Intelligenzblatt zur Laibacher Zeitung'', no. 141. 24 November 1849, p. 36. german: Kleinriegel,Ferenc, Mitja. 2007. ''Nekdanji nemški jezikovni otok na kočevskem''. Kočevje: Pokrajinski muzej, p. 4. sometimes ''Kleinrigel'', also recorded as ''Schrigl'' in 1574,''Krajevni leksikon Dravske Banovine''. 1937. Ljubljana: Zveza za tujski promet za Slovenijo, p. 470.Ferenc, Mitja, & Gojko Zupan. 2012. ''Izgubljene kočevske vasi'', vol. 2 (K–P). Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani.

Gottscheerish Gottscheerish (''Göttscheabarisch'',Maridi Tscherne: Wörterbuch Gottscheerisch-Slowenisch. Einrichtung für die Erhaltung des Kulturerbes Nesseltal, Koprivnik/Nesseltal 2010. german: Gottscheerisch, sl, kočevarščina) is an Upper German ...

: ''Riegl''Petschauer, Erich. 1980. "Die Gottscheer Siedlungen – Ortsnamenverzeichnis." In ''Das Jahrhundertbuch der Gottscheer'' (pp. 181–197). Klagenfurt: Leustik.) is a small settlement in the

Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice The Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice () is a municipality near Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia. Its seat is the town of Dolenjske Toplice. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola. The municipality is now included in the S ...

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 ...

. The area is part of the historical region of

Lower Carniola Lower Carniola ( sl, Dolenjska; german: Unterkrain) is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region. Geography Lower Carniola is delineated by the Ljubljana Basin with the city of Ljubljana to the no ...

. The municipality is now included in the

Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region The Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region ( sl, Jugovzhodna Slovenija statistična regija) is a statistical region in southeast Slovenia. It is the largest statistical region. The development of this region is largely the result of industry (the au ...

Name

The Slovene name ''Mali Rigelj'' (and German ''Kleinriegel'') literally mean 'little Rigelj', distinguishing the village from neighboring 'big Rigelj' ( sl, Veliki Rigelj, german: Großriegel). The name ''Rigelj'' is common in Slovenia. It is based on the Slovene common noun ''rigelj'' '

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

', derived from German ''Riegel'', which also has the same meaning in southern German dialects.

History

Mali Rigelj was a Gottschee German village. The land registry of 1574 shows that it had two farms, subdivided into three half-farms and two quarter-farms and corresponding to between 30 and 35 residents. In 1931, the village had 10 houses and a population of 48. The village economy at that time was based on work at the local kiln, where cement roof tiles and pipes were produced, and day labor. Agriculture was insufficient to support the population, but they made some money selling apples and wine. The original residents were evicted on 3 December 1941, with the exception of one farm. During the Second World War, the

Partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

Levstik Assault Battalion was formed in front of house no. 4 in the village. After the war, people arrived from elsewhere to live in the village and mostly commuted to work in

Dolenjske Toplice Dolenjske Toplice (; german: Töplitz''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 164.) is a settlement near Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia an ...

.Savnik, Roman, ed. 1971. ''Krajevni leksikon Slovenije'', vol. 2. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, p. 511.

Church

The local

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

is dedicated to

Saint Ursula Saint Ursula (Latin for 'little female bear', german: link=no, Heilige Ursula) is a legendary Romano-British Christian saint who died on 21 October 383. Her feast day in the pre-1970 General Roman Calendar is 21 October. There is little infor ...

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 Poljane–Dolenjske Toplice. It dates to the first half of the 18th century. It has a polygonal

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

walled on three sides with a groin-vaulted ceiling supported by large consoles, and a surbased spherical vault over the nave. The main altar is a Baroque work from the second half of the 18th century. In addition to the church, there were also four

wayside shrine A wayside shrine is a religious image, usually in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads, but often in the middle of an empty stretch of country road, or at the top of a hill or mo ...

s in Mali Rigelj before the Second World War.

References

External links

Mali Rigelj on Geopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mali Rigelj Populated places in the Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice