Matke () is a settlement in the
Municipality of Prebold in east-central
Slovenia. It lies in the valley of Kolja Creek, a minor right tributary of the
Savinja River, and the surrounding hills southeast of Prebold. The area is part of the traditional region of
Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
. The municipality is now included in the
Savinja Statistical Region
The Savinja Statistical Region ( sl, Savinjska statistična regija) is a statistical region in Slovenia. The largest town in the region is Celje. It is named after the Savinja River. The region is very diverse in natural geography; it mainly com ...
.
Name
The name of the settlement was changed from ''Sveta Magdalena pri Preboldu'' (literally, 'Saint Mary Magdalene near Prebold') to ''Matke'' in 1955. The name was changed on the basis of the 1948 Law on Names of Settlements and Designations of Squares, Streets, and Buildings as part of efforts by Slovenia's postwar communist government to remove religious elements from toponyms. The name ''Matke'' is an accusative plural form of the personal name ''Matko'', derived from ''Matej'' 'Matthaeus', thus originally meaning 'Matko and his family'. Before it became the name of the entire settlement, ''Matke'' referred to only one of several hamlets in the settlement.
Church
The local
church, built on the top of Hom Hill east of the settlement, is dedicated to
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
and belongs to the Parish of Prebold. It is a single-
nave church dating to the second half of the 14th century with a free-standing
belfry built in 1725.
Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number ešd 3221
References
External links
Matke on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Prebold
{{Prebold-geo-stub