Mojstrana (; german: Meistern) is a village in the

Municipality of Kranjska Gora The Municipality of Kranjska Gora (; sl, Občina Kranjska Gora) is a municipality on the Sava Dolinka River in the Upper Carniola region of northwest Slovenia, close to the Austrian and Italian borders. The seat of the municipality is the town ...

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

Mojstrana is located in the

Upper Sava Valley The Upper Sava Valley ( sl, Zgornjesavska dolina) is an alpine valley in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. The Sava Dolinka River flows along it. It begins in Rateče at an elevation of 870 m and ends at Moste at 560 m. It is the geographic ...

at the point where Bistrica Creek joins the

Sava 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 th ...

River below the main road from

Jesenice Jesenice (, german: Aßling''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru'', vol. 6: Kranjsko. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 144.) is a Slovenian town and the seat of the Municipality of Jesenice on the ...

Kranjska Gora Kranjska Gora (; german: Kronau) is a town in northwestern Slovenia, on the Sava Dolinka River in the Upper Carniola region, close to the Austrian and Italian borders. It is the seat of the Municipality of Kranjska Gora. Name Kranjska Gora was f ...

at an elevation of 641 m. The glacial Vrata Valley leads from Mojstrana towards the southwest past Peričnik Falls to the north face of Mount

Triglav Triglav (; german: Terglau; it, Tricorno), with an elevation of , is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. The mountain is the pre-eminent symbol of the Slovene nation. It is the centrepiece of Triglav Natio ...

. The road to three other valleys— Radovna,

Krma Krma is an alpine valley in the Julian Alps in the Upper Carniola region of northwestern Slovenia. The entire valley lies in Triglav National Park. Name The name ''Krma'' is of uncertain origin, possibly derived from a substrate root such as *'' ...

, and

Kot Kot is the surname of a Polish szlachta (nobility) family. The surname derives from the nickname with the literal meaning "cat".Kazimierz Rymut, Nazwiska Polaków. Słownik historyczno-etymologiczny, Wydawnictwo Naukowe DWN, Kraków 2001 The f ...

—also begins in Mojstrana.

Name

Mojstrana was first attested in 1763–87 as ''Moistrana''. The suffix ''-ana'' indicates that the name is of

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

or pre-Romance origin. The root ''*mojstr-'' is believed to be related to Friulian ''majostre'' 'strawberry, blueberry' (cf. the oronym ''Mojstrovka'' from this root), thus referring to an area rich in strawberries or blueberries.

History

The development of the settlement is connected to

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

and

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

in the area as well as a

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

works that ceased to operate after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Mass grave

Mojstrana 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 Mlačca Mass Grave ( sl, Grobišče Mlačca), also known as the Tnal Mass Grave (), is located in the woods south of the settlement, at a leveled area in a ravine about west of the road to the Radovna Valley. It contains the remains of between 10 and 20 German soldiers, and perhaps civilians as well.

Economy

Its inhabitants today are mostly either farmers or work in the local metal, or wood production. Tourism is also important because Mojstrana is the starting point for many routes in the

Julian Alps The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large pa ...

and the Karavanke. Since 7 August 2010, Mojstrana has housed the Slovenian Alpine Museum, which presents the tradition of

mountaineering Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...

in Slovenia. There is also a small ski slope next to the village.

Sights

Local attractions include the 17th-century church of St. Clement, the small Triglav museum, a giant

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

tree with a 470 cm

circumference In geometry, the circumference (from Latin ''circumferens'', meaning "carrying around") is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. That is, the circumference would be the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out to ...

in the middle of the village, the Šmerc and Ambrož houses, the Vrata Valley with the remnants of an aqueduct for the cement works, Peričnik Falls, and the north face of Triglav.

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Mojstrana include: * Mihael Ambrožič (1846–1904), beekeeperBokal, Ljudmila, ed. 2008. ''Čebelarski terminološki slovar.'' Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU and Lukovica: Čebelarska zveza Slovenije, p. 253.

Gallery

Image:Sv. Klemen v Mojstrani.jpg, St. Clement's Church Image:Mojstrana_1.JPG, The hills around Mojstrana Image:Nebula on river Bistrica.jpg, Bistrica Creek

References

External links

*
Mojstrana on Geopedia

Dovje-Mojstrana Tourist Office
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020 Populated places in the Municipality of Kranjska Gora