Sostro (; german: Sostru''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna.) is a formerly independent settlement in the eastern part of the capital

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

in central

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 ...

. It is part of the traditional 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 n ...

and is now included with the rest of the municipality in the

Central Slovenia Statistical Region The Central Slovenia Statistical Region ( sl, Osrednjeslovenska statistična regija) is a statistical region in central Slovenia. Geography This is the second-largest region in terms of territory. It has a total area of 2,555 km², with a ...

. In addition to the main settlement, Sostro includes the hamlet of Betežica, located to the northeast along Betežčica Creek, and the hamlet of Glastavci in the wooded hills above Betežica.Savnik, Roman, ed. 1971. ''Krajevni leksikon Slovenije'', vol. 2. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, pp. 366–367. Sostro is also the source of the name of the Sostro District ( sl, Četrtna skupnost Sostro), the largest district of the capital.

Name

Sostro was first attested in written sources as ''Czozter'' in 1353 (and as ''Zozter'' in 1356, and ''ze Oster'' and ''Soster'' in 1342). The medieval attestations indicate that the name was originally *''Coster'', with later assimilation of ''C–s–'' to ''S–s–''. *''Coster'' is presumably derived from

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...

''ze Ôster'' 'at the east', likely referring to the nearby castle at Osterberg (literally, 'east mountain'; sl, Ostri vrh) above Podgrad. Osterberg Castle was the first castle east of Ljubljana, built in the 13th century. Sostro thus means 'at the place to the east'. Locally, Sostro is known as ''Sostr'' and in the past the German name was ''Sostru''. For similar Slovene geographical names based on foreign-language prepositional phrases of location, compare '' Cmurek'', '' Crngrob'', '' Cven'', ''

Dragonja The Dragonja (; it, Dragogna) is a long river in the northern part of the Istrian peninsula. It is a meandering river with a very branched basin and a small quantity of water. It has a pluvial regime and often dries up in summer. It features ...

'', and '' Spuhlja''.

History

Roman urn graves have been found in the woods behind the church in Sostro, testifying to early settlement of the area. Schooling was begun in Sostro in 1869, when the first schoolhouse was built. A new school building was built in 1913. During the Second World War, Italian forces executed hostages below Dimnik Hill ( sl, Dimnikov hrib) behind the village. This is commemorated by a plaque. Sostro was annexed by the City of Ljubljana in 1982, ending its existence as an independent settlement.''Spremembe naselij 1948–95''. 1996. Database. Ljubljana: Geografski inštitut ZRC SAZU, DZS.

Church

A church dedicated to Saint Leonard ( sl, sveti Lenart) was mentioned in written sources as early as the 14th century. The old church was razed after it was damaged in the earthquake of 1895, and a new church was built slightly further south in 1898 in a pseudo-Romanesque style. Furnishings preserved from the old church include a 1750 painting of Saint Elizabeth by

Valentin Metzinger Jean-Valentin Metzinger (19 April 1699, Saint-Avold – 12 March 1759, Ljubljana) was a French-born Austrian-Slovenian painter, in the Baroque style. Life and work His ancestors were originally from Italy. He was one of twelve children born ...

(1699–1759), a painting of Saint Florian by Josip Egartner, and a painting of Saint Leonard by

Janez Wolf Janez may refer to: People: * Janez (given name), a Slovene given name * Janež, a Slovene surname In music: *Janez Detd., a Belgian rock band May also refer to a semi-pejorative term used in the Croatian North and beyond for Slovenes The S ...

(1825–1884). Stained glass windows designed by Stane Kregar (1905–1973) were installed in 1968. Sostro was made a vicariate in 1753 and later elevated to a parish.

References

External links

*
Sostro on Geopedia
{{Ljubljana Localities of Ljubljana Sostro District