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 in central Slovenia. It is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included with the rest of the municipality in the Central Slovenia Statistical Region. 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 The Sostro District (; sl, Četrtna skupnost Sostro), or simply Sostro, is a district () of the City Municipality of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is named after the former village of Sostro. Geography The Sostro District is the larges ...

( 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 ''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'', 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 Josip Egartner (27 March 1809 – 2 May 1849) was a Slovene painter of Austrian origin. Life and work Josip Egartner was born as Josip Pessentheiner on 27 March 1809 in Gmünd, Carinthia. He was adopted by the painter Leopold Layer (1752–18 ...

, and a painting of Saint Leonard by Janez Wolf (1825–1884). Stained glass windows designed by Stane Kregar (1905–1973) were installed in 1968. Sostro was made a

vicariate A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

in 1753 and later elevated to a parish.

References

External links

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