Vincarje () is a settlement in the

Municipality of Škofja Loka The Municipality of Škofja Loka (; sl, Občina Škofja Loka) is a municipality in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the town of Škofja Loka. The municipality was established in its current form on 3 October ...

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 ...

Geology

There are many sinkholes in the area, including the Bear Valley Sinkhole ( sl, Medvedova dolina), Gips Cave (), Mary's Shaft (), and Migut Shaft () near the Grebenar farm. There is also a spring south of the settlement known as Blessed Spring ( sl, Žegnani studenec).

Name

Vincarje was first attested in written sources in 1291 as ''Weinzůrl'' (and as ''Weinzurl'' in 1318 and ''Weintzurl'' in 1500). The name (now a feminine plural) is originally a masculine accusative plural of the common noun ''vincar'' 'day laborer in a vineyard', borrowed from Middle High German ''winzer''. In the Middle Ages, the people of Vincarje worked as day laborers in vineyards belonging to the

Bishops of Freising The following people were bishops, prince-bishops or archbishops of Freising or Munich and Freising in Bavaria: Bishops of Freising * St. Corbinian (724–730); founded the Benedictine abbey in Freising, although the diocese was not orga ...

Škofja Loka Škofja Loka (; german: Bischoflack) is a town in Slovenia. It is the economic, cultural, educational, and administrative center of the Municipality of Škofja Loka in Upper Carniola. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Geography Škofja Loka lies a ...

. Locally, the village is also called ''Vencarje''.

History

The ruins of Wildenlack Castle, also known locally as Old Castle ( sl, Stari grad), lie above the settlement in the neighboring village of

Gabrovo Gabrovo ( bg, Габрово ) is a town in central northern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Gabrovo Province. It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an internationa ...

. The castle was destroyed in the

1511 Idrija earthquake The 1511 Idrija earthquake ( sl, Idrijski potres) occurred on March 26 with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). The epicenter was around the town of Idrija in present-day Slovenia, although some place it some 15-20 kilometers to the ...

and never rebuilt. In 1873 public baths were established at the Anka Mansion (''vila Anka'') in the settlement, featuring wooden tubs and a stove for heating the water. The Lubnik Lodge ( sl, Planinski dom na Lubniku) was built before the Second World War. It was burned during the war and rebuilt in 1953. A plaque on the lodge commemorates two hikers that were shot by German forces on Mount Lubnik in 1941.

Mass graves

Vincarje Slovenia - Bear Valley Mass Grave

Vincarje is the site of two known

mass graves 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 ...

from the period immediately after the Second World War. They are part of the mass graves associated with the nearby former Loka Castle prison. The Castle Wall 1 Mass Grave ( sl, Grobišče pri grajskem obzidju 1) is located in a meadow on a slope about outside the wall of Loka Castle. It contains the remains of an unknown number of

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...

prisoners of war and Slovene civilians, and possibly victims of other nationalities. The Bear Valley Mass Grave (), also known as the Ski Valley Mass Grave (), lies in the Bear Valley Sinkhole (), about southwest of Loka Castle and east of the castle wall. It contains the remains of 20 German prisoners of war that died or were murdered in the summer of 1945. The remains may have been exhumed.

References

External links

*
Vincarje at Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Škofja Loka {{ŠkofjaLoka-geo-stub