Volčji Potok (; ) is a village on a terrace on the left bank of the Kamnik Bistrica River in the

Municipality of Kamnik The Municipality of Kamnik (; ) is a municipality in northern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the town of Kamnik. Today it is part of the Central Slovenia Statistical Region. It is the 15th-largest municipality by area in Slovenia. Sett ...

in the

Upper Carniola Upper Carniola ( ; ; ) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The largest town in the region is Kranj, and other urban centers include Kamnik, Jesenice, Jesenice, Jesenice, Domžale and ...

region of

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

History

A cell of the first Communist Party in the Kamnik area was established at the Cerar Inn in 1939. During the Second World War, the

Partisans Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Itali ...

broke into the manor in the village on 14 January 1943 and stole a large quantity of food. After the war, much working-class housing was built in Volčji Potok. A catchment basin for local water supply was built below the village in 1967.

Castle and manor

The overgrown foundations of Volčji Potok Castle () stand east of the village on Wolf Hill (). The castle was first mentioned in written sources in 1220, but was already in ruins by the 17th century. Construction of Volčji Potok Manor ()), which stood below the hill, was begun by the Bonhomo family in the 17th century. The manor was purchased in 1882 by

Ferdinand Souvan Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...

(1840–1915), who remodeled it and planted the meadow in front of it with trees. This park was expanded to 12 hectares by his son Leon Souvan (1877–1949), who planted it with domestic and exotic trees and surrounded it with a hornbeam hedge. The manor was burned by the Partisans on 13 April 1944. After the war, the ruins of the manor were razed and the manor chapel was converted into a restaurant.

Arboretum

Today, Volčji Potok is best known for its

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

, the largest and most popular botanical garden in Slovenia. The

Volčji Potok Arboretum The Volčji Potok Arboretum was opened to the public in 1952. It originally formed part of the Souvan family estate in 1885, which was taken over by the University of Ljubljana in 1952 and legally declared a place of cultural and natural herit ...

is open from the beginning of March until the end of November. It was established in 1952 by the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

on what was already a well-established estate with extensive parks around a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

that was destroyed in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.Volčji Potok Arboretum site
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Church

The local church is dedicated to Saint Oswald. It features several paintings from Leopold Layer's school. The church was first mentioned in written sources in 1526 and was reworked in the 18th century.

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Volčji Potok include: * Rudolf Krivic (1887–1983), journalist

References

External links

*
Volčji Potok on Geopedia

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volcji Potok Populated places in the Municipality of Kamnik