Vrzdenec (; german: Schönbrunn''Intelligenzblatt zur Laibacher Zeitung'', no. 141. 24 November 1849, p. 14.''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 118.) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

west of

Horjul Horjul () is a small town in the Inner Carniola region of Slovenia. It is the administrative center of the Municipality of Horjul. It developed from a clustered village on the north side of the marshy valley of Horjulka Creek. It includes the hamle ...

in the

Inner Carniola Inner Carniola ( sl, Notranjska; german: Innerkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral (the ...

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 ...

. It includes the hamlets of Gošavje, Kisovnik, and Zagorica.Savnik, Roman, ed. 1971. ''Krajevni leksikon Slovenije'', vol. 2. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije. p. 440.

Geography

Vrzdenec is a clustered village on a small rise above the marshy Šujica Valley. Prominent elevations in the area include Reber Hill (480 m) to the north, and Baš Hill ( sl, Bašev grič, 420 m) and Tičina Hill (380 m) to the east. There are several springs in the area. Sopošče Spring has its source above the church and serves as the water supply for the village. There is another spring below the village, and west of this are Deklevšek Spring and Jazba Spring. There are fields in higher areas of the Šujica Valley and extensive forested land. There are meadows and orchards on Baš Hill.

Name

Vrzdenec was attested in written sources as ''Schoͤnprun'' in 1309, ''Schoͤnprunen'' in 1343, and ''Schonprun'' in 1453, among other spellings. The name is a fusion of the phrase ''*vьrxъ stъdenьca'', meaning either 'above the spring' or 'source of the spring'. In the past it was known as ''Schönbrunn'' (literally, 'beautiful spring') in German.

History

Prehistoric finds, including stone and bronze axes, have been found at Tabor Hill, testifying to early settlement of the area. Tabor Hill also had a fortification during the Middle Ages that served as protection against Ottoman attacks. The village came under German bombardment during the Second World War on 1 November 1943.

Church

The local church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Cantius and belongs to the

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Horjul. It is a Romanesque building, probably dating to the 13th century with poorly preserved traces of

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

s from the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The more modern wall paintings in the church are by the Slovene

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

Matej Sternen Matej Sternen (20 September 1870 – 28 June 1949) was a leading Slovene Impressionist painter. Sternen was born in Verd, now part of the Carniolan municipality of Vrhnika, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and baptized ''Matthæus Str ...

with scenes from the

Life of Christ The life of Jesus in the New Testament is primarily outlined in the four canonical gospels, which includes his genealogy and Nativity of Jesus, nativity, Ministry of Jesus, public ministry, Passion of Jesus, passion, prophecy, Resurrection of ...

.Horjul municipal site
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Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Vrzdenec include: * Neža Cankar (née Pivk) (1843–1897), mother of the Slovene writer

Ivan Cankar Ivan Cankar (, ) (10 May 1876 – 11 December 1918) was a Slovene writer, playwright, essayist, poet, and political activist. Together with Oton Župančič, Dragotin Kette, and Josip Murn, he is considered as the beginner of modernism in Slo ...

References

External links

*
Vrzdenec on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Horjul {{Horjul-geo-stub