Nanos (; it, Monte Re) is a

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

at the eastern border of 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 ...

in southwestern Slovenia.

Geography

The plateau is about wide and long in the northern extension of the

Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herz ...

. The highest point of the plateau is Dry Peak ( sl, Suhi vrh, ). The plateau is traversed by the Slovene Mountain Trail, the oldest interconnecting trail in Slovenia. The most popular destination on Nanos and part of the trail is Pleša Peak () with the Vojko Lodge ( sl, Vojkova koča, named for the Slovene Partisan Janko Premrl, a.k.a. Vojko) below its summit. In 1987, the southern and western slopes of Nanos were declared a

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distri ...

with an area of .

History

In Antiquity, Nanos was known as ''Ocra''. Strabo reckoned it the last peak of the Alps. In the 1st century, the pass at Nanos was an important route for civilian and military traffic from Trieste (Tergeste) to Ljubljana (Emona) and beyond to

Carnuntum Carnuntum ( according to Ptolemy) was a Roman legionary fortress ( la, castra legionis) and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large ...

at the Danube. It lost its importance when a faster road connected Emona to

Aquileia Aquileia / / / / ;Bilingual name of ''Aquileja – Oglej'' in: vec, Aquiłeja / ; Slovenian: ''Oglej''), group=pron is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river ...

further north in the 2nd century. Nanos is mentioned as ''Nanas'' in

Johann Weikhard von Valvasor Johann Weikhard Freiherr von Valvasor or Johann Weichard Freiherr von Valvasor ( sl, Janez Vajkard Valvasor, ) or simply Valvasor (baptised on 28 May 1641 – September or October 1693) was a natural historian and polymath from Carniola, pr ...

's 1689 work '' The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola''. View west from the Pleša Peak on the Nanos Plateau

Nanos has an important symbolic place in the history and identity of Littoral Slovenes. In September 1927, the anti-Fascist insurgent organization TIGR was founded on the Nanos Plateau. On 18 April 1942, the

Battle of Nanos The Battle of Nanos ( sl, bitka na Nanosu) took place on Nanos Plateau on 18 April 1942, when 800 Italian soldiers laid siege to 54 Slovene Partisans during World War II. Ten Partisans were killed and eleven captured, while the rest pierced the r ...

took place at Nanos. It was one of the first battles between the Partisan insurgence in the

Slovene Littoral The Slovene Littoral ( sl, Primorska, ; it, Litorale; german: Küstenland) is one of the five traditional regions of Slovenia. Its name recalls the former Austrian Littoral (''Avstrijsko Primorje''), the Habsburg possessions on the upper Adria ...

, led by Janko Premrl, and the

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

, and was the beginning of the struggle for the western border between the two nations.

Demographics and economy

There are around 35 residents domiciled on Nanos Plateau. They were finally connected to the electricity grid in 2006. Their most highly valued product is the

Nanos cheese Nanos may refer to: * ''Nanos'' (beetle), a genus in the tribe Canthonini * Nanos (plateau), a plateau in the Dinaric Alps, Slovenia * Nanos, Vipava, a settlement in the Municipality of Vipava, Slovenia * Nanos Research, a Canadian polling fir ...

, produced already in the 16th century and, since October 2011, the

protected designation of origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union and the United Kingdom aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main ...

label. Today, it is made of cow milk, although before World War II, it was made of sheep milk. The number of sheep on the plateau dropped significantly since then. Residents also make a living from tourism.

The Nanos transmitter

The Nanos transmitter is an FM/DAB/TV-broadcasting facility consisting of a 50 m guyed tower, a guyed mast, which may be a bit less tall, and a small guyed mast. The transmitter building has many dishes for radio relay links. The Nanos transmitter went into service in 1962 and played an important role in introducing

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

-standard color TV in the former Yugoslavia. The facility was attacked during the Slovene independence war in 1991. It is operated by the broadcaster

RTV Slovenija Radiotelevizija Slovenija ( en, Radio-Television of Slovenia) – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcastin ...

References

External links

* {{commonscat-inline, Nanos, position=left
Nanos on Geopedia
Dinaric Alps Plateaus of Inner Carniola Karst plateaus of Slovenia Landscape parks in Slovenia Natura 2000 in Slovenia Radio masts and towers in Europe Transmitter sites in Slovenia