Vrba () is one of ten villages in the Municipality of Žirovnica 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 ...

n 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, and ...

. It was first mentioned in written sources from 1247 and is a typical example of a compact

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

village. According to the 2002 census, it has a population of 196. The Slovene national poet

France Prešeren France Prešeren () (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages.

, who was born in the village, dedicated it the

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

" O Vrba", the first of his '' Sonnets of Misfortune''.

History

In 1940, the Prešeren House and the village were filmed for the

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

documentary '' O, Vrba''. It was directed by and produced in 1941. Due to the communist-imposed ban on artistic productions, it was released only in 1945. The house was presented by Finžgar, whereas

Oton Župančič Oton Župančič (January 23, 1878 – June 11, 1949, pseudonym ''Gojko'') was a Slovene poet, translator, and playwright. He is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature. ...

read the poem "O Vrba". Due to the news about the German assault on Poland the film has a threatening atmosphere created by clouds moving over the

Karawanks The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks ( sl, Karavanke; german: Karawanken, ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps on the border between Slovenia to the south and Austria to the north. With a total length of in an east–west dir ...

mountain range.

Mass grave

Vrba is the site of a

mass grave 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 ...

associated with the Second World War. The Bele Linden Mass Grave ( sl, Grobišče Belejeva lipa) is located in a meadow south of the settlement and west of the freeway, near a

hayrack A hayrack ( sl, kozolec) is a freestanding vertical drying rack found chiefly in Slovenia. Hayracks are permanent structures, primarily made of wood, upon which fodder for animals is dried, although their use is not limited to drying hay. Other f ...

along a field road. It contains the remains of 20 people from

Jesenice Jesenice (, german: Aßling''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru'', vol. 6: Kranjsko. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 144.) is a Slovenian town and the seat of the Municipality of Jesenice on the ...

that were killed en route from Jesenice to

Begunje na Gorenjskem Begunje na Gorenjskem (; german: Vigaun''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146.) is a village in the Municipality of Radovljica in the ...

Church

St. Mark's Church stands on the outskirts of the village behind the Prešeren House. It has Romanesque foundations, but the actual structure is

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

with an interesting apse, extensive Gothic frescoes from the 15th and early 16th century on the interior walls, a renovated wooden ceiling, and two gilded

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

altars. On the outside wall there are also relatively well-preserved frescoes of

St. Christopher Saint Christopher ( el, Ἅγιος Χριστόφορος, ''Ágios Christóphoros'') is venerated by several Christian denominations as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman emperor Decius (reigned 249–251) or alternatively u ...

, the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

, and St. George fighting the dragon from the 15th century.

Other landmarks

The Prešeren House, where France Prešeren and Archbishop

Anton Vovk The Archbishop Anton Vovk (19 May 1900 – 7 July 1963) was born in the village of Vrba in Upper Carniola in the same house where the poet France Prešeren had been born 100 years earlier (Vovk was Prešeren's grand-nephew because his gran ...

were born, is a typical example of a rural residence from the first half of the 19th century and has been in 1939 on the initiative and under the leadership of the writer Fran Saleški Finžgar arranged as a museum, dedicated to Prešeren's life and work. The museum was opened in May that year. The

linden tree ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...

, around which there are sixteen stones, in the center of the village was the meeting place of the elders of the village, who would traditionally meet under this tree to discuss village issues. In January 2011, the Prešeren House, St. Mark's Church, and the linden tree were proclaimed cultural monuments of national importance by the

Government of Slovenia The Government of the Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Vlada Republike Slovenije) exercises executive authority in Slovenia pursuant to the Constitution and the laws of Slovenia. It is also the highest administrative authority in Slovenia. The governmen ...

. File:Prešeren's house.jpg, The birth house of France Prešeren and Anton Vovk File:Birth House of Janez Pogačar.jpg, The birth house of

Janez Zlatoust Pogačar Janez may refer to: People: * Janez (given name), a Slovene given name * Janež, a Slovene surname In music: *Janez Detd., a Belgian rock band May also refer to a semi-pejorative term used in the Croatian North and beyond for Slovenes The ...

, Bishop of Ljubljana (1875–84) File:Vrba lipa.JPG, The village linden tree with 16 stones

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Vrba include: *

, Bishop of Ljubljana (1875–1884) *

France Prešeren France Prešeren () (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages.

(1800–1849), poet *

(1900–1963), archbishop of Ljubljana

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vrba, Zirovnica Populated places in the Municipality of Žirovnica France Prešeren Villages in Slovenia