ÄŒrni Kal (; ) is a
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in southwestern
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 ...
in the
City Municipality of Koper
The Urban Municipality of Koper (; , ) is one of twelve urban municipalities of Slovenia. It is located at the coastline of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Slovenia and was established in 1994. The seat of the municipality is the town of Koper. ...
. It is best known today for the
ÄŒrni Kal Viaduct, the longest and the highest
viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...
in Slovenia.
Name
The name ''ÄŒrni Kal'' literally means 'black pond', based on the common noun ''kal'' 'pond, watering hole' and referring to a local geographical feature.
Architecture
Houses
The village has some good examples of traditional Karst architecture. One such monument is the Benko House, built in 1489 by
stonemasons
Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...
Andrej (Andrew) and Benko (Benjamin) as indicated by an
inscription
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
on the building: ''Andreas et Benco construxerunt''. This makes it oldest surviving
farmhouse
FarmHouse (FH) is a men's social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 34 active chapters in the United States and Canada.FarmHouse Fraternity New Memb ...
in the Koper area and is also the oldest signed and dated secular building in all of Slovenia. It stands on the lower edge of the village core and is made of chiseled
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
and
marl
Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.
M ...
stone blocks. It comprises two buildings with inscriptions in the
Glagolitic alphabet
The Glagolitic script ( , , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Saints Cyril and Methodi ...
on the facade. The older building is the main house, with
Romanesque as well as late-
Gothic features.
Church
The local church is dedicated to
Saint Lawrence
Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, persecution of the Christians that the Roman Empire, Rom ...
and belongs to the Parish of
Predloka. The church's bell tower leans to the west, deviating from the vertical by more than a meter.
References
External links
*
ÄŒrni Kal on Geopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crni Kal
Populated places in the Urban Municipality of Koper