Bled Cremeschnitte (blejska Kremšnita)
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Bled (; ,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on
Lake Bled Lake Bled () is a lake in the Julian Alps of the Upper Carniolan region of northwestern Slovenia, where it adjoins the town of Bled. The area is a tourist destination. The lake is from Ljubljana International Airport and from the capital ci ...
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 ...
n region of northwestern
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 ...
. It is one of Slovenia's most visited
tourist destinations A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...
. The town is the administrative seat of the
Municipality of Bled The Municipality of Bled (; ) is a municipality in northwestern Slovenia in the Upper Carniola region. The seat of the municipality is the town of Bled, located on the shores of Lake Bled. The area is a popular Resort town, tourist destination. T ...
.


Name

The town was first attested in written sources as ''Ueldes'' in 1004 (and as ''Veldes'' in 1011). The etymology of the name is unknown and it is believed to be of pre-Slavic origin. The German name of the town, ''Veldes'', was either borrowed from Old Slovene ''*Beldъ'' before AD 800 or is derived from the same pre-Slavic source as the Slovene name.


Geography

Bled is located on the southern foot of the
Karawanks The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks (; , ) 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 direction, the Karawanks chain is o ...
mountain range near the border with
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, about northwest of the national capital of
Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...
. South of Lake Bled are the densely forested
Pokljuka The Pokljuka Plateau () is a forested karst plateau at an elevation of around , located in the Julian Alps in northwestern Slovenia. The plateau is known for its forests, pasture, mountain pastures (Javornik, Lipanca, Uskovnica, Zajamniki, etc ...
and
Jelovica Jelovica () is a karst plateau in northwestern Slovenia. It is the easternmost part of the Julian Alps and is overgrown by spruce forest. Partisan Peak (), originally known as Mount Kotlič, located on the southern part of the plateau, is its hi ...
plateaus and the easternmost parts of the
Julian Alps The Julian Alps (, , , , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretches from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large part of the Julian Alps is inclu ...
, where the
Sava Bohinjka The Sava Bohinjka is a headwater of the Sava River in northwestern Slovenia. At in length, it is the shorter of the two headwaters that become the Sava River in the town of Radovljica, the other being the -long Sava Dolinka. Course The Sava Bohi ...
river and the parallel
Bohinj Railway The Bohinj Railway (, , ) is a railway in Slovenia and Italy. It connects Jesenice in Slovenia with Trieste in Italy. It was built by Austria-Hungary from 1900 to 1906 as a part of a new strategic railway, the Neue Alpenbahnen, that would conn ...
lead to the
Bohinj Bohinj (; ), or the Bohinj Valley () or Bohinj Basin (), is a 20 km long and 5 km wide basin in the Julian Alps, in the Upper Carniola region of northwestern Slovenia. It is traversed by the Sava Bohinjka river. Its main feature is the ...
basin,
Lake Bohinj Lake Bohinj (), covering , is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia. It is located within the Bohinj Valley of the Julian Alps, in the northwestern Upper Carniola region, and part of Triglav National Park. Geography Lake Bohinj is long and a ...
, and the
Triglav Triglav (; ; ), with an elevation of , is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. The mountain is the pre-eminent symbol of the Slovene nation, appearing on the Coat of arms of Slovenia, coat of arms and Flag ...
massif. A number of rises (Grad 599 m, Straža 646 m, Kozarca 558 m, Osojnica 756 m, and Ravnica 729 m) separate the localities of Bled around the lake, the former villages of Grad,
Mlino Mlino (, formerly ''Bled–Mlino''; ) is a former settlement in the Municipality of Bled in northwestern Slovenia. It is now part of the town of Bled. The area is part of the traditional region of Upper Carniola and is now included with the rest ...
, Rečica, Zagorice, and
Želeče Želeče (, formerly ''Bled–Želeče''; ) is a former settlement in the Municipality of Bled in northwestern Slovenia. It is now part of the town of Bled. The area is part of the traditional region of Upper Carniola and is now included with th ...
. The lake is long and wide. In summer, the surface water reaches and retains a temperature up to until autumn. As such, it is suitable for swimming. During colder winters, the entire lake freezes and can be used for ice skating; the island can then be reached on foot. There is a thermal spring () near the lake, next to the Bled Fault. Its water is used in indoor pools in two hotels.


History


Early medieval history

A settlement area since
Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...
times, the present-day locality probably arose about 600 during the
Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps The settlement of the Eastern Alps region by early Slavs took place during the 6th to 8th centuries CE. It formed part of the southward expansion of early Slavs which would result in the South Slavic group, and would ultimately result in the ethno ...
. After the Slavic principality of
Carantania Carantania, also known as Carentania (, , in Old Slavic '), was a Slavic principality that emerged in the second half of the 7th century, in the territory of present-day southern Austria and north-eastern Slovenia. Since the middle of the ...
was conquered by
Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...
forces in 788, the area came under Bavarian influence.


Feudal estate

German King
Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...
ceded ownership of the area in 1004 to Albuin,
Bishop of Brixen The Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen (, , ) is a Latin Church, Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in northern Italy, with its seat in the city of Bolzano. Its territory corresponds with that of the province of South Tyrol with its predominantly German ...
as a sign of gratitude for the assistance the Church was giving to the king in his attempt to strengthen imperial rule in that part of northern Italy. In 1011, Henry II signed another deed of donation that added the castle and an area of land the size of thirty king's farms. That area, between the Sava Bohinjka and the Sava Dolinka, became known as the Lordship of Veldes (German: ''Herrschaft Veldes''). These donations marked a turning point in the history of Bled and, for the following 800 years, the area remained under the sovereignty of the prince-bishops of Brixen. The bishops very seldom visited their remote possession 300 km away. Initially, the lordship was administered by ''ministeriales'' (bonded knights), castellans, and castle staff in accordance with feudal practices, but in the middle of the 14th century the prince-bishops decided instead to lease the estate. Under one of the 16th-century lessees, Bled Castle became a Protestant stronghold for a time. When the leasehold era came to an end, the prince-bishops began to appoint governors to manage their distant lordship. Until the middle of the 18th century, those administrators were exclusively aristocratic, but later they included non-nobles. In 1803, Brixen's rule came to an end when the prince-bishopric was secularized in the course of the
German Mediatization German mediatisation (; ) was the major redistribution and reshaping of territorial holdings that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany by means of the subsumption and Secularization (church property), secularisation of a large number of ...
. Bled then came under Austrian sovereignty but in 1808, along with Carniola, it was included in the Napoleonic
Illyrian Provinces The Illyrian Provinces were an autonomous province of France during the First French Empire that existed under Napoleonic Rule from 1809 to 1814. The province encompassed large parts of modern Italy and Croatia, extending their reach further e ...
. It returned under Austrian sovereignty in 1813, and in 1838 the Austrian Emperor returned Bled to the bishops of Brixen as a private estate. With the abolition of the feudal system in 1848, Bled ceased to have the characteristics of a feudal economy and from then on it experienced several changes in ownership, including industrialists and a bank. After the dissolution of
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
in 1918, Bled and the rest of Carniola came under the rule of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...
and became a summer domicile of the ruling
House of Karađorđević The House of Karađorđević or Karađorđević dynasty ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Династија Карађорђевић, Dinastija Karađorđević, ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Карађорђевићи, Karađorđevići, label=none) was the former ruling Kin ...
, a tradition that Yugoslav leader
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
continued when he built his residence here in 1947.


Modern settlement

Today's town began to form in the mid-19th century from the villages of Grad, Mlino, Rečica, Zagorice, and Želeče, which encircled the lake. At that time, farmers started to sell the land along the eastern lakeshore to wealthy individuals for their villas, and the villages of Grad, Zagorice, and Želeče began to merge. Bled was officially made a town in 1960.


Tourism

Bled is known for the
glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
Lake Bled Lake Bled () is a lake in the Julian Alps of the Upper Carniolan region of northwestern Slovenia, where it adjoins the town of Bled. The area is a tourist destination. The lake is from Ljubljana International Airport and from the capital ci ...
, which makes it a major tourist attraction. Perched on a rock overlooking the lake is the iconic
Bled Castle Bled Castle (, ) is a medieval castle built on a precipice above the city of Bled in Slovenia, overlooking Lake Bled. According to written sources, it is the oldest Slovenian castle and is currently one of Slovenia's most visited tourist attractio ...
. The town is also known in Slovenia for its vanilla and cream pastry ().
Naturopath Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult ...
Arnold Rikli (1823–1906) from
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
contributed significantly to the development of Bled as a
health resort A destination spa or health resort is a resort centered on a spa, such as a mineral spa. Historically, many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or mineral springs. In the era before modern biochemistry and pharmaco ...
in the second half of the 19th century. Due to its mild climate, Bled has been visited by aristocratic guests from all across the world. Today it is an important convention centre and tourist resort, offering a wide range of sports activities (
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
,
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
, and
horseback riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the u ...
). It is a starting point for mountain treks and
hikes A hike is a long, vigorous walking, walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer tim ...
, especially within nearby
Triglav National Park Triglav National Park (TNP; ) is the only national park in Slovenia. It was established in its modern form in 1981 and is located in the northwestern part of the country, respectively the southeastern part of the Alps, Alpine massif. Mount Trigla ...
. A small island in the middle of the lake is home to the
Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...
Pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
Church; visitors frequently ring its bell, due to an old legend claiming it provides good luck. Human traces from
prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins   million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...
have been found on the island. Before the church was built, there was a temple consecrated to Živa, the Slavic goddess of love and fertility. One can get to the island on a traditional flat-bottomed wooden boat (), part of a fixed fleet of 23 boats to protect the lake's cleanliness, run by a family-owned business since the 18th century. The island on
Lake Bled Lake Bled () is a lake in the Julian Alps of the Upper Carniolan region of northwestern Slovenia, where it adjoins the town of Bled. The area is a tourist destination. The lake is from Ljubljana International Airport and from the capital ci ...
has 99 steps. A local tradition at weddings is for the husband to carry his new bride up these steps, during which the bride must remain silent.


Transport

The town is served by two railway stations: Lesce-Bled (located in nearby
Lesce Lesce () is a town in the Municipality of Radovljica in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. It is an industrial and tourist centre. It is one of the earliest-mentioned settlements in the region, first noted in a document from 1004 together w ...
) on the main line between
Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...
and
Villach Hauptbahnhof Villach Hauptbahnhof ('Villach Central Station') is the main railway station in Villach, the second largest city in the Austrian state of Carinthia.
, and Bled Jezero (located above the western shore of Lake Bled) on the
Bohinj Railway The Bohinj Railway (, , ) is a railway in Slovenia and Italy. It connects Jesenice in Slovenia with Trieste in Italy. It was built by Austria-Hungary from 1900 to 1906 as a part of a new strategic railway, the Neue Alpenbahnen, that would conn ...
. Slovenia's main international airport,
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport () , also known by its previous name ''Brnik Airport'' (), is the international airport serving Ljubljana and the largest airport in Slovenia. It is located near Brnik, northwest of Ljubljana and east of Kranj, ...
, is 34 km away by road; Lesce-Bled Airport caters to general aviation.


Events

Bled has hosted the
World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international Rowing (sport), rowing regatta organized by International Rowing Federation, FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer ...
four times, in
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
,
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
,
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
, and most recently in
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
. In 1961 the Grand Hotel Toplice in Bled was the site of one of the most important international tournaments in chess history. In 2002, the
35th Chess Olympiad The 35th Chess Olympiad (), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and women's tournament, took ...
was held in the city. Bled hosts one of the largest
Lindy Hop The Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the African-American communities of Harlem, New York City, in 1928 and has evolved since then. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy is a fusion of ...
events, known as "Swing Bled". In 1959 the first 14 rounds of the 4th Chess Candidates Tournament were held in this city, the rest were played in Zagreb and in Belgrade.


Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Bled include: *
Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia ( sr-cyr, Андреј Карађорђевић; 28 June 1929 – 7 May 1990) was the youngest child of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Maria of Yugoslavia. Personal life In 1934, when he was only five, Prince Andr ...
was born in 1929 in Bled. *
Iztok Čop Iztok Čop (born 17 June 1972) is a Slovenian rower and Olympic gold medalist. Biography Čop was born in Kranj, SR Slovenia, and started rowing at the age of 13 in Bled, where Slovenia's best rowing club is located ...
(born 1972), rower, multiple Olympic medalist *
Peter Florjančič Peter Florjančič (5 March 1919 – 14 November 2020) was a Slovene inventor and Olympic athlete. His successful inventions included the perfume atomiser, and the plastic photographic slide frame.Phil Cain, Peter Florjancic: Slovenian inventor ...
(1919–2020), inventor and Olympic athlete *
Janez Klemenčič 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 ...
(born 1971), rower, Olympic bronze medalist. Now a restaurateur in Bled. * Karel Mauser (1918–1977), poet and author * Valentin Plemel (1820–1875), botanist *
Josip Plemelj Josip Plemelj (December 11, 1873 – May 22, 1967) was a Slovenes, Slovene mathematician, whose main contributions were to the theory of analytic functions and the application of integral equations to potential theory. He was the first chancel ...
(1873–1967), Slovene mathematician *
Špela Pretnar Špela Pretnar (born 5 March 1973) is a Slovenian former alpine skier. In her career, Pretnar won six races in Alpine Skiing World Cup races, with 13 podiums altogether. In the 1999–2000 season, she won a small crystal globe in slalom. Pret ...
(born 1973), skier, Olympic athlete


International relations


Twin towns / sister cities

Bled is twinned with: * Brixen (Bressanone),
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
*
Henley on Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint o ...
,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
*
Velden am Wörther See Velden am Wörther See (Slovenian language, Slovene: ''Vrba na Koroškem'') is a market town in Villach-Land District, in the Austrian state of Carinthia (state), Carinthia. Situated on the western shore of the Wörthersee lake, it is one of the co ...
,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...


See also

* St. Martin's Parish Church, Bled


References


External links

*
Bled on Geopedia

Official website
{{Authority control Populated places in the Municipality of Bled Cities and towns in Upper Carniola Cities and towns in the Julian Alps