Knežja Lipa (; ,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 36, 41.Ferenc, Mitja. 2007. ''Nekdanji nemški jezikovni otok na kočevskem''. Kočevje: Pokrajinski muzej, p. 4.

Gottscheerish Gottscheerish (''Göttscheabarisch'',Maridi Tscherne: Wörterbuch Gottscheerisch-Slowenisch. Einrichtung für die Erhaltung des Kulturerbes Nesseltal, Koprivnik/Nesseltal 2010. , ) is an Upper German dialect which was the main language of c ...

: ''pei dər Lintən''Petschauer, Erich. 1980. "Die Gottscheer Siedlungen – Ortsnamenverzeichnis." In ''Das Jahrhundertbuch der Gottscheer'' (pp. 181–197). Klagenfurt: Leustik.) is a settlement southeast of

Kočevje Kočevje (; ; ''Göttscheab'' or ''Gətscheab'' in the local Gottscheerish dialect; ) is a town and the seat of Municipality of Kočevje in southern Slovenia. Geography The town is located at the foot of the Kočevski Rog karst plateau on t ...

in southern

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 ...

Geography

Knežja Lipa stands below the north slope of Mount Spodnji Log (, rising to ). Šiša Hill () rises to the north and Straža Hill () to the northeast. The area is part of the traditional region of

Lower Carniola Lower Carniola ( ; ) is a traditional region in 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 an ...

and is now included in the

Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region The Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region () is a statistical region in southeast Slovenia. It is the largest statistical region. The development of this region is largely the result of industry (the auto industry, pharmaceuticals, and other light ...

. The settlement includes the hamlets of Videm () and Studeno.

Name

The name of the settlement was first attested as ''Grauenlynnd'' in 1457. The Slovene name ''Knežja Lipa'' and German name ''Graflinden'' are semantically identical, both meaning 'nobleman's

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

' (cf. Slovene '' knez'' 'prince, duke, lord', German ''

Graf (; feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title ...

'' 'count, earl'). The Gottscheerish name ''pei dər Lintən'' means 'at the linden tree'. According to local tradition, a nobleman once resided in the area. Other explanations connect the name with freeholders (i.e., non-

vassals A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...

) that had hereditary rights to the land.

History

Knežja Lipa was a Gottschee German settlement. In the land registry of 1574 it had six and a half full farms subdivided into 13 half-farms, corresponding to a population between 90 and 100. In the 1770 census it had 27 houses. During the period of the Illyrian Provinces (1809–1814) a French officer was murdered in Knežja Lipa and buried in the ''Franzosengrube'' ('French grave') in the village; the village head (Gottscheerish: ''Suppan'') was punished for the killing by having his house repeatedly burned. Before the Second World War, the village had 29 houses and a population of 122. The 93 German residents were evicted from the village on 27 November 1941, and most of the village was burned by Italian troops in the summer of 1942. Resettlement of the village after the war was meager. A small primary school, a branch of the Kočevje school, operated in the village from 1961 to 1974.Ferenc, Mitja, & Gojko Zupan. 2012. ''Izgubljene kočevske vasi'', vol. 2 (K–P). Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani.

Mass grave

Knežja Lipa is the site of a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, 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 exec ...

associated with the Second World War. The Upper Videm Mass Grave () lies in the woods above the church in the hamlet of Videm and contains the remains of unidentified victims.

Church

The medieval

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in the settlement was a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

dedicated to the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

. It is believed to have dated from the mid-17th century and it was mentioned in written records dating to 1667. The bell tower was probably added to the building around 1790, when the bells (which were removed during the First World War) were cast. The bell tower was damaged in a lightning strike during the interwar period. The church was burned during the Italian offensive of 1942 and never rebuilt. The church is surrounded by an abandoned cemetery that was created in 1824. In 2002 there were 13 grave markers at the site. A second church southeast of the main settlement, in the hamlet of Videm, is dedicated to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

and was restored in the 1980s. Some 16th-century

fresco Fresco ( 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 plaster, the painting become ...

s have survived on the interior arch and

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

.Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number ešd 2814

References

External links

*
Knežja Lipa on GeopediaPre–World War II map of Knežja Lipa with oeconyms and family names
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knezja Lipa Populated places in the Municipality of Kočevje