Majšperk (, in older sources ''Majšperg'', ) is a settlement in the

Municipality of Majšperk The Municipality of Majšperk (; ) is a municipality in northeastern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is Majšperk. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The municipality is now included in the Drava Statistical Region. Set ...

in northeastern

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 the seat of the municipality. The area is part of the traditional region of

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

. The municipality is now included in the

Drava Statistical Region The Drava Statistical Region () is a statistical region in Slovenia. The largest city in the region is Maribor. The region's name comes from the Drava River and includes land on both banks along its course through Slovenia as well as the Pohorj ...

Name

Majšperk was first mentioned as ''Mannesperch'' in written documents dating to 1261 (and as ''Mansperch'' in 1263 and 1371, and ''Monsperg'' in 1426). The name is derived from 13th-century Majšperk Castle (). The castle fell into disrepair in the late 19th century and today only ruins remain. The castle name is a compound of the genitive form of the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

name ''Manne'' plus ''berg'' 'mountain', originally meaning 'Manno's mountain'.

History

Majšperk is an old settlement at the foot of the Dravinja Hills (), at the intersection of the roads to

Poljčane Poljčane () is a settlement in northeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Poljčane. It lies 35 km south of Maribor and 35 km northeast of Celje. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The town lies in t ...

Ptuj Ptuj (; , ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, eighth-largest town of Slovenia, located in the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria (northeastern Slovenia). It is the seat of the City Municipality of Ptuj, Municipality of Pt ...

Rogatec Rogatec (; Suppan, Arnold. 1996. ''Jugoslawien und Österreich 1918–1938: Bilaterale Außenpolitik im Europäischen Umfeld.'' Vienna: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, p. 663.) is a small town in eastern Slovenia, on the border with Croatia. I ...

, and

Slovenska Bistrica Slovenska Bistrica (; ) is a town south of Maribor in eastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Slovenska Bistrica, one of the largest municipalities in Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The town is in ...

. It was first mentioned in old documents in 1261 together with Majšperk Castle and Saint Nicholas's Church. The castle was rebuilt after a fire in 1695, but it fell into disrepair at the end of the 19th century. In the urbanized part of the settlement stands Hamre Castle, a small structure that was owned by the Ptuj Minorites from 1461 to 1880.

Church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the settlement 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 belongs to the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maribor The Archdiocese of Maribor (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Slovenia. Its episcopal see is Maribor. History * 1859 : Maribor (then Marburg) became the see of the Diocese of Lavant * ...

. It dates to the 13th century, but the current church was built in 1639.Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number ešd 3128

References

External links

Majšperk on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Majšperk {{Majšperk-geo-stub