Nanos (; ) is a

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

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) ...

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

at the eastern border of the

Inner Carniola Inner Carniola ( ; ) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica (plateau), Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral (the Goriška, Gor ...

in southwestern Slovenia.

Geography

The plateau is about wide and long in the northern extension of the

Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern Europe, Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia ...

. The highest point of the plateau is Dry Peak (, ). The plateau is traversed by the Slovene Mountain Trail, the oldest interconnecting trail in Slovenia. The most popular destination on Nanos and part of the trail is Pleša Peak () with the Vojko Lodge (, named for the Slovene Partisan Janko Premrl, a.k.a. Vojko) below its summit. In 1987, the southern and western slopes of Nanos were declared a

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distr ...

with an area of .

History

In Antiquity, Nanos was known as ''Ocra''. Strabo reckoned it the last peak of the Alps. In the 1st century, the pass at Nanos was an important route for civilian and military traffic from

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

(Tergeste) to

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

(Emona) and beyond to

Carnuntum Carnuntum ( according to Ptolemy) was a Roman legionary fortress () and headquarters of the Roman navy, Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large city of app ...

at the Danube. It lost its importance when a faster road connected Emona to

Aquileia Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small ( ...

further north in the 2nd century. Nanos is mentioned as ''Nanas'' in

Johann Weikhard von Valvasor Johann Weikhard Freiherr von Valvasor or Johann Weichard Freiherr von Valvasor (, ) or simply Valvasor (baptised on 28 May 1641 – September or October 1693) was a natural historian and polymath from Carniola, present-day Slovenia, and a Li ...

's 1689 work ''

The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola ''The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola'' (, ) is an encyclopedia published in Nuremberg in 1689 by the polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor. It is the most important work on his homeland, the Duchy of Carniola, the present-day central part of Slov ...

''. Nanos has an important symbolic place in the history and identity of Littoral Slovenes. In September 1927, the anti-Fascist insurgent organization

TIGR TIGR (an acronym of the place-names ''Trieste, Trst'', ''Istria, Istra'', ''Gorizia, Gorica'', and ''Rijeka, Reka''), fully the Revolutionary Organization of the Julian March T.I.G.R. (), was a Militant (word), militant Anti-fascism, anti-fascis ...

was founded on the Nanos Plateau. On 18 April 1942, the Battle of Nanos took place at Nanos. It was one of the first battles between the Partisan insurgence in the

Slovene Littoral The Slovene Littoral, or simply Littoral (, ; ; ), is one of the traditional regions of Slovenia. The littoral in its name – for a coastal-adjacent area – recalls the former Austrian Littoral (''Avstrijsko Primorje''), the Habsburg possess ...

, led by Janko Premrl, and the

Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

, and was the beginning of the struggle for the western border between the two nations.

Demographics and economy

There are around 35 residents domiciled on Nanos Plateau. They were finally connected to the electricity grid in 2006. Their most highly valued product is the Nanos cheese, produced already in the 16th century and, since October 2011, the

protected designation of origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main purpose is to designat ...

label. Today, it is made of cow milk, although before World War II, it was made of sheep milk. The number of sheep on the plateau dropped significantly since then. Residents also make a living from tourism.

The Nanos transmitter

The Nanos transmitter is an FM/DAB/TV-broadcasting facility consisting of a 50 m guyed tower, a guyed mast, which may be a bit less tall, and a small guyed mast. The transmitter building has many dishes for radio relay links. The Nanos transmitter went into service in 1962 and played an important role in introducing

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

-standard color TV in the former Yugoslavia. The facility was attacked during the Slovene independence war in 1991. It is operated by the broadcaster

RTV Slovenija Radiotelevizija Slovenija () – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija, RTV SLO (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcasting centres in Koper and Ma ...

References

External links

*
Nanos on Geopedia
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729183600/http://www.geopedia.si/#L1173_F61281_T13_b4_x427700.688_y73124.633_s14 , date=2017-07-29 Dinaric Alps Plateaus of Inner Carniola Karst plateaus of Slovenia Landscape parks in Slovenia Natura 2000 in Slovenia Radio masts and towers in Europe Transmitter sites in Slovenia