Olešče () is a settlement in the

Municipality of Laško The Municipality of Laško (; ) is a municipality in eastern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the town of Laško. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The municipality is now included in the Savinja Statistical Region ...

in eastern

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 lies in the hills east of Laško. 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 ...

. It is now included with the rest of the municipality in the

Savinja Statistical Region The Savinja Statistical Region () is a Statistical regions of Slovenia, statistical region in Slovenia. The largest town in the region is Celje. It is named after the Savinja River. The region is very diverse in natural geography; it mainly compr ...

Name

The name of the settlement was changed from ''Sveti Peter pri Jurkloštru'' (literally, 'Saint Peter near Jurklošter') to ''Olešče'' in 1959. The name was changed on the basis of the 1948 Law on Names of Settlements and Designations of Squares, Streets, and Buildings as part of efforts by Slovenia's postwar communist government to remove religious elements from toponyms. The settlement is still locally known as ''Šempeter''. The name ''Olešče'' was first attested in 1328 as ''Beleczicz'' (and as ''Wellesitsch'' in 1382 and ''Beleschicz'' in 1423). The name ''Olešče'' is derived from a plural

demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

, *''Velešiťane'', based on a patronymic derived from the

hypocorism A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek ; sometimes also ''hypocoristic''), or pet name, is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for Isabel or ''Bob (given name), Bob'' fo ...

*''Velešь''. Before ''Olešče'' became the name of the entire settlement, the name used to refer to one of the hamlets in the settlement.

Mass grave

Olešče 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 ...

from the end of the Second World War. The Olešče Mass Grave () is located about north of the neighboring village of

Reka Reka may refer to: Places * Řeka, a village in the Czech Republic * Reka, Cerkno, a village near Cerkno, Slovenia * Reka, Laško, a village near Laško, Slovenia * Reka (Kladovo), a village near Kladovo, Serbia * Reka, Koprivnica, a village n ...

. It measures and lies between two apple trees, and it contains the remains of about 14 Ustaša soldiers that were shot in May 1945.

Church

The local

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 ...

, built on a small hill south of the settlement core, is dedicated to

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

and belongs to the

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Sveti Rupert. It is a Gothic building that was restyled in the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

in the 17th century.Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number ešd 3329

References

External links

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