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Ajdna

Cultural monuments of SloveniaFormer populated places in the BalkansMountains of Upper CarniolaMountains of the AlpsMunicipality of Žirovnica
One-thousanders of SloveniaRoman sites in Slovenia
Ajdna
Ajdna

Ajdna (1064 m) is a peak in the Karawanks in the Municipality of Žirovnica in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. Access to it is easiest from the village of Potoki in the neighbouring Municipality of Jesenice. A settlement from late Antiquity has been found just below the summit and evidence shows that it was probably inhabited much earlier. Excavations began in 1976. Most evidence is from the period immediately after the collapse of the Roman Empire (476 AD), when it seems locals moved to the safety of the peak from the valley below during a period of upheaval and migration of various Germanic and Slavic tribes through the region. With its location high above the valley with a natural precipitous barrier towards the south and an excellent view up and down the Upper Sava Valley, Ajdna was an ideal location for a defendable settlement. A number of other high-elevation settlements from the period between the 4th and 6th centuries have been found in the area of Slovenia, but Ajdna lies at the highest elevation of all. Remains of a total of 25 buildings have been excavated, including an early Christian temple. In a nearby building eleven graves have been excavated and the potsherds, weapons, and jewellery found are on display in the museum in Kranj. It is believed this was not the main burial ground which has so far not been discovered. The remains of the religious building have been conserved, roofed over and are open to visitors.Ajdna has been declared an archaeological monument of national importance by the Slovene government.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Ajdna (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 46.421388888889 ° E 14.131666666667 °
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Address

Ajdna nad Potoki

452
4274
Slovenia
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Ajdna
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Nearby Places

Prešeren House
Prešeren House

The Prešeren House (traditional Slovene oeconym pr' Ribču) is a house in the village of Vrba in the Municipality of Žirovnica in Slovenia. It is the house where the Slovene poet France Prešeren was born in 1800. The Slovene theologian and archbishop Anton Vovk was also born in the same house in 1900. The house is a good example of an Upper Carniolan farmhouse. Since 1939, it has housed a small museum collection with furnishings from the poet's time.It was originally a 16th-century wooden building with a stone cellar. It was heavily damaged and rebuilt after a fire in 1856. It is mainly due to the efforts of Fran Saleški Finžgar that the house was turned into a museum. It is fitted with 19th-century furnishings. Of the original furniture from Prešeren's time, the benches in the hallway and the main room, a wooden chest from 1837, and the actual cradle in which France Prešeren is alleged to have been rocked to sleep as a baby are preserved and displayed in the museum. In 1985, a section with a collection of books was added to the museum and includes translations of Prešeren's poems into various languages, various editions of his poems, and books about his life and work. The museum was opened to the public on 21 May 1939. In 1940, the house and the village were filmed for the black and white sound documentary O, Vrba. It was directed by Mario Förster and produced in 1941. Due to the "cultural silence," it was not released until 1945. The house was presented by Finžgar, which is a rare recording of his voice. Due to the news about the German assault on Poland the film has a threatening atmosphere created by clouds moving over the Karawanks mountain range.The house and nearby St. Mark's Church are on the Cultural Heritage Route, a trail through the villages of the Municipality of Žirovnica. In January 2011, the house, St. Mark's Church, and the linden tree in the centre of the village were proclaimed cultural monuments of national importance by the Government of Slovenia.