Town in Slovene Littoral, Slovenia
Bovec
(
pronounced
[?b?ː??ts]
ⓘ
or
[?boː??ts]
;
Italian
:
Plezzo
,
German
:
Flitsch
,
Friulian
:
Plez
) is a town in the
Littoral
region in northwestern
Slovenia
, close to the border with
Italy
. It is the central settlement of the
Municipality of Bovec
.
Geography
[
edit
]
Bovec is located 136 kilometres (85 mi) from the capital
Ljubljana
, at an elevation of 434 m (1,424 ft). The settlement lies in the Bovec Basin of the upper
So?a
(
Isonzo
) River, below the eastern slopes of Mount
Kanin
in the
Julian Alps
, forming the border with Italy. The adjacent
Trenta
Valley in the northwest leads into
Triglav National Park
.
It has been traditionally part of the historic
Gori?ka
region, but today locals prefer to identify with the wider region of the
Slovene Littoral
.
Name
[
edit
]
Bovec was attested in written sources in 1070 as
Plecium
and
Pletium
(and as
Vlicez
in 1181?96,
Plezio
in 1257, and
Plec
in 1377).
[3]
[4]
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the name designated not only the settlement itself, but also the wider Upper So?a region, including the
Trenta Valley
. The Slovene name is derived from the Slavic form
*
blьcь
, but this itself is of pre-Slavic origin.
The Friulian and German names indicate that the names may be derived from
*
Plitium
or
*
Pletium
, which could possibly be connected with the
oronym
Phligadia
mentioned by the ancient Greek geographer
Strabo
or the place name
Phlygades
. Less likely possibilities include a connection to the ancient place names
Ampletium
and
Planta
. In the local dialect, the settlement is known as
Bec
.
[4]
History
[
edit
]
Archaeological finds in the upper So?a Valley indicate continuous settlement since the
Hallstatt
era. In ancient times, the area on the
Roman road
leading up to the
Predil Pass
was part of the northeastern
Venetia et Histria
region of the
Italia
province. It was incorporated into the
Carolingian
March of Friuli
, after
Charlemagne
had conquered the Italian
Kingdom of the Lombards
in 774.
With the medieval
Kingdom of Italy
, it came under the rule of King
Otto I of Germany
in 952 and was incorporated into the Imperial
March of Verona
. Bovec itself was first mentioned in 1192, when it belonged to the ecclesiastical
Patria del Friuli
, ruled by the
Patriarchs of Aquileia
. It was part of
Tolmin
(Tolmein) County, which was conquered by the
Republic of Venice
in 1420 and incorporated into the
Domini di Terraferma
.
Habsburg rule
[
edit
]
Historical population
Year
| Pop.
| ±%
|
---|
1948
| 1,255
| ?
|
---|
1953
| 1,252
| ?0.2%
|
---|
1961
| 1,314
| +5.0%
|
---|
1971
| 1,408
| +7.2%
|
---|
1981
| 1,676
| +19.0%
|
---|
1991
| 1,675
| ?0.1%
|
---|
2002
| 1,612
| ?3.8%
|
---|
2011
| 1,631
| +1.2%
|
---|
2021
| 1,671
| +2.5%
|
---|
Population size may be affected by changes in administrative divisions.
|
The lands on the upper So?a River were finally annexed to the
Inner Austrian
lands under Emperor
Maximilian I
during the
War of the League of Cambrai
in 1509 and added to the
County of Gorizia
(
Gorz
) in the south, which Maximilian had inherited in 1500.
Elevated to the
Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca
in 1754, the majority of the predominantly
Slovene-speaking territories
of the province?with the exception of a brief period between 1809 and 1813, when it was included under the
Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy
?remained under
Austrian
rule until 1918, from 1849 within the
crown land
of the
Austrian Littoral
(
Kustenland
). Slovene completely replaced German as the language of everyday communication in the 19th century.
[5]
During the last
Austro-Hungarian
period, when the Littoral was part of
Cisleithanian
Austria, Flitsch was administered within the Tolmein
district
(one of the 11 districts within
Kustenland
).
[6]
The
Austro-Hungarian Army
had two fortresses erected along the Predil Pass road, the well-preserved
Klu?e Fortress
in 1881?82 and the ruined
Fort Hermann
.
World War I
[
edit
]
During
World War I
, the area was the theatre of the bloody
Battles of the Isonzo
, fought between Austro-Hungarian forces and the Italian Army between June 1915 and November 1917, which devastated the region almost completely.
After the war, the military cemetery east of Bovec was expanded and the remains of Austro-Hungarian and Italian soldiers were transferred to the cemetery from surrounding cemeteries. The remains of the Italian soldiers were exhumed and transferred to the Italian military ossuary outside
Kobarid
in 1938. Over 600 soldiers are buried in the cemetery; the graves cover the entire cemetery area, although only the south quarter has concrete grave markers. There are no names on the grave markers.
[7]
Upon the 1918
Battle of Vittorio Veneto
, Bovec was occupied by Italian forces and by the 1920
Treaty of Rapallo
officially annexed to the
Julian March
as part of the
Kingdom of Italy
. Under the
Italian Fascist
regime between 1922 and 1943, the Slovene-speaking population of Bovec and the neighbouring villages was submitted to a policy of forced
Italianization
. Numerous locals in turn joined the underground militant anti-fascist
TIGR
organization, while many others emigrated to the neighbouring
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
.
World War II
[
edit
]
Between 1943 and 1945, the area was occupied by
Nazi German
forces, and units of
Slovene partisans
were active in the area. After liberation by the
Yugoslav People's Army
in May 1945, Bovec came under joint British-U.S. occupation. Between June 1945 and September 1947, Bovec and the entire right bank of the So?a River was included in Zone A of the former Julian March, which was under Allied military administration, with the
demarcation line
with the Yugoslav occupation zone running just a few kilometers east of the town.
Mass grave
[
edit
]
Bovec is the site of a
mass grave
associated with the
Second World War
. The Cemetery Mass Grave (
Slovene
:
Grobi??e na pokopali??u
) is located next to the entrance to the town cemetery. It contained the remains of 11 German soldiers killed between 1941 and 1945. The names of all of them are known. The grave was exhumed in 2000 and the remains were transferred to
?ale Cemetery
in Ljubljana. Unlike most mass graves in Slovenia, the grave was well maintained during the communist era with funds provided by the
German War Graves Commission
. The mass grave is marked by a plaque in Slovene and German.
[8]
Postwar
[
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]
In September 1947, the
Paris Peace Treaties
gave the town to
Yugoslavia
. In 1951, Bovec became a town. With the
breakup of Yugoslavia
in 1991, Bovec became part of independent Slovenia.
Bovec was heavily damaged by the
1976 Friuli earthquake
. Another moderate quake with a magnitude of 5.6 on the
Richter magnitude scale
shook the town in April 1998, and a weaker one occurred in July 2004, with a 4.9 magnitude.
Economy
[
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]
Tourism
[
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]
The citizens of Bovec largely depend on
tourism
. In recent years, the area has become increasingly popular with advertisers and filmmakers; part of the Disney film
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
was shot here. The area received the
European Destinations of Excellence
award in 2008 with the So?a Stories project.
Area destinations include Boka Falls, Mount
Triglav
(2864 m), the So?a River, Lake Krn, the Kanin (
Sella Nevea
) ski resort, the
Vr?i? Pass
(1611 m), and the mountain road to the
Mangart
Saddle. Activities around Bovec include kayaking, rafting, hiking (the Peace Trail from Bovec to
Klu?e Fortress
, the So?a Trail, and the Alpe-Adria Trail), performances by Dru?tvo 1313, cheese tasting on the Mangart Plain, the Kanin circular cableway, Prestreljenik Window (
Slovene
:
Prestreljeni?ko okno
) and other karst features, a zip line, and fishing.
Notable natives
[
edit
]
Notable people that were born or lived in Bovec include the following:
- Vasja Klavora (born 1936), author and politician
[9]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Bovec, Bovec"
.
Place Names
. Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
. Retrieved
6 September
2012
.
- ^
Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
- ^
Kos, Franc, & Milko Kos. 1911.
Gradivo za zgodovino Slovencev v srednjem veku
, vol. 3. Ljubljana: Leonova dru?ba, p. 259.
- ^
a
b
Snoj, Marko. 2009.
Etimolo?ki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen
. Ljubljana: Modrijan and Zalo?ba ZRC, pp. 72?73.
- ^
Branko Maru?i?
,
Pregled politi?ne zgodovine Slovencev na Gori?kem, 1848-1899
(Gori?ki muzej, 2005)
- ^
Die postalischen Abstempelungen auf den osterreichischen Postwertzeichen-Ausgaben 1867, 1883 und 1890, Wilhelm KLEIN, 1967
- ^
Information sign at the Bovec Military Cemetery.
- ^
Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009).
"Grobi??e na pokopali??u"
.
Geopedia
(in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Slu?ba za vojna grobi??a, Ministrstvo za delo, dru?ino in socialne zadeve
. Retrieved
November 9,
2023
.
- ^
Ob?ina Bovec: dr. Vasja Klavora
Archived
October 11, 2011, at the
Wayback Machine
(in Slovene)
External links
[
edit
]
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Settlements
| Administrative seat:
Bovec
| |
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Landmarks
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Notable people
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International
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Other
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