Postojna

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Postojna
Adelsberg, Postumia
Postojna coat of arms Map of Slovenia, position of Postojna highlighted
Basic data
Country SloveniaSlovenia Slovenia
Historic region Inner Carniola / Notranjska
Statistical region Primorsko-notranjska (Coastal Inner Carniola)
Coordinates 45 ° 46 '  N , 14 ° 13'  E Coordinates: 45 ° 46 '29 "  N , 14 ° 13' 4"  E
height 554  m. i. J.
surface 269.9  km²
Residents 15,561 (2008)
Population density 58 inhabitants per km²
Telephone code (+386) 05
Post Code 6230
License Plate PO
Structure and administration
Website
View of Postojna

Postojna ( German  Adelsberg , Italian Postumia ) is a town and a municipality in southwest Slovenia or the former crown land of Carniola with 8,513 inhabitants (2002). The entire municipality, consisting of 40 localities, has 15,561 inhabitants.

geography

Location and landscape

The city is located about 50 kilometers southwest of the capital Ljubljana (Laibach) halfway towards the Adriatic coast . Due to its location, Postojna is a stopover on the way to the holiday areas further south. It is located directly on the A1 motorway (with its own exit) and on the historic Vienna – Trieste or Rijeka railway . The Postojna Gate , a pass over the Dinaric Alps, is close to Postojna .

Due to its altitude, Postojna has a slightly cooler climate than the Adriatic coast.

The Postojna range of hills

history

Until 1918 the city was part of the Duchy of Carniola in Austria-Hungary . It was located on the Vienna - Marburg - Ljubljana - Trieste railway connection, which was completed in 1857 and which provided direct access for the Danube monarchy to the Adriatic for the first time from Vienna .

The openness to the world and the prosperity of the multi-ethnic state had a particular impact on Postojna. The nearby stalactite cave , which had been known for a long time, quickly became a magnet for tourists from 1820 onwards due to the discovery of new parts. With the construction of the railway from Vienna to Trieste, Postojna received a train station that multiplied the number of visitors. The city has been geared towards tourism for almost 200 years.

After the First World War , the westernmost part of Slovenia became Italian territory, so that Postojna belonged to Italy from 1918 to 1945 . At that time, Postumia was part of the province of Trieste near the border with Yugoslavia , a border that for a long time represented a kind of " front ". The Italian army built many military installations in the area, such as bunkers and tunnels , and many parts of the cave were opened up or connected by tunnels. The attempt to connect the Pivka jama , part of the Postojnska jama with the Planinska jama , failed, however. This tunnel would have crossed under the border and you would have left the cave several kilometers across the border.

After the Second World War, Postojna became part of the newly founded Yugoslav republic of Slovenia. The city quickly became a tourist destination again. The Postojnska jama ( German : Adelsberger Grotte) reached 1 million visitors per year in the 1980s.

When Slovenia declared its independence in 1991, there was a military conflict between Slovenia and the rest of Yugoslavia . Although the war ended after ten days, tourism collapsed. This was economically difficult for Postojna as the number of visitors dropped dramatically. It was only with the end of the war in Croatia that the number of visitors returned to their previous level.

There is a large campsite near Postojna, at Pivka jama (German: Poik cave).

Postojna was one of the cities in Slovenia that was hardest hit by the storm in southern Europe in 2014 . A crisis center was set up in the city. Among other things, German forces were also deployed in the village.

Caves and karst exploration

Postojnska jama stalactite cave
The Institute for Karst Research of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts , located in Postojna

Postojna is mainly due to its 20 km long limestone cave Postojna Cave and the famous cave castle Predjama (German: Burg Lueg). The famous caves brought many prominent guests to Postojna: Emperor Franz Joseph I visited them twice, the first time in 1857, with 2,500 selected onlookers. The heads of state of Sweden, Greece, Brazil and Japan were also guests. When Postumia was Italian territory, King Victor Emmanuel III came in 1922 . Marshal Tito visited the caves twice in 1945.

Closely related to this is the Postojna Karst Institute , a department of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences. Housed in a historic building on Postojna's market square, it is one of the few institutes, and the best equipped, dedicated solely to karst research . The Acta Carsologica publication is world-class.

The Notranjski muzej Postojna (Inner Carniola Museum), founded in 1947, is also connected to the Karst. It is a collection of historical, archaeological and geological finds, and it also houses an interesting collection of historical books and documents. The collections cannot currently be viewed.

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Personalities related to Postojna

Places of the whole community

literature

Web links

Commons : Postojna  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Postojna  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ THW_20Besuch_2005.02.2014_20Seite. The whole text with picture gallery. (No longer available online.) In: laibach.diplo.de . German Embassy Ljubljana, February 5, 2014, archived from the original on June 17, 2015 ; Retrieved June 17, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.laibach.diplo.de
  2. ↑ Karst Research Institute ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Slovenian, English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zrc-sazu.si
  3. ↑ Notranjski muzej Postojna (Slovenian, English)