Vrhnika

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Vrhnika is a town and a municipality in Slovenia. It is situated on the Ljubljanica River, 21 km from Ljubljana along the A1 motorway.

History

In Roman times, the settlement on the location of today's Vrhnika was known as Nauportus when it was considered as important communication point.
Vrhnika as exists today started to develop in the High Middle Ages. The first written reference was by German name Ober Laibach or Ober Laybach (literally "Upper Ljubljana") in the year 1300.
Vrhnika became a market town and was considered to be among the wealthiest towns in Carniola, up to the early 18th century, when it started to lose importance. Nevertheless, it remained one of main transportation junctions in Inner Austria, because of its strategic location on the croassroads between the Trieste-Vienna and Rijeka-Klagenfurt trade routes. The development of the town was however strongly impaired by the construction of the Austrian Southern Railway in the 1840s, which bypassed it. From then on, it started losing importance, becoming a satellite town of Ljubljana, which has remained up to this day.
Vrhnika is the birthplace of one of the most important Slovene writers, Ivan Cankar (1876–1918). The house where he was born is now a museum.