Veržej () is a settlement in northeastern

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 is the seat of the

Municipality of Veržej The Municipality of Veržej (; ) is a small municipality in northeastern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the town of Veržej. It lies on the right bank of the Mura River. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The munic ...

. It lies on the right bank of the Mura River. 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 ...

. The municipality is now included in the

Mura Statistical Region The Mura Statistical Region () is a Statistical regions of Slovenia, statistical region in northeast Slovenia. It is predominantly agriculture, agricultural with field crops representing over three-quarters of the total agricultural area (twice as ...

. It was known for fields of white narcisi that bloom in the area in springtime.

Name

Veržej was attested in historical sources as ''Schepfendorf'' in 1280–95, ''Wernse'' in 1354, and ''Werensee'' in 1445, among other names and spellings. The name may be derived from

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

''Wernsee'', a compound of ''were'' 'entrenchment' and ''sê'' 'lake'. A less likely hypothesis connects the name with a Balto-Slavic root related to Lithuanian ''viržis'' 'heather'.

Church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the settlement is dedicated to

Saint Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Murska Sobota. It was built in the early 18th century on the site of an older wooden church. It was renovated between 2007 and 2008 and a new

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

was added to the building.Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number ešd 3473

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Veržej include: * Slavko Osterc (1895–1941), composer

References

External links

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