Zidani Most (; ) is a settlement in the Municipality of Laško in eastern

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 lies at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the

Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...

and

Savinja The Savinja () is a river in northeast Slovenia which flows mostly in the Upper and Lower Savinja Valley () and through the cities of Celje and Laško. The Savinja is the main river of the Savinja Alps (Sln. ''Savinjske Alpe''). It flows into ...

rivers. 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 ...

. It is now included with the rest of the municipality in the

Savinja Statistical Region The Savinja Statistical Region () is a Statistical regions of Slovenia, statistical region in Slovenia. The largest town in the region is Celje. It is named after the Savinja River. The region is very diverse in natural geography; it mainly compr ...

. It is an important

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

and junction.

Name

The name ''Zidani Most'' literally means 'stone bridge'. The settlement was attested in 1224 as ''Lapideo Ponti'' (and as ''trans Pontem'' in 1230, ''bey der Gemauertten Prucken'' in 1457–1461, and ''an der Stainen Prukken'' in 1470).Snoj, Marko. 2009. ''Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen''. Ljubljana: Modrijan and Založba ZRC, p. 481. The name refers to a stone bridge built at the site in 1224 by Leopold VI. The bridge was destroyed in battles between Emperor Frederick III and the Counts of Celje in 1442.

Main sights

Bridges

A bridge already crossed the Sava in the area in 20 BC, in the Roman period, linking the towns of Emona, Celeia, and Neviodunum. The current road stone bridge over the Savinja was built by order of Archduke John of Austria in 1824–26 following plans by the engineer Friedrich Byloff and linked the town of

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

and the Lower Sava Valley. The old railroad bridge that still stands was built in 1846–49 from 1,260 stone blocks to the plans of the engineer Eduard Heider. Its construction was technically very demanding, because it had to follow a curve. Similarly technically demanding was the construction of the new

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

railroad bridge, built by the Slavec company from

Kranj Kranj (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fourth-largest city in Slovenia and the largest urban center of the traditional region of Upper Carniola (northwestern Slovenia) and the Slovene Alps. It is located approximately northwest o ...

in 1929–30.

Church

The local church, built in the eastern part of the settlement known as Vila, is dedicated to the

Sacred Heart of Jesus The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

and belongs to the

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Marija Širje. It was built in 1920.Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number ešd 4163

References

External links