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Slovenske Konjice
Slovenske Konjice
Town
	Flag Coat of arms
	Location in Slovenia
	Coordinates: 46°20′18″N 15°25′24″E / 46.33833°N 15.42333°E
Country	Slovenia
Traditional region	Styria
Statistical region	Savinja
Municipality	Slovenske Konjice
Area
• Total	2.75 km2 (1.06 sq mi)
Elevation	322.0 m (1,056.4 ft)
Population (2023)
• Total	5,152
Vehicle registration	CE

Slovenske Konjice (pronounced [slɔˈʋéːnskɛ kɔˈnjìːtsɛ] ^ⓘ or [- kɔˈnjíːtsɛ]; German: Gonobitz,^[2] in older sources also Gannobitz^[3]) is a town in northeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Slovenske Konjice. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria.

History and town sights

The town of Slovenske Konjice lies below the northern slopes of Mount Konjice (Slovene: Konjiška Gora) and the winegrowing Škalce Hills. On a hill above the town to the southwest are the ruins of 12th-century Gonobitz Castle (Slovene: Grad Konjice, German: Burg Gonobitz), which has later additions and was abandoned in the 18th century.^[4] Its ruins have been partially restored.^[5]

Above Old Square (Slovene: Stari trg) stands the medieval Trebnik Mansion.^[6] The more than 860-year-old dense town line is a sloping square, from Trebnik Mansion past St. George's parish church, along a small stream in an open channel, down to the Dravinja River. The new Town Square (Mestni trg) is on the other bank of the river, connected with Old Square by a bridge with four horse heads on the corners.

The dominant structure in the upper part of the town's medieval core is the parish church dedicated to Saint George^[5] and belonging to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maribor, dating back to the late 13th century with 18th-century additions (a Baroque side chapel).^[7] The veneration of the saint at this place goes even further back in history. The town was mentioned in written sources dating to 1165 as a seminal parish. The castle was first mentioned in 1148 and the market town in 1236. The town itself was not surrounded by walls. At the time of the Ottoman raids, the church with its vicarage served as a fortified refuge. A second church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Anne. It dates to the mid-16th century with a 17th-century belfry and Baroque additions.^[8]

The main street and the transversal connections above the Dravinja are lined with longitudinal or transversally positioned one-storey houses with well-preserved Gothic cores and Renaissance additions. The façades were restyled in the 19th century (Biedermeier, Historicism). A rarity is the Art Nouveau building of the former savings bank. A Marian column dating to the mid-18th century and a column shrine dedicated to Saint Florian above the stream (both designed by the local artist Franc Zamlik in 1750) dominate the open square. The town core is well preserved.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1948	1,191	—
1953	1,493	+25.4%
1961	1,845	+23.6%
1971	2,679	+45.2%
1981	4,273	+59.5%
1991	4,888	+14.4%
2002	4,866	−0.5%
2011	4,869	+0.1%
2021	5,155	+5.9%
Population size may be affected by changes in administrative divisions.

Slovenske Konjice played a role during the Slovenian peasant revolt of 1515, with rebels here composing a letter with their demands to send to the emperor in Vienna.^[9] Economic development was boosted after construction of main Vienna to Trieste road in the 18th century. During the 19th century the town got a local court. The Austrian Southern Railway was built in 1846, but it ran 15 km (9 mi) east of Konjice. On 20 June 1892, work started on a narrow gauge (760 mm) steam railroad line called Konjičanka from Poljčane to Slovenske Konjice, which was opened on 20 December 1892. On 29 June 1921 it was extended to Zreče. It was closed in 1963, and the tracks were removed in 1970. A museum locomotive K.3 (Gonobitz), built by the Krauss factory at Linz and used on this line, is on display at the Slovenian Railway Museum in Ljubljana.

From *Mestni trg* (Town Square) towards *Stari trg* (Old Square)

Name

Over the centuries, the name Konjice appears in written documents in various forms: Gonviz (1251), Gombicz (1370), Gannabitz (1570), Gonaviz (1594), Gonavitz (1630), Gonwitz (1636), Gonowitz (1662), Ganowiz (1680), Gonnawitz (1680), and modern German Gonobitz. The adjective Slovenske was added to the Slovene name Konjice in 1934,^[10] under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in order to distinguish it from the town of Konjic in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[11]

Monuments

Konjice Castle
Trebnik Mansion
Vineyard Mansion at Škalce
St. George parish church
St. Anna Cemetery church
Žiče Charterhouse

Owners of the castle

house of Gonobitz 1148–1329
house of Wilthausen 1329–1385
house of Duino 1385–1406
lords of Walsee 1406–1469
regional princes 1496–1576
Johann von Khißl 1576–1592
Archduke Ferdinand 1594–1597
counts Tattenbach 1597–1670
Holy Roman Emperor 1670–1685
Johann and Otto Tattenbach 1685–1692
Žiče Charterhouse 1692–1783
Imperial Religious Fund (Religionsfond) 1783–1828
princes of Windisch-Grätz 1828–1945

Geography

Climate

Climate data for Slovenske Konjice (330m elev.) [1952-2022]
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	21.4 (70.5)	21.4 (70.5)	25.4 (77.7)	28.0 (82.4)	32.5 (90.5)	35.0 (95.0)	37.0 (98.6)	39.1 (102.4)	32.2 (90.0)	27.5 (81.5)	23.6 (74.5)	18.4 (65.1)	39.1 (102.4)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	4.11 (39.40)	6.45 (43.61)	10.81 (51.46)	15.66 (60.19)	20.59 (69.06)	24.03 (75.25)	25.97 (78.75)	25.45 (77.81)	21.24 (70.23)	15.92 (60.66)	9.44 (48.99)	4.93 (40.87)	15.38 (59.69)
Daily mean °C (°F)	0.17 (32.31)	1.77 (35.19)	5.46 (41.83)	9.98 (49.96)	14.69 (58.44)	18.23 (64.81)	19.76 (67.57)	18.99 (66.18)	15.11 (59.20)	10.39 (50.70)	5.38 (41.68)	1.3 (34.3)	10.10 (50.18)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−3.22 (26.20)	−2.07 (28.27)	1.08 (33.94)	5.04 (41.07)	9.32 (48.78)	12.85 (55.13)	14.26 (57.67)	13.92 (57.06)	10.52 (50.94)	6.37 (43.47)	2.09 (35.76)	−1.86 (28.65)	5.69 (42.25)
Record low °C (°F)	−22.1 (−7.8)	−21.2 (−6.2)	−19.3 (−2.7)	−5.5 (22.1)	−2.0 (28.4)	1.7 (35.1)	3.8 (38.8)	5.5 (41.9)	0.4 (32.7)	−7.8 (18.0)	−14.8 (5.4)	−20.0 (−4.0)	−22.1 (−7.8)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	49.2 (1.94)	53.69 (2.11)	58.8 (2.31)	75.63 (2.98)	96.13 (3.78)	120.91 (4.76)	121.81 (4.80)	117.03 (4.61)	115.9 (4.56)	97.28 (3.83)	90.73 (3.57)	67.58 (2.66)	1,064.69 (41.91)
Average extreme snow depth cm (inches)	17.0 (6.7)	18.23 (7.18)	12.0 (4.7)	3.0 (1.2)	2.6 (1.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	2.4 (0.9)	8.96 (3.53)	13.69 (5.39)	18.23 (7.18)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)	9.39	8.99	10.36	12.87	14.25	14.44	13.2	12.06	10.69	10.14	11.4	10.67	138.46
Average rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm)	5.19	5.2	8.0	12.4	14.23	14.44	13.2	12.06	10.66	10.08	10.37	7.41	123.24
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 mm)	5.17	4.46	3.19	0.83	0.06	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.06	1.66	4.03	19.46
Average relative humidity (%)	78.45	74.86	71.62	69.58	70.43	71.63	72.14	75.7	79.33	81.06	81.54	80.48	75.57
Average afternoon relative humidity (%)	68.53	61.25	55.73	53.69	54.59	56.42	55.94	57.14	60.75	64.52	70.52	71.62	60.89
Source: National Meteorological Service of Slovenia – Archive^[12]

Tourism

Slovenske Konjice, formerly nicknamed "The Town of Wine and Flowers", won the Pan-European Entente Florale Gold Medal Award in 1998 and 2014.^[13]^[5]
The traditional St. George festival (Jurjevanje) ranks Slovenske Konjice among Europe's Carnival Cities.

The town has been rewarded for its efforts with the national "Most Beautiful Excursion Destination" award by the Tourist Association of Slovenia^[14] for many consecutive years.

Culture

The town of Slovenske Konjice hosts an international festival of underwater film and photography named "Sprehodi pod morjem" (Walking beneath the Sea), which is held every year at the end of January (on the last Thursday of the month).^[15]

Sport

ND Dravinja Football club

Sport events

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Slovenske Konjice include:

Konrad von Hebenstreit (died 1412), archbishop of Freising
Ivan Minatti (1924–2012), Slovene poet
Branko Rudolf (1904–1987), Slovene writer
Adelma Vay (1840–1925), writer, medium, and pioneer of Spiritualism
Jure Zdovc (born 1966), Slovene basketball player and coach
Tamara Zidanšek (born 1997), Slovene tennis player

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Slovenske Konjice is twinned with:^[16]

Hlohovec, Slovakia (since 2007) Sollefteå, Sweden (since 2008) Kosjerić, Serbia (since 2009) Hranice (Přerov District), Czech Republic (since 2012) Gornja Stubica, Croatia (since 2013) Zvyozdny gorodok, Russia (since 2015) Tolfa, Italy (since 2016) Križevci, Croatia (since 2016) Szazhalombatta, Hungary (since 2016) Biograd na Moru, Croatia (since 2019)

International projects and other forms of cooperation

Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina Globasnitz, Austria Sveti Petar Orehovec, Croatia Novska, Croatia

References

^ ^a ^b "Naselje Slovenske Konjice". Statistični urad Republike Slovenije.
^ Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru, vol. 4: Štajersko. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna. 1904. p. 48.
^ Hiersche, Josef Karl (1820). Post-Handbuch für den Oesterreichischen Kaiserstaat. Vienna: J. G. Heubner. p. 72.
^ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage reference number ešd 665
^ ^a ^b ^c Barron, Yuri. 2016. The Slovenia book: top 100 destinations. Slovenske Konjice, p. 173.
^ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage reference number ešd 7864
^ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage reference number ešd 2927
^ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage reference number ešd 3380
^ Baraga Jože, Motaln Valerija, Konjiško 860 let (1146–2006) Zbornik ob 860-letnici Slovenskih Konjic, Kronologija Konjic
^ Kraljevska banska uprava Dravske banovine, 13.6.1934, Službeni list Kraljevske banske uprave Dravske banovine No 47
^ Majdič, Viktor. 2002. Imena vasi in mest v Sloveniji. Jezikoslovni zapiski 8(2): 81–92, p. 86.
^ "meteo.si - Uradna vremenska napoved za Slovenijo - Državna meteorološka služba RS - Državna meteorološka služba". meteo.arso.gov.si. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
^ "AEFP - Entente Florale Europe - Entente Florale Europe". www.entente-florale.eu. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007.
^ Tourist Association of Slovenia
^ Walking beneath the Sea – annual international festival of underwater film and video
^ http://www.slovenskekonjice.si/obcinskevsebine/241 Občina Slovenske Konjice: Prijateljska mesta. Retrieved 1 April 2019.