Slovenia (Slovenija) is a country in Central Europe that lies in the eastern Alps at the northeastern end of the Adriatic Sea. Despite its small size, with Austria to the north, Italy to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast and Croatia to the south, Slovenia has a surprising variety of terrain, ranging from the beaches of the Mediterranean to the peaks of the Julian Alps.
Regions
Cities
Other destinations
Understand
Slovenia is promoted by the Slovenian Tourist Board and the Slovenian Government.
History
Slavic ancestors of Slovenians came from eastern parts of Europe and inhabitated territory a bit northern from present Slovenian territory in 6. century AD. They established a state called Caranthania (Karantanija in Slovene), which was an early example of parliamentary democracy in Europe. The ruler (knez in Slovene) was elected by popular vote. The Caranthanians were later defeated by Bavarians and Franks who subordinated them. They were christianized, but they preserved many rituals of their pagan religion, and above all they preserved their native language. The Slovene lands were part of the Holy Roman Empire and Austria under Habsburg dinasty until 1918 when the Slovenes joined the Serbs and Croats in forming a new south-Slavic state ruled by Serbian Karadjordjević dynasty called Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians ("Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev" in Slovene), renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. In WWII Slovenia was occupied by Germans, Italians and Hungarians. Parallel civil war between pro-communist liberation formation (Partizani) and catholic anticommunist formations (Belogardisti, Domobranci) which collaborated with occupation forces was taking place. The victory of allies and consequentlly the Partizans resulted in massive exodus and massacre of members of anticommunist formations. After World War II, Slovenia became a republic of the renewed Yugoslavia, which though Communist, distanced itself from Moscow's rule. Dissatisfied with the exercise of power of the majority Serbs, the Slovenes succeeded in establishing their independence in 1991 with minimal bloodshed. In 2004, Slovenia joined the European Union and NATO.
; Independence : 25 June 1991 (from Yugoslavia)
; National holiday : Statehood Day, 25 June (1991); Independence and Unity Day, 26 December (1990)
; Constitution : adopted 23 December 1991, effective 23 December 1991
Historical ties to Western Europe, a strong economy, and a stable democracy make Slovenia a leading country among the new members of the EU and NATO.
Culture
For a pint-sized country Slovenes are fiercely proud of their culture. Two names you will run into over and over again are national poet France Prešeren (1800-1849), who penned (among other things) the Slovenian national anthem, and the architect Jože Plečnik (1857-1957), credited with Ljubljana's iconic Tromostovje bridges and, seemingly, half the modern buildings in the country. In modern times, industrial band Laibach (see box) has served to put Slovenia on the map.
Climate
Mediterranean climate on the coast, continental climate with mild to hot summers and cold winters in the plateaus and valleys to the east.
Terrain
A short coastal strip on the Adriatic, an Alpine mountain region adjacent to Italy and Austria, mixed mountain and valleys with numerous rivers to the east. Central Ljubljana valley with Ljubljana marshes in the southern part. In the southwest there is the Karst (Kras in Slovene) (where the name for karst topography actually comes from).
; Natural hazards : flooding and earthquakes
; highest point: Triglav 2,864 m
; lowest point: Adriatic sea 0 m
Get in
As Slovenia is a member country of the European Union, citizens from other member states can enter Slovenia with a valid passport or a valid identity card.
By bus
The Ljubljana Bus Station (Avtobusna Postaja Ljubljana) provides composite information about international and airport bus services. Phone: 090 93 42 30 (inland only) English Website: http://ap-ljubljana.si/eng/
By plane
Slovenia's primary international airport is Ljubljana Brnik which is around 25 km north of Ljubljana, the capital. The airport is the hub of national carrier Adria Airways, which flies to most major European cities and various Balkan destinations. The cheapest ways in, though, are via easyJet's daily flight from London Stansted or Wizz Air's services to London Luton and Brussels.
Ryanair runs 3 flights per week from London Stansted to Maribor.
Another convenient gateway especially to western Slovenia is via Italy's Trieste airport which is but an hour's drive from Ljubljana via super highway. Klagenfurt, in Austria, is also an option.
By train
Slovenia is well connected to all its neighbors by train. The most popular routes connect from Wien or Villach in Austria (in good weather, this journey past the Julian Alps is spectacular), from Venice in Italy, from Budapest in Hungary and from Zagreb in Croatia. All lines converge on the capital Ljubljana.
By car
Slovenia has an excellent highway network connected to neighboring countries.
From Austria
From Italy
By boat
Get around
Slovenia is a small country — there are no domestic flights — and getting around is generally quick and painless. However, the explosive growth in car ownership has meant tougher times for public transport, and bus schedules in particular have been slashed, so some planning ahead is required. Services are sparse on Saturdays and very limited indeed on Sundays.
By train
Slovenia's train network, operated by Slovenske železnice (SZ) will get you to most destinations in the country, although there are some annoying gaps in the network and routes can be circuitous, so going from anywhere to anywhere usually requires a transfer in Ljubljana. Trains are, however, some 30% cheaper than buses and return discounts are available on weekends. Buy tickets before you board, as there's a surcharge for any tickets bought from the conductor. A €1.20 surcharge also applies to any InterCity trains.
Quite a bit of money and effort has been put into modernizing the system and the newest trains are as nice as anything you'll find in Western Europe, but the stations themselves are often not quite up to scratch. In particular, the name of the station is typically only visible on a single sign on the station building itself, so figuring out where you are means craning your neck a lot. Trains are punctual though, so check the expected arrival time and some previous station names to be sure where to get off. For figuring out your next train from a station, electronic signboards are a rarity (outside Ljubljana), but printed schedules are always available: odhod (yellow) means departures, while prihod (white) is arrivals.
By bus
Buses fill in the gaps, and may be a better option for some towns not directly served from Ljubljana by train (eg. Bled, Piran). Some bigger stations have handy electronic search engines for schedules and fares.
By car
Slovenia's roads are for the most part well maintained and well signposted, and you won't have a problem if you drive or hire a car. Having a car certainly does add a level of mobility and self direction that you won't get by train or bus.
By taxi
Talk
Slovenian, the national language, is spoken as mother tongue by 91% of the population, but there are also significant Italian (concentrated on the Primorska coast) and Hungarian (in Prekmurje to the northeast) minorities. Most people you come into contact with as a tourist, especially younger ones, will speak English, and if not they'll almost certainly speak either Italian or German or both.
Buy
Slovenia entered the Eurozone on January 1st, 2007 and now utilises the euro (€, EUR) as its currency, having previously used the Slovenian tolar (SIT).
Prices are high compared to most Eastern European countries (except Croatia), but generally a bit lower (but not by much) compared to Italy or Austria.
A value-added tax (VAT) of 20% is charged on most purchases—this is always included in the price displayed. Note that if you are not an EU citizen, you are entitled to VAT tax return for purchases over a certain value. Ask the cashier to write down your name on your bill (racun) and show this bill when you leave Slovenia through Brnik airport, or any of the main border crossings with Croatia.
Tipping
The flip side to the near-disappearance of Communist-style "service with a snarl" is that tips for service are now generally expected at sit-down restaurants, with 10% considered standard.
Eat
Not too many people come to Slovenia for the food, but with Italian, Hungarian and Balkan influences most people will find something to their liking — unless they're strict vegetarians.
Cuisine
Generally speaking, Slovenian food is heavy, meaty and plain. A typical three-course meal starts with a soup (juha), often just beef or chicken broth with egg noodles, and then a meat dish served with potatoes (krompir) and a vinegary fresh salad (solata). Fresh bread (kruh) is often served on the side and is uniformly delicious.
Common mains include cutlets (zrezek), sausage (klobasa) and goulash (golaž), all usually prepared from pork, but there is a large choice of fish (ribe) and seafood even further away from the coast. Popular Italian imports include all sorts of pasta (testenine), pizza (pica), ravioli (žlikrofi) and risotto (rižota). A major event in the countryside still today is the slaughtering of a pig from which many various products are made: blood sausage, roasts, stuffed tripe, smoked sausage, salami (salama), ham (šunka) and bacon. Recipes for the preparation of poultry, especially turkey (puran), goose (gos), duck, and capon, have been preserved for many centuries. Chicken (piščanec) is surprisingly uncommon. Squid is fairly common and reasonably priced.
Uniquely Slovenian dishes are available, but you won't find them on every menu, so here are some to look out for:
Some Slovenian desserts can also be found:
Places to eat
At the top of the food chain is the restavracija, a fancy restaurant with waiters and tablecloths. More common in the countryside are the gostilna and gostišče, rustic inns serving hearty Slovene fare. Lunch sets (dnevno kosilo) cost around €7 for three courses (soup, salad and main) and are usually good value.
Fast food, invariably cheap, greasy and (more often than not) terrible — it's best to steer clear of the local mutation of the hamburger — is served up in grills and snack bars known as bife or okrepčevalnica, where trying to pronounce the name alone can cause indigestion. Greasy Balkan grills like pljeskavica (a spiced-up hamburger patty) and čevapčiči (spicy meatballs) are ubiquitous, but one of the more tasty if not healthy options is the Bosnian speciality burek, a large, flaky pastry stuffed with meat (mesni), cheese (sirni) or apple (jabolčni), often sold for as little as €2.
Dietary restrictions
Slovenia is not the easiest of places for a vegetarian, although even the smokiest inn can usually whip up a decent fresh salad (solata) on request. Some dumplings and other dishes with cheese (sir) are vegetarian, and in the cities the Mediterranean chick-pea staple falafel and its cousin the vegiburger have made some inroads on fast-food menus.
Drink
In proper Slovene style, all bases are covered for drinks and you can get very good Slovenian beers, wines and spirits. Tap water is generally drinkable.
Coffee and tea
In Slovenia, coffee (kava) usually means a tiny cup of strong espresso, and cafes (kavarna) are a common sight with a basic cuppa costing around €1. Tea (čaj) is nowhere near as popular and, if they do drink it, Slovenes prefer all sorts of fruit-flavored and herbal teas over a basic black cuppa.
Beer
Beer (pivo) is the most popular tipple and the main brands are Laško and Union. An inside tip would be Adam Ravbar beer, which is usually hard to find anywhere except in their small brewery. A bottle or jug will cost you on the order of €1.5 in a pub (pivnica). Ask for veliko (large) for 0.5L and malo (small) for 0.3L.
Wine
Despite what you might think if you've ever sampled an exported sickly sweet Riesling, Slovenian wine (vino) can be quite good — they keep the best stuff for themselves. Generally, the Goriška brda region produces the best reds and the drier whites (in a more Italian/French style), while the Štajerska region produces the best semi-dry to sweet whites, which cater more to the German/Austrian-type of palate. Other local specialities worth sampling are Teran, a very dry red from the Kras region, and Cviček, a red so dry and light it's almost a rosé. Wine is usually priced and ordered by the decilitre (deci, pronounced "de-tsee"), with a deci around one euro and a normal glass containing about two deci.
Spirits
A Slovene brandy known as žganje, not unlike the Hungarian palinka, can be distilled from almost any fruit. Medeno žganje also known as medica has been sweetened with honey.
Sleep
Hostels
There are many hostels in and around Ljubljana, the average price for a basic bed in a dorm was around 10-20euros but places seemed to accept Hostelling International Cards (YHA cards are accepted). Information on where to find youth hostels is very easily available from the Tourist Information offices.
Amongst the best hostels around Slovenia can be found in the Triglav National Park where there are many 'Mountain Huts' which are very warm, welcoming and friendly. Again, information about these huts can be found at tourist information offices who will also help you plan your walks around the area and phone the hostels to book them for you. The only way to get to the huts is by foot, and expect a fair bit of walking up hills, as the lowest huts are around 700m up. There are clear signs/information around stating how long it will take to travel to/between all the huts indicated in hours.
Camping
Camping is not permitted in the national parks of Slovenia, but there are various camping grounds. It's advisable to take a camping mat of some sort, as nice, comfortable grass is a luxury at camp sites and you're much more likely to find pitches consisting of small stones.
Things to do
Activity Holidays
There are many great opportunities for activity holidays in Slovenia: The mountains and rivers of the Julian Alps provide the perfect location for hiking, mountain biking, rafting and kayaking.
Learn
Slovenia has three universities (Ljubljana, Maribor, Koper)
and several independent colleges (BSA Kranj, IEDC Bled, Politehnika Nova Gorica...). The University of Ljubljana also contains 3 art academies: Theater and Film, Music, Fine Arts.
Work
It's possible for English-speaking graduates to get work in a Slovene school teaching English for around a year in a scheme similar to Japan's JET programme.
Stay safe
Phone Nr.: Emergency 112
Phone Nr.: Police 113
NOTE: Slovenia is most likely one of the safest countries to visit, but to be aware of your surroundings.
TIVOLI PARK (Ljubljana): The park is generally very safe, and a great place to take an afternoon stroll, but rapes have been reported in Tivoli park after dark, and flashers are know to hang around the Eastern side of the Park across from the student dormitories. Horse mounted police patrol the park.
DISCOTEQUES: People may get a bit aggressive in crowded bars, and it's not uncommon to be grabbed or groped.
Stay healthy
There are no unusual health concerns in Slovenia. Hygience standards are generally high and tap water is potable.
Respect
Slovenians are a bit more reserved than neighboring nations but after first contact they get quite open and helping. Don't hesitate to address people. People younger than 50 at least understand English if not speak and they will be eager to help you. You will impress them when using some basic Slovene words. Slovene is rarely spoken by foreigners, so your effort will be appreciated and rewarded.
Slovenians are proud of the fact that they preserved their national identity (especially the language) in spite of the pressures from neighbouring non-Slavic nations in past centuries.
Due to their economic successs and historical as well as contemporary cultural bonds to the west they don't like their country to be described as part of "Eastern Europe". Another common misconception is that Slovenia was part of the Soviet Bloc (in fact it was part of Yugoslavia that notoriously split with the Soviets back in 1948). People have no problems talking about the communist period and get often nostalgic over it. They are also proud that they were the first of the federal republics to declare independence from Yugoslavia.
There are some open territorial issues with Croatia. Be careful if entering a discussion on this subject. Nationalists take it quite emotionally! Another delicate issue is Slovenian civil war during WWII. This national tragedy is still painful for many Slovenians. Try to stay neutral if discussing it.
Practical advice:
- If you are invited to dinner to someone's home bring a bottle of good wine. You will often be asked if you want to change to slippers when you arrive. You should accept it. It's a gesture of hospitality. It's expected to give a compliment to a cook. Do it before you are asked if you liked the meal!
- It's normal that you shake your hand when introduced to someone. Don't try to make a kiss when introduced. It might be considered intrusive.
- Always use formal forms ("vikanje" in Slovene) in any language you use when addressing elderly people. Otherwise some might not want to talk to you.
- Slovenian Alps (especially the highest peak Triglav) are in the heart of every Slovenian. Don't litter unless you want to listen to unpleasant comments. It's common to greet people you meet in the mountains in Slovene (Dober dan) and when you part you say Good luck (Srečno). You can expect people you meet to be very friendly and helpful to you. There is a strong spirit of camaraderie in the mountains.
- In most Slovenian households it is customary to take off one's shoes. This is a habit prevailing in most of Central Europe, maybe because of general cleanliness, but also because grit and slush from the pavements can cause havoc to a flat in winter.
- It is polite to let your wrists or hands rest on the table, but not your elbows.
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, ), is a coastal Alpine country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy on the west, the Adriatic Sea on the southwest, Croatia on the south and east, Hungary on the northeast, and Austria on the north. The capital of Slovenia is Ljubljana.
At various points in Slovenia's history, the country has been part of the Roman Empire, the Duchy of Carantania (only modern Slovenia's northern part), the Holy Roman Empire, Austria-Hungary, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929) between the World Wars, and the SFR of Yugoslavia from 1945 until gaining independence in 1991. Slovenia is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, NATO, and has observer status in La Francophonie.
History
Slavic ancestors of the present-day Slovenians settled in the area in the sixth century. The Slavic Duchy of Carantania was formed in the seventh century. In 745, Carantania lost its independence, being largely subsumed into the Frankish empire. Many Slavs converted to Christianity.
The Freising manuscripts, the earliest surviving written documents in a Slovenian dialect and the first ever Slavic document in Latin script, were written around 1000. During the fourteenth century, most of Slovenia's regions passed into ownership of the Habsburgs whose lands later formed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with Slovenians inhabiting all or most of the provinces of Carniola, Gorizia and Gradisca, and parts of the provinces of Istria, Carinthia and Styria.
In 1848, a strong programme for a United Slovenia (Zedinjena Slovenija) emerged as part of the Spring of Nations movement within Austria.
During World War I several fronts were opened between the belligerent countries in Europe. After the Italian attack on Austro-Hungary the south-west front was opened, part of which was also The Isonzo Front. The name itself indicates that it ran along the river of Isonzo (Italian name for the Soča), with the greatest part on the present territory of Slovenia.
With the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918, Slovenians initially formed part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which shortly joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed (1929) the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Following the re-establishment of Yugoslavia at the end of World War II, Slovenia became a part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, officially declared on 29 November 1945. Present-day Slovenia was formed on 25 June 1991 upon its independence from Yugoslavia, gained in the Ten-Day War. Slovenia joined NATO on 29 March 2004 and the European Union on 1 May 2004. Slovenia will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2008.
Politics
The Slovenian head of state is the president, who is elected by popular vote every five years. The executive branch is headed by the prime minister and the council of ministers or cabinet, which are elected by the parliament.
The bicameral Parliament of Slovenia consists of the National Assembly (Državni zbor), and the National Council (Državni svet). The National Assembly has ninety seats, which are partially filled with directly elected representatives, and partially with proportionally elected representatives (two seats reserved for autochthonous Hungarian and Italian minorities). The National Council has forty seats, and is made up of representatives of social, economic, professional and local interest groups. Parliamentary elections are held every four years.
Administrative divisions
Traditional regions
As given by Enciklopedija Slovenije (Encyclopedia of Slovenia), traditional Slovenian regions, based on the former division of Slovenia into four Habsburg crown lands (Carniola, Carinthia, Styria, and the Littoral) and their parts, are:
The government, however, is preparing a plan for new administrative regions. The number of these regions is not yet defined, but is said to be between twelve and fourteen. After being unveiled publicly, the plan will undergo parliamentary debate. Constitutional changes allowing the creation of regions have already been approved by the National Assembly. If, however, twelve administrative regions are favored, they will most likely be the same as those already in place.
On 24 May 2007 the government announced the following 14 regions: Gorica (Sln. Goriška), Littoral (Sln. Primorska), Upper Carniola (Sln. Gorenjska), Inner Carniola (Sln. Notranjska), Central Slovenia (Sln. Osrednjeslovenska), Lower Carniola (Sln. Dolenjska), Carinthia (Sln. Koroška), Savinja-Šalek (Sln. Savinjsko-Šaleška), Central Sava (Sln. Zasavska), Savinja (Sln. Savinjska), Sava Valley (Sln. Posavska), Drava Valley (Sln. Podravska), Lower Drava Valley (Sln. Spodnjepodravska), Mura Valley (Sln. Pomurska). Certain names overlap with traditional regions (e.g., Upper Carniola, Gorenjska) but do not completely correspond with these in territory. All of the Slovenian names are feminine adjectives because they modify the feminine noun pokrajina 'region'.
Municipalities
Slovenia is divided into 210 municipalities (občine, singular občina), of which eleven have urban status.
Geography
Four major European geographic regions meet in Slovenia: the Alps, the Dinarides, the Pannonian plain, and the Mediterranean. Slovenia's highest peak is Triglav (2,864 m; 9,396 ft); the country's average height above the sea level is 557 metres (1,827 ft). Around one half of the country (11,691 km²; 4,514 sq mi) is covered by forests; this makes Slovenia the third most forested country in Europe, after Finland and Sweden. Remnants of primeval forests are still to be found, the largest in the Kočevje area. Grassland covers 5,593 square kilometres (2,159 sq mi) of the country and fields and gardens 2,471 square kilometres (954 sq mi). There are also 363 square kilometres (140 sq mi) of orchards and 216 square kilometres (83 sq mi) of vineyards.
Its climate is Submediterranean on the coast, Alpine in the mountains and continental with mild to hot summers and cold winters in the plateaus and valleys to the east. The average temperatures are -2°C (28°F) in January and 21°C (70°F) in July. The average rainfall is 1,000 millimetres (39.4 in) for the coast, up to 3,500 millimetres (137.8 in) for the Alps, 800 millimetres (31.5 in) for south east and 1,400 millimetres (55.1 in)for central Slovenia.
Although located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, most of Slovenia is in the Black Sea drainage basin. The geometric center of gravity of Slovenia is located at the geographic coordinates 46°07'11,8" N and 14°48'55,2" E. It lies in Spodnja Slivna near Vače in the municipality of Litija.
Economy
Slovenia has a high-income developed economy which enjoys the highest GDP per capita ($25,266 in 2007) of the newly joined EU countries, or around 86% of the EU average. The country's relatively high rate of inflation declined to 2.3% by 2006 and is now comparable to the average in the European Union. Slovenia's economy has started to grow more strongly in the last few years (7.2% in first quarter of 2007, 5.2% in 2006, 4.0% in 2005), after relatively slow growth in 2003 (2.7%). Overall, the country is on a sound economic footing.
During 2000, privatisations were seen in the banking, telecommunications, and public utility sectors. Restrictions on foreign investment are slowly being dismantled, and foreign direct investment (FDI) is expected to increase over the next few years. Slovenia is the economic front-runner of the countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and was the first new member to adopt the euro as the country's only currency on 1 January 2007. Moreover, Slovenia will also be the first new member state to hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2008.
Demographics
Slovenia's main ethnic group is Slovenians (84%). Nationalities from the former Yugoslavia (Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks & Muslims by nationality) form 6.3% and the Hungarian, Italian and Roma minorities 0.6% of the population. Ethnic affiliation of 8.9% was either undeclared or unknown. Life expectancy in 2003 was 72.2 years for men and 80 years for women.
With 99 inhabitants per square kilometre (256/sq mi), Slovenia ranks low among the European countries in population density (compare with 320/km² (829/sq mi) for the Netherlands or 195/km² (505/sq mi) for Italy). The Notranjsko-kraška region has the lowest population density while the Osrednjeslovenska region has the highest. Approximately 51% of the population lives in urban areas and 49% in rural areas.
The official language is Slovenian, which is a member of the South Slavic language group. Hungarian and Italian enjoy the status of official languages in the ethnically mixed regions along the Hungarian and Italian border.
By religion, Slovenians have traditionally been largely Roman Catholic. Before the communist era, as much as 88% of Slovenians were Roman Catholic, while by 1991 this had dropped to 71.6%, and the number of followers is still falling (57.8% in 2002).
Culture
Slovenia's first book was printed by the Protestant reformer Primož Trubar (1508-1586). It was actually two books, Catechismus (a catechism) and Abecedarium, which was published in 1550 in Tübingen, Germany.
The central part of the country, namely Carniola (which existed as a part of Austria-Hungary until the early twentieth century) was ethnographically and historically well-described in the book The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (Die Ehre deß Herzogthums Crain, Slava vojvodine Kranjske), published in 1689 by Baron Janez Vajkard Valvasor (1641-1693).
Slovenia's two greatest writers were the poet France Prešeren (1800-1849) and writer Ivan Cankar (1876-1918). The most important Slovenian painters are Ivana Kobilca and impressionist Rihard Jakopič. The most famed Slovenian architect is Jože Plečnik who worked in Vienna as well as in Prague.
Slovenia is a homeland of numerous musicians and composers, including Renaissance composer Jacobus Gallus (1550-1591), who greatly influenced Central European classical music. In the twentieth century, Bojan Adamič was a renowned film music composer.
Contemporary popular musicians have been Slavko Avsenik, Laibach, Vlado Kreslin, Zoran Predin, Pero Lovšin, Silence, New Swing Quartet, DJ Umek, Melodrom, Siddharta, Magnifico and others.
Slovenian cinema has more than a century-long tradition with Karol Grossmann, Janko Ravnik, Ferdo Delak, France Štiglic, Mirko Grobler, Igor Pretnar, France Kosmač, Jože Pogačnik, Matjaž Klopčič, Jane Kavčič, Jože Gale, Boštjan Hladnik and Karpo Godina as its most established filmmakers. Contemporary film directors Janez Burger, Jan Cvitkovič, Damjan Kozole, Janez Lapajne and Maja Weiss are most notable representatives of the so-called "Renaissance of Slovenian cinema".
Slovenia's learned men include chemist and Nobel prize laureate Friderik Pregl, physicist Jožef Stefan, philosopher Slavoj Žižek, linguist Franc Miklošič, physician Anton Marko Plenčič, mathematician Jurij Vega, rocket engineer and pioneer of cosmonautics Herman Potočnik.
Biodiversity
Although Slovenia is a small country, there is an exceptionally wide variety of habitats. In the north of Slovenia are the Alps (namely, Julian Alps, Karavanke, Kamnik Alps), and in the south stand the Dinarides. There is also a small area of the Pannonian plain and a Littoral Region. Much of southwestern Slovenia is characterized by Kras, also known as the Classical Karst, a very rich, often unexplored underground habitat containing diverse flora and fauna. The English word karst, used generically for this type of topography, derives from this region.
Half of the country (about 58%) is covered by forests. These forests are an important natural resource, but they are also valuable for the preservation of natural diversity. An ecological asset like all forests, they enrich the soil and cleanse the water and air. Slovenians find the social benefits of tourism and recreation. The forests also lend their natural beauty to the Slovenian landscape. In the interior of the country there are typical Central European forests. The predominant trees are oaks and beeches. In the mountains, spruce, fir, and pine are more common. The tree-line is at 1,700 to 1,800 metres (or 5,575 to 5,900 feet).
Pinetrees also grow on the Karst plateau. Only one third of Kras (Karst) is now covered by pine forest. It is said that most of the forest was chopped down long ago to provide the wooden pylons on which the city of Venice now stands. The Karst and White Carniola are well known for the mysterious proteus. The lime/linden tree, also common in Slovenian forests, is a national symbol.
In the Alps, flowers such as Daphne blagayana, various gentians (Gentiana clusii, Gentiana froelichi), Primula auricula, Edelweiss (the symbol of Slovenian mountaineering), Cypripedium calceolus, Fritillaria meleagris (Snakes's head), and Pulsatilla grandis are found.
The country's fauna includes marmots (introduced), steinbocks, and chamois. There are numerous deer, roe deer, boars, and hares. The edible dormouse is often found in the Slovenian beech forests. Hunting these animals is a long tradition and is well described in the book The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (Slava vojvodine Kranjske) (1689), written by Janez Vajkard Valvasor (1641-1693). Some important carnivores include the Eurasian lynx (reintroduced to the Kočevje area in 1973), European wild cats, foxes (especially the red fox), and the rare jackal. There are also hedgehogs, martens, and snakes such as vipers and grass snakes. As of March 2005, Slovenia also has a limited population of wolves and around four hundred brown bears.
There is a wide variety of birds, such as the tawny owl, the long-eared owl, the Eagle Owl, hawks, and Short-toed Eagles. Various other birds of prey have been recorded, as well as a growing number of ravens, crows and magpies migrating into Ljubljana and Maribor where they thrive. Other birds include (both black and green) woodpeckers and the white stork which nests in Prekmurje.
The indigenous Slovenian fish is the Marmorata, a type of trout. Extensive breeding programs have been introduced to repopulate the Marmorata into lakes and streams invaded by non-indigenous species of trout. The only regular species of cetaceans found in the northern Adriatic sea is the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).
Domestic animals originating in Slovenia include the Carniolan honeybee, the indigenous Karst Sheepdog and the Lipizzan horse. The exploration of various cave systems has yielded discoveries of many cave-dwelling insects and other organisms.
Slovenia is a veritable cornucopia of forest, cavern and mountain-dwelling wildlife. Many species that are endangered or can no longer be found in other parts of Europe can still be found here.
Education
The Slovenian education system consists of:
Specific parts of the system:
Currently there are four universities in Slovenia:
; Geography
; Institutions
External links
; General information
; Culture
; Institutions
; Slovenian web search engines and directories
