Celje

Celje Cilli
Celje from Celje Castle in 2016 Celje Hall St. Cecilia's church Celje Cathedral Celje National Hall Old Count Manor
Celje
Town rights	11 April 1451
Districts & local communities	List Districts Center Dečkovo naselje Dolgo polje Gaberje Hudinja Karel Destovnik Kajuh Lava Nova vas Savinja Slavko Šlander Local communities Aljažev hrib Ljubečna Medlog Ostrožno Pod gradom Škofja vas Šmartno v Rožni dolini Teharje Trnovlje
Government
• Mayor	Matija Kovač
Area
• Total	22.7 km2 (8.8 sq mi)
Elevation Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia , census of 2002.

Celje (pronounced

Celje was known as Celeia during the Roman period. Early attestations of the name during or following Slavic settlement include Cylia in 452, ecclesiae Celejanae in 579, Zellia in 824, in Cilia in 1310, Cilli in 1311, and Celee in 1575. The proto-Slovene name *Ceľe or *Celьje, from which modern Slovene Celje developed, was borrowed from Vulgar Latin Celeae. The name is of pre-Roman origin and its further etymology is unclear.^[4] In the local Slovene dialect, Celje is called Cjele or Cele. In German it is called Cilli, and it is known in Italian as Cilli or Celie.

History

Early history

The first settlement in the area of Celje appeared during the

Once the area was incorporated in the

The city was razed by

After the Counts of Celje died out in 1456, the region was inherited by the

At the end of the 19th century and in the early 20th century, Celje was a center of German nationalism which had repercussions for Slovenes. The 1910 census showed that 66.8% of the population was German.^[6] A symbol of this was the German Cultural Center (German: Deutsches Haus), built in 1906 and opened on 15 May 1907, today it is Celje Hall (Slovene: Celjski dom). The centuries-old German name of the town, Cilli, sounded no longer German enough to some German residents, the form Celle being preferred by many.

Population growth was steady during this period. In 1900, Celje had 6,743 inhabitants and by 1924 this had grown to 7,750. The

Celje was occupied by Nazi Germany in April 1941. The Gestapo arrived in Celje on 16 April 1941 and were followed three days later by SS leader Heinrich Himmler, who inspected Stari pisker prison. During the war, the city suffered from allied bombing, aimed at important communication lines and military installations. The National Hall was severely damaged.

The toll of the war on the city was heavy. The city (including nearby towns) had a pre-war population of 20,000 and lost 575 people during the war, mostly between the ages of 20 and 30. More than 1,500 people were deported to

The parish church, dating from the 14th century, with its beautiful Gothic chapel, is an interesting specimen of medieval architecture. The so-called German church, in Romanesque style, belonged to the monastery, which was closed in 1808. The throne of the counts of Cilli is preserved here, and also the tombs of several members of the family.^[7]

Geography

Climate

Celje has an Oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb).

Symbols

The coat of arms of Celje are based on the coat of arms of the Counts of Celje.

The coat-of-arms of Celje was selected for the national arms immediately after

• Slovenes: 33,434 (82.1%)
• Serbs: 1,864 (4.6%)
• Croats: 1,687 (4.1%)
• ethnic Muslims
  : 466 (1.1%)
• Yugoslavs: 405 (1%)
• Albanians: 189
• Macedonians: 140
• Montenegrins
  : 93
• Hungarians: 41
• Others: 82
• Unknown: 1,972 (4.8%)
• Undeclared: 249
• Regionally declared: 88

Education

Celje does not have its own university, although some college-level education has been established in the city.

• The Faculty of Logistics, formally part of the University of Maribor, was established in Celje in 2005.
• International School for Social and Business Studies
• Faculty of Commercial and Business Sciences
• UP Faculty of Management

Law and government

Mayor

The current^[when?] mayor of Celje is Matija Kovač.^{[citation needed]}

Vice mayors

The current vice mayors of Celje are Saša Kundih, Samo Seničar and Uroš Lesjak.^{[citation needed]}

Courts

In Celje there are three courts of general jurisdiction:

• Celje Higher Court;
• Celje District Court;
• Celje Local Court.

In addition to that there are also Celje Labour Court for resolving labour law disputes and an external department of Administrative Court for resolving disputes arising from administrative procedures.

Communications

Postal number: SI-3000 (from 1991). (Old one: 63000 (between 1945–1991)).

Twin towns – sister cities

Celje is twinned with^[12]

Celje also cooperates with Cherepovets in Russia and has informal friendly relations with Graz and Spittal an der Drau in Austria.^[12]

Notable people

• Anna of Celje
  (1381–1416), second wife of Jogaila, king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania
• Hollywood
  actress and model
• Barbara of Celje
  (1390/1395–1451), second wife of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
• Trude Breitschopf [de] (1915–2001), film actress
• Gregor Cankar (born 1975), athlete
• Jolanda Čeplak (born 1976), athlete
• Anica Černej (1900–1944), poet, author, and schoolmistress
• Janez Drnovšek (1950–2008), politician, statesman, and third president of Slovenia
• Janez Drozg (1933–2005), television director
• Dejan Glavnik (born 1975), Slovenian extreme cyclist
• Damjana Golavšek [sl] (born 1964), singer
• Bojan Gorišek (born 1962), pianist
• Hermann II of Celje
  (1365–1435), Count of Celje, Ortenburg and Seger
• Andrej Hieng (1925–2000), writer, playwright, screenwriter and dramaturgist
• Andrej Inkret [sl] (1943–2015), critic, essayist, theatrologist and dramaturgist
• Romana Jordan Cizelj (born 1966), physicist and politician
• Boban Jović (born 1991), footballer
• Jelko Kacin (born 1955), politician
• Alma Karlin (1889–1950), traveller, author, poet, and collector
• Margareta of Celje (1411–1480), noblewoman member of the House of Celje, duchess of Głogów and Ścinawa.
• Margit Korondi (born 1932), gymnast, Olympic champion
• Janez K. Lapajne [sl] (1937–2012), geophysicist and seismologist^[13]
• Janez Lapajne (born 1967), film director
• Marianne Elisabeth Lloyd-Dolbey (1919-1994), personal secretary to the Brunei sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III
• Janko Orožen (1891–1989), historian, honorary citizen
• Oto Pestner (born 1956), musician and singer
• Milan Pogačnik (born 1946), politician
• Lucija Polavder (born 1984), judoka
• Elza Premšak [sl] (1914–1947), worker, victim of the communist regime
• Fran Roš (1898–1976), writer, poet, playwright, honorary citizen
• Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804–1875), archeologist, poet, storyteller and dramatist
• Bina Štampe Žmavc (born 1952), poet and author
• Tina Trstenjak (born 1990), judoka, Olympic champion
• Beno Udrih (born 1982), basketball player
• Bogumil Vošnjak (1882–1955), scholar, politician, diplomat
• Urška Žolnir (born 1981), judoka, Olympic champion

Gallery

• 
  The Celje Ceiling from the Old's Counts Mansion (17th century)
• 
  Stane Street, with the cathedral in the background
• 
  An old postcard of the railway station in front, Celje Hall on the right, and the Iron Court (Železni dvor, Eisenhof) on the far left
• 
  The

  town hall, (Jan Vladimír Hráský

  , 1895–1896)
• 
  The Celje Hall (Celjski dom), (Peter Paul Brang, 1905–1906)
• 
  The Celje Water Tower, part of the town walls, built after 1451
• 
  Upper Celje Castle, viewed from the banks of the Savinja River in Pečovnik toward the northeast
• 
  View over Celje from Old town castle

References

External links

• Media related to Celje at Wikimedia Commons
• Celje on Geopedia
• Celje travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Official website
• CeljeCafe.com unofficial website (in Slovene)