Dravograd

Coordinates: 46°35′25″N 15°1′25″E / 46.59028°N 15.02361°E / 46.59028; 15.02361
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Dravograd
From top, left to right: Overview of Dravograd, St. Vitus' Church, Post Office, St. John's Church from Dravograd castle, Railway Station, Town center
Carinthia
Statistical regionCarinthia
MunicipalityDravograd
Area
 • Total2.40 km2 (0.93 sq mi)
Elevation
390.4 m (1,280.8 ft)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total3,088
 • Density1,300/km2 (3,300/sq mi)
Vehicle registrationSG
[1]

Dravograd (pronounced

Carinthia[4] and the larger Carinthia Statistical Region
.

History

From 976 onwards the Dravograd area was part of the Duchy of Carinthia. The German name Unterdrauburg denoted the place where the Drava River left Carinthia and flowed into the neighbouring Duchy of Styria. It corresponded with Oberdrauburg up the river at Carinthia's western border with the County of Tyrol. The name Dravograd was invented during the Slovene national revival in the 19th century. Previously, the local Slovene name of the town was Traberk, a derivative of the German name Drauburg. The 19th century was a period of national awakening of the Carinthian Slovenes, and also of the rise of competing nationalisms: Slovene and German.

After the dissolution of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the later Yugoslavia
).

In the

Nazi movement started penetrating the German community in Dravograd, triggering the reaction of the Slovene majority. Physical violence between the pro-Nazi organization and the local section of the Sokol movement were common. In 1939 and in 1940, two mass anti-Nazi rallies were held in the municipality of Dravograd, organized by patriotic and nationalist Slovene organizations, mostly of left-wing
orientation.

In April 1941, after the

Military Administration in Serbia. Local Slovene political activists were either executed or deported to Nazi concentration camps. In July 1941, the local artist Franjo Golob organized an underground anti-Nazi resistance cell, which was however soon discovered. Violent repression followed, which hindered the further development of anti-German resistance in this area. In mid-1943, the Yugoslav Partisans resistance movement started taking roots in the Dravograd area, which grew stronger by 1944, despite the brutal repressions of the Nazi authorities. Upon the German Instrument of Surrender and the nearby Battle of Poljana
on 14/15 May 1945, the whole area was controlled by the Partisans.

In the

Ten Day War
of Slovenian independence in June and July 1991, some fighting took place in the Dravograd area. [5]

Sights

copperplate engraving

Ruins of the old Dravograd castle (also referred to as Castrum Trahburck) overlook the town from the hill above the area of old

Habsburgs in 1355, the Counts of Celje
in 1387, and again the Habsburgs in 1456).

The parish church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist and belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maribor. It was first mentioned in written documents dating to the late 14th century. It was rebuilt in 1520 and in 1621. The current church is Baroque with a characteristic onion dome on its belfry.[2][7] A second church in the town is dedicated to Saint Vitus and is a late 12th-century Romanesque building.[8]

Lake Dravograd (Slovene: Dravograjsko jezero, Črneško jezero)[9]: 75–76 [10] is a reservoir upstream from the hydroelectric power plant, between Dravograd and Črneče. It is an important natural habitat included in Natura 2000.[9][10][11]

Transportation

The Dravograd railway station is on the Drautalbahn railway line from Maribor to Innichen (San Candido) in Italy, opened in 1863. Highway No. 3 leading from Maribor to the Austrian border runs through the town, where highway No. 10-10 to Celje branches off.

Dravograd Hydroelectric Power Plant

Hydroelectric power plant in Dravograd

The power plant on the Drava River was built by the Germans during the Second World War, between 1941 and 1944.[12]: 128–132  It started operating in 1944 with two vertical Kaplan turbines. It was the first pier-type power plant in Europe (along with a similar plant in Lavamünd, built in the same period). In April 1945, the plant was bombed and damaged by Allied air strikes. Renovation started after the war, with the first turbine becoming operational in December 1945 and the second in January the next year. Renovation ended in 1955, when the third turbine was added.[12]

Refurbishment commenced in 1994, increasing the net capacity to 26.2 MW. Today the power plant can generate 142 million kWh of electricity annually, with an 8.9 m available head. Four 24 m wide spillways have a total spilling capacity of up to 5400 m3/s of water. For comparison, the highest water flows since construction of the power plant, measured during the 2012 floods, were 2570 m3/s. Three turbine piers are placed among the spillways. The plant reservoir is 10.2 km long and stretches up to the higher power plant at Lavamünd, Austria. It contains 5.6 million m3 of water.[13]

The power plant is one of eight power plants on the Drava River in Slovenia and is managed by the company Dravske Elektrarne Maribor.

Other data

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Dravograd include:

References

  1. ^ Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
  2. ^ a b Mirko Pak (1988). "Dravograd".
    COBISS 17411
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1-86011-336-9
    .
  4. ^ Dravograd municipal site
  5. ^ Janja Naglič (2008). "Vojna na Koroškem leta 1991" (PDF). Univerza v Ljubljani. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  6. ^ Mira Časar, Tomo Jeseničnik (2016). Gradovi Mislinjske doline (PDF). Center za izobraževanje odraslih Slovenj Gradec. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-03. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  7. ^ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage reference number 2956
  8. ^ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage reference number 126
  9. ^
    Univerza v Ljubljani. pp. 75–76, 91–96. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2017-07-19. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  10. ^ a b Walter Poltnig; Uroš Herlec. "Geološko-naravovarstvene strokovn podlage geoparka Karavanke" [Geological-Environmental Expert Bases of the Karawanks Geological Park] (PDF). p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-20. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  11. ^ "Dravograjsko jezero". Osrednja in območne enote. Zavod Republike Slovenije za varstvo narave. Archived from the original on 2017-07-19. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  12. ^ a b Gregor Novak (2016). Zgodovina dravskih hidroelektrarn med Dravogradom in Mariborom (Thesis). Univerza v Mariboru, Pedagoška fakulteta. Archived from the original on 2017-08-07. Retrieved 2017-08-07.
  13. ^ "Dravograd HPP". Power Plants. Dravske elektrarne Maribor. Archived from the original on 2017-08-07. Retrieved 2017-08-07.

External links

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