SAVINJSKA - Geography and history
From one side of Slovenia to the other
Savinjska is the third largest region in Slovenia, and also the third in terms of population size. It extends from the Austrian border in the north-west to the Croatian border in the south-east. Its core area is the 30 km long and 10 km wide Lower Savinja valley in the middle part of the Savinja river, where Celje, the third largest Slovenian city and regional centre, was established at the confluence of several rivers.
The region is geographically very diverse, from the high, rugged Kamnik and Savinja Alps in the north-west to low, gently rolling wine-growing hills in the east. The population and economic centres of the region are the hop-growing Lower Savinja Valley with Celje and Zalec as the main towns, and the smaller Velenje Basin, the energy producing centre of Slovenia, with Velenje as its main town.
In the late Middle Ages, the region was owned by the local feudal family, the Dukes of Celje. As the allies of the Habsburgs and through strategic family links, the Dukes firmly established themselves in 15th century south-eastern Europe, an area which still resisted the expansion of the Ottoman Empire at that time. After the family had died out (1456), their property was taken over by the Habsburgs and remained part of the Habsburg monarchy until the end of World War I.
Due to its position on the subalpine traffic route, the region is easily accessible from all sides, since numerous routes towards neighbouring regions fork out from the road and railway junctions at Celje. Nevertheless, the mountainous part of the region in the upper reaches of the Savinja is quite far-off and is connected with the rest of Slovenia only by two regional roads, while there is not a single local road connecting the region with Carinthia in Austria.
The national and ethnic border between Slovenia and Croatia is the Sotla river, and there are several border crossings here since the population from both sides has been tightly connected for centuries. The region is administratively divided among 32 municipalities, of which several are among the strongest economically in Slovenia (Velenje, Celje), although the majority of the rural municipalities in the mountainous parts of the region are economically weak and endangered by depopulation.
Hop-growing and electricity
The region's diverse landscape and its very location dictate its division into two economically developed nuclei and two economically less developed areas with a weak economy and declining population, each with different advantages and disadvantages.
The Lower Savinja Valley and the Velenje Basin are among the most economically developed areas of Slovenia with a well-developed infrastructure and a large skilled workforce. A considerable share of labour-intensive industry in the Lower Savinja Valley is distributed among rural settlements. In this way, close ties with local communities are maintained, enabling the majority of the local population to combine intensive agriculture with employment in non-agricultural sectors. In the 1990s, a severe world-wide hop-growing crisis brought a high level of uncertainty into the region, although this should be off-set by the development possibilities afforded by the region's position along the newly constructed motorway.
Lignite is the main source of prosperity and also the main problem of the Velenje Basin. It gives jobs to many people from the area who work in the mine and thermal power plant, which on the other hand are the cause of the highly polluted environment and the loss of a considerable part of the basin floor due to subsidence. The thermal power plant with internal treatment and nature friendly disposing of waste material is trying to restore the changing landscape.
The Alpine part of the region in the upper reach of the Savinja river and the hilly area south-east of Celje are economically very weak since it is virtually impossible to make a living from agriculture due to the unfavourable natural conditions and the structure of land ownership.
In the Savinja river basin
The region covers 2 384 km2 (11.8% of the national territory), of which only around 150 km2 is a plain in the Lower Savinja Valley. The rest of the region is covered by forested mountains in the upper reaches of the Savinja drainage basin, extending into the high Kamnik and Savinja Alps towards the west. In the south-eastern part the Kozjansko hills are severely broken up by deep valleys, while in the south, forested ridges in the Sava Mountains reach up to 1 204 m. Except in the alpine part where in its higher parts the alpine climate prevails, the Savinjska region has the sub alpine climate. The average temperatures are between 0.9(C (January) and 20.4(C (July) and average annual precipitation is between 1280 and 850 mm. Temperature inversions are common in the Lower Savinja Valley and the Velenje Basin.
The largest town in the region is Celje (population 37 800). Other towns are Zalec (4 900), the centre of the hop growing area, Velenje (26 700) which developed rapidly after World War II thanks to the lignite mine, Mozirje (2 000), Slovenske Konjice (4 900) and Šentjur (4 700).
A layer of lignite up to 164 m thick is located under almost the entire Velenje Basin. It is extracted underground (approximately 4 million tonnes annually) and is entirely used in the nearby Šoštanj thermal power plant.
The next most important natural resource in Savinjska is its fertile soil, especially on gravel deposits in the Lower Savinja Valley. This zone offers extremely favourable conditions for hop growing, and arable land covers more than half of the area. In other parts of Savinjska agricultural land is found only at the bottom of the valleys and on gentler sunny slopes. Forests cover more than half of the region; the most important are coniferous and mixed forests in the Upper Savinja Valley.
There are substantial groundwater supplies in the Lower Savinja Valley, while several thermal springs serve as a basis for the development of health resorts around Celje and in the eastern part of the region. Like its tributaries, the Savinja river's fluctuating level makes it unsuitable for power generation. Due to its low volume in summer months, the river also has little water available for irrigation.
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