Vrhnika lies at the southwest end of the Ljubljana Marsh near the sources of the Ljubljanica River, where the Ljubljana Basin opens up between the foot of Ljubljana Peak and Ulovka Hill. The territory of the town extends south onto the Logatec Plateau, where the Big and Little Drnovica Collapse Sinkholes are found. A rich network of springs and streams originates and joins near the town to form the source of the Ljubljanica.
Name
The settlement at the location of today's Vrhnika was attested in antiquity as Nauportus in Latin, and as Ναύποντος and Νάμπορτος in Greek. Medieval attestations of the name include de superiory Laybaco in 1300, Oberlaybach in 1308, and Vernich in 1481, corresponding to the modern Slovene name. In the past, the town was known as Oberlaibach in standard German. The Slovene name is probably a compound of vrh 'top, summit' + nika or nikve 'creek, spring', referring to the source of the Ljubljanica River. The Latin nameNauportus is a compound of navis 'boat' + portus 'transfer', referring to a place where cargo had to be transferred from boats to pack animals or carts along a trade route. A mythological reinterpretation of the Latin name as referring to the portage of a boat itself appears in Pliny the Elder's Natural History.
History
In Roman times, Nauportus was an important communication point. Vrhnika as it exists today started to develop in the High Middle Ages. Vrhnika became a market town and was among the wealthiest towns in Carniola up to the early 18th century, when it started to lose importance. Nevertheless, it remained one of main transportation junctions in Inner Austria because of its strategic location on the crossroads between the trade routes from Trieste to Vienna and from Rijeka to Klagenfurt. The development of the town was strongly impaired by the construction of the Austrian Southern Railway in the 1840s, which bypassed it. From then on, it started losing importance, becoming a satellite town of Ljubljana, which has remained up to this day.
Mass grave
Vrhnika is the site of a mass grave from the period immediately after the Second World War. The Pikec Valley Mass Grave is located at the bottom of a sinkhole southwest of the town, on Sveč Hill near the Vojc house. It contains the remains of six German prisoners of war that were murdered in May 1945.
Notable people
Notable people that were born or lived in Vrhnika include:
