Vrba, Žirovnica

Vrba ( German Velden ) is a village in the Slovenian community in the region Žirovnica Carniola ( Upper Carniola). Today it has 196 inhabitants (as of 2002). The village is 537 meters above sea level.

Vrba was first mentioned in documents in 1247. At the center of the village stands a linden tree. Why are grouped sixteen stones that represent the sixteen former farmsteads of the place. Today there are only seven of them.

Vrba is best known as the birthplace of the Slovene national poet France Preseren (1800-1849), who was born there, the son of a wealthy farmer. The birth house, which bears the name of Slovenian primary Ribiču, a museum housed the life and work Prešeren with numerous original pieces of furniture since 1939. In the same house who later became archbishop of Ljubljana Anton Vovk (1900-1963) was born a hundred years later.

Worth seeing in Vrba is the Romanesque church of St. Mark ( Cerkev sv. Marka), the Prešeren has immortalized in his work Sonetje nesreče. It was probably built around 1400 and is located just outside the village behind the Prešeren family house. Your Gothic frescoes on the inner walls date from the 15th century.

At Prešeren a bust recalls at the entrance.