Sevnica

History

For centuries, the town of Sevnica was situated on the border of two historical regions of the Habsburg Empire: Carniola and Styria. It was first mentioned in written documents dating to 1275 by its German name Lichtenwalde. At that time, it was one of the most important settlements along the lower Sava. Throughout the High and Late Middle Ages, it was an exclave of the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg. It was seized by the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I in 1490, as a retaliation for the Archbishop's alliance with Matthias Corvinus in the war waged against the Habsburgs. Thereafter, it was incorporated in the Duchy of Styria until 1918. Sevnica (Lichtenwald), old town and castle from across the Sava river (1890 - 1910 ca).jpg (file) In 1322 it acquired the status of a market town, with extended market rights in 1513. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, it suffered greatly from frequent Ottoman raids and never fully recovered its previous wealth. In the 16th century it was an important center of Protestant Reformation in the Slovene Lands; the Slovene Lutheran author Jurij Dalmatin also preached in the town. Between 1809 and 1813, it was a border town between the French-administered Illyrian Provinces and the Austrian Empire. In the mid-19th century, it became an important center of the Slovene national revival; in 1869, it hosted one of the first mass rallies in favor of a United Slovenia. In 1862 it received a railway connection, which boosted the local economy. On April 12, 1919, an explosion on the Ljubljana–Zagreb passenger train caused a fire near the Sevnica train station, Three cars were completely burned. Thirteen passengers were killed and 90 were injured. In 1938 the railway from Sevnica to Trebnje was completed. During World War II, when the area was…