Kozjansko Park

The original confines and development of the Kozjansko Regional Park were defined in 1981, when the Trebče Memorial Park Act was adopted in memory of Josip Broz Tito who was born in nearby Kumrovec in Croatia, but spent his childhood in Bistrica ob Sotli and Javeršek Homestead. In 1991 when Slovenia gained independence and parted from Yugoslavia, Trebče Memorial Park became the jurisdiction of the new Slovene state and was renamed in 1996 as Kozjansko Park. The park as it is today is defined in the 1999 Nature Preservation Act. The park comprises 206 square kilometres of mountainous sub-Alpine and largely forested terrain covering Rudnica, Bohor, Vetrnik, and Orlica, combined with the plains of the Sotla basin, the vineyard-dotted hills of Virštanj and Bučka gorca, and the hills of Bizeljsko and Pišece, thus giving the Kozjanski Regional Park a particular identity. Important heritage sites within the park include Podsreda Castle, Javeršek Homestead, Levstik Mill and the Slovene-Bavarian House with its Bavarian Room, Library and multi-purpose space in which exhibitions are organised. The Podsreda Nature Trail has also been established within the park. The annual Kozjansko Apple Celebration has become an international event where locals and their European partners, ecological farmers, craftsmen, and societies present their products at a fair and promote sustainable development of the countryside with a focus on ecology.

The history of the region is quite rich. The park alone has 5 castles and 32 churches. In Bistrica ob Sotli a big Slovenian-Croatian peasant revolt started in 1573 with the intent to abolish the nobles and start a peasant state. They lost after a long fight and retributions were fierce, 3,000 peasants died in the battle, thousands of captives were hanged or publicly tortured. A special feature of the Slovene landscape are small churches on the top of nearly every hill; beautiful pedestrian routes lead from one to another; Svete Gore is an especially nice to go to. Kozjansko Park successfully combines nature, heritage and culinary traditions.

International cooperation

For the last decade, Kozjansko Park has actively collaborated in many international development projects, and is a partner in numerous European projects.

In the year 2002 the Phare 2000 programme supported the project Forming Sustainable Tourism Products and Services in Kozjansko. The project managed to educate and employ young local intellectuals and started promoting regional products, cultural, and natural heritage.

LIFE Nature is an EU programme that helps to fund the preservation actions for natural habitats and free-living flora and fauna. The project took place over 3 years, to the end of 2003. It brought along numerous improvements in preservation of cultural landscape and habitats in Kozjansko region.

The Interreg IIIA programme's neighbouring programme (Slovenia, Croatia, and Hungary) provided Kozjansko Park the role of partner in a project where they took action to protect the bio-diversity of high-trunk orchards and the aesthetic value of the landscape (2003–2007).

In Transromanica (INTERREG IIIB/CADSES, 2003–2006) the aim was to establish a tourist route connecting important Romanesque monuments from Slovenia through Italy, Austria, and Germany. Located in the park, the Podsreda Castle is one of best preserved Romanesque castles in Slovenia.

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Kozjansko Park

International cooperation

See also

External links

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