About half way between Ljubljana and Novo mesto, surrounded by the gentle hills of Dolenjska, carpeted by green meadows and forests and shrouded in the mysterious interweaving of the past and future, lies the Municipality of Ivančna Gorica. Under the slogan “Comfortable and Homelike”, you are welcomed to the municipal centre of Ivančna Gorica, which invites you to visit its Saturday Market and use it as a starting point for trips to its surrounding localities (the 12 pearls). Muljava, where the birth house of the famous Slovenian writer Josip Jurčič welcomes you with the open air museum Jurčičeva domačija, the medieval town of Višnja Gora with its town centre and old castle, or Stična, where your spirit can rest a while with the white monks of the ancient Cistercian monastery. In the neighbouring Šentvid you can join the largest Slovenian choir or simply visit the beautiful green spring of the Krka river, situated near the town of the same name, and sit a while on its peaceful banks somewhere downstream towards Zagradec, where a pleasant smell of freshly ground flour and home-baked bread still awakens the senses. The fascinating scent of vast forests, especially well-known to mushroom gatherers, lures you towards Ambrus and many vineyards throughout the country invite you to taste their fruit in the mysterious wine cellars around Temenica. Some of you can hike along the scenic hilltops of the northern areas and taste the flavours of the local tourist farms around Metnaj. The vivid pulse of typical country towns can be experienced in Sobrače on the upper stream of the River Temenica, and at Dob pri Šentvidu where an authentic rural way of life and picturesque karst features can be found.
All twelve pearls of the Municipality of Ivančna Gorica are connected by a Loop Path that is “Comfortable and Homelike”. You can go hiking, running, cycling or horse riding along this scenic route, or simply drive it by car or with a caravan and enjoy the sights and maybe experience again the forgotten carefree feelings of your youth. Information boards can be found in the middle of all 12 towns. They provide information on the sights and local tourist offers, and are equipped with a stamp intended for the stamp card accompanying this “Comfortable and Homelike” route.
The Municipality of Ivančna Gorica today
Today the Municipality of Ivančna Gorica, with its 137 settlements and 12 local communities, is a relatively rapidly growing area, which increases the value of its transport links, enables the sustainable development of the economy and trade, and ensures a good quality of life. There are many active associations in the fields of firefighting, culture, sports and other association activities in the municipality. Besides the economy, the main focus of the Municipality of Ivančna Gorica is on education, health care and care for the elderly, inter-generational cooperation, local self-supply, energy efficiency, balanced spatial development and tourism. In this last area, the Municipality markets its products under the trademark “Comfortable and Homelike – the Municipality of Ivančna Gorica”.
Ivančna Gorica and Markt Hirschaid (Bavaria), twinned towns
On the 11th of September 1999, a Partnership Act on Town-twinning between the municipalities of Ivančna Gorica and Markt Hirschaid was signed and an official partnership was established. Based on a long lasting friendship, with its roots in the early 1970s, mainly on the behalf of the Stična Cistercian Abbey and later the initiative of the spouses Hubert and Ingeborg Patzelt from Hirschaid, the friendship between the municipalities grew into the current inseparable partnership in the fields of broad social, cultural, economic and commercial cooperation, as well as religion, education, firefighting and volunteering in general. Between the two municipalities, numerous exchanges of citizens, associations and schools take place every year and a lot of energy is focused on establishing connections and opportunities in business. Markt Hirschaid, being positioned in the northern part of the Federal State of Bavaria and having beneficial transport connections and a solid economic infrastructure, became an important logistics and economic centre in the heart of Germany, Slovenia’s most important economic partner in Europe.
