Škofja Loka is a town in Slovenia. It is the economic, cultural, educational, and administrative center of the Municipality of Škofja Loka in Upper Carniola. It has about 12,000 inhabitants.

At the centre of Slovenia, where the Alps begin to incline towards the sea, where thousand-year old impressions of culture, art and nature beckon to be explored is Škofja Loka, a mystical town of great drama. Gorenja vas –Poljane and the Poljane Valley, a land of great love beneath the peak of Blegoš. Železniki, a town of iron-forging and lace making in the Selca valley. Pay a visit to Žiri and don your shoes ready to make new discoveries.

Country	Slovenia
Government
• Mayor	Tine Radinja
Area
• Total	145 km  (56 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	22,668
• Density	160/km  (400/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02 (CEST)

Geography

Škofja Loka lies at an elevation of 354 meters (1,161 ft) at the confluence of the Poljane Sora and the Selca Sora rivers, at the transition of the Sora Plain into the Škofja Loka Hills and the Polhov Gradec Hills. Its old center stands on river terraces, and comprises Town Square (Plac) and Lower Square (Lontrg). On a plateau above the town stands Loka Castle, which houses the Loka Museum.[5] Above the castle rises Krancelj Hill (475 meters or 1,558 feet). North of the town center is Kamnitnik Hill (414 meters or 1,358 feet high), known for its conglomerate rock.[6] Immediately south of the town is a plain known as Viršk or Viršk Plain (Slovene: Virško polje), which the Poljane Sora flows through before joining the Selca Sora. The name Viršk is a corruption of German Hirsacker ‘millet field’, named for the millet that was grown there in the past.

Name
Škofja Loka was mentioned in 973 as Lonca (referring to Stara Loka) (and as Lonka in 1160, Lok in 1192–97, Scofolotti in 1293, and Scofioloco in 1295, among other names). The name literally means ‘bishop’s (wet) meadow’, referring to its ownership by the Bishops of Freising.

History

In 973, the lordship of Škofja Loka was granted by Emperor Otto II to the Bishops of Freising, and for the next one thousand years the history of the town was tied to that of the distant ecclesiastical principality.[8][9] A castle and tower were built above the town for defense purposes and later became the residence of the bishop’s governor. In the 11th or 12th century. Emperor Otto III granted the bishops the right to mint coinage and collect tolls. Škofja Loka was first mentioned as having market rights in 1248, and having town rights in 1274.

Loka Castle

Škofja Loka was walled in the 14th century. In 1457, Duke Jan Vitovec entered and burned the town. The town was attacked by the Ottomans in 1476. The town also suffered from plague and fires during this time. Peasant revolts occurred in Škofja Loka in 1488, 1492, and 1515. Škofja Loka was destroyed by the 1511 Idrija earthquake but soon rebuilt through the efforts of Bishop Phillip. Lutheranism was established in Škofja Loka in 1526. Laws were passed against the new religion, and a Counter-Reformation committee was convened at the castle in 1601, resulting in the burning of Protestant books.

Much of the town was damaged by fires in 1660 and 1698. The defensive walls gradually became obsolete and were mostly removed together with the town gates in 1789.

Modern era
In 1803 the Prince-Bishopric of Freising was mediatised during the German Mediatisation and the enclave of Škofja Loka was annexed to the Austrian duchy of Carniola. Škofja Loka was the first town in Carniola to receive electric lights, even before the 1895 Ljubljana earthquake.

Churches

The parish church in Škofja Loka is dedicated to Saint James. It dates to the 15th century. Other churches in the town are dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, Saint Anne, and Our Lady of Sorrows. There is also a chapel dedicated to the Resurrection in the town cemetery.

Culture

The Selca Sora River in Škofja Loka. The Cappuchin Bridge (Slovene: Kapucinski most) crossing it is the oldest preserved bridge in Slovenia.
Škofja Loka is the birthplace of the Škofja Loka Passion Play (Latin: Processio locopolitana), the oldest play in Slovene. It was a penitentiary Passion procession in the form of a play, performed on Good Friday each year until 1751. The text in its current form was written around 1715 by the Capuchin Father Romuald (Lovrenc Marusič), based on an older tradition. It presents Jesus’s suffering. In 1999, the play was revived with amateur actors. Two further reprises took place in 2000 and 2009, with more planned.

Town Square in the town center. The Marian column is a Baroque monument, erected in 1751 in thanks for turning away plague and fire.
Since 1967, the Grohar Visual Art Colony has been held each year in Škofja Loka. Before 1991, both the Serbian town of Smederevska Palanka and the town of Škofja Loka held Grohar art colonies, run by an art teacher from an elementary school, Olga Milošević, in Smederevska Palanka. Now, after the collapse of Yugoslavia, the two are twin towns.

The Škofja Loka Capuchin monastery at Capuchin Square in the old part of the town was built from 1707 until 1713. It keeps a library with about 30,000 books, among them about 5,200 of older date. The most prominent, in addition to the Škofja Loka Passion Play, are a copy of Jurij Dalmatin’s Bible (the first translation of Bible to Slovene, 1584), the Dictionarium quatuor linguarum (the first multilingual dictionary of Slovene, 1592), two volumes of the Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (a detailed description of the central part of Slovenia and Istria; 1689), some 16th-century copies of Plato and Aristotle, and Aesop’s fables, a compendium by Johann Zahn of mathematics and natural history from the end of the 17th century, titled Specula physico-mathematico-historica notabilium ac mirabilium sciendorum (Physico-Mathematico-Historical Mirrors of Remarkable and Wonderful Things to Be Known), and others.

Contacts

Direktor
mag. Špela Justin
04 511 23 21
Lokacija: I/6
DIREKTORICA

Kabinet župana
Tine RADINJA
04 511 23 17
Pisarna II/18
ŽUPAN
Irena MALOVRH
04 511 23 17
Pisarna II/18
Katja Štucin
04 51 12 375
Pisarna II/16
Kristina BOŽIČ
04 51 12 318
Pisarna IV/30
Jernej TAVČAR
04 511 23 10
Pisarna I/6

URADNE URE
Uradne ure – za stranke
Ponedeljek: 08.00 – 12.00, 13.00 – 15.00
Torek: 08.00 – 12.00, 13.00 – 15.00
Sreda: 08.00 – 12.00, 13.00 – 17.00
Petek: 08.00 – 12.00
Uradne ure – vložišče
Ponedeljek: 07.30 – 15.00
Torek: 07.30 – 15.00
Sreda: 07.30 – 17.00
Četrtek: 07.30 – 15.00
Petek: 07.30 – 12.00