| Bovec | |
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| — City and Municipality — | |
| Location of the Municipality of Bovec in Slovenia | |
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Bovec
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Slovenia |
| Government | |
| • Deputy mayor | Valter Mlekuž (SD) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 367.3 km2 (141.8 sq mi) |
| Population (2002)[1] | |
| • Total | 3,138 |
| • Density | 8.5/km2 (22.1/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+01) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+02) |
| Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, census of 2002. | |
Bovec (Italian: Plezzo, German: Flitsch) is a small city and municipality in northwestern Slovenia. The city of Bovec lies in the Bovec Basin in the Soča Valley below Mount Kanin in the Julian Alps.
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Bovec is one of the 211 municipalities of Slovenia. It is located close to border with Italy, 136 km from the capital Ljubljana, at an elevation of 434 m. Bovec has been traditionally part of the Goriška region, but nowadays only a minority of locals share this regional identity, preferring to identify with the wider region of the Slovenian Littoral.
Part of the Municipality of Bovec is located within Triglav National Park, but not Bovec itself.
Two of the most important mountain passes in the Julian Alps are located in the Municipality of Bovec: the Predil Pass on the border between Slovenia and Italy, and the Vršič Pass, which connects the Soča Valley to the neighbouring Slovenian region of Upper Carniola. The Učja (Uccea) Pass connects Bovec with the Resia Valley in Italy.
Bovec was first mentioned in 1192. Initially, it was part of Tolmin County, and later changed hands between the Republic of Venice and the Counts of Gorizia, before being included in the Habsburg Monarchy, like the majority of Slovene-speaking territories. With the exception of a brief period between 1809 and 1813, when it was included under the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, it remained under the Austrian rule until 1918.
During the Austro-Hungarian period, the town was included in the Austrian Littoral, and was strongly influenced by German culture. Many locals preferred the use of German language over Slovene until late 19th century, when Slovene prevailed and ultimately completely replaced German as the language of everyday communication.[2]
During World War One, the area was the theatre of the Battles of the Isonzo, fought between Italy and Austria-Hungary. In 1918, the whole area was occupied by the Italian Army, and in 1920 it was officially annexed to Italy, and included in the Julian March region. Between 1922 and 1943, Bovec and the neighbouring villages, which had an exclusively Slovene-speaking population, were submitted to a policy of violent Fascist Italianization. Numerous locals joined the underground militant anti-fascist organization TIGR, which fought against the Italian Fascist regime, while many others emigrated to the neighbouring Kingdom of Yugoslavia (among them, the renowned literary scholar Anton Ocvirk).
Between 1943 and 1945, the area was occupied by Nazi German forces, and units of partisan resistance were active in the area. After the liberation by the Yugoslav People's Army in May 1945, Bovec came under joint British-U.S. occupation. Between June 1945 and September 1947, Bovec and the whole right bank of the Soča River was included in the Zone A of the Julian March, which was under Allied military administration, with the demarcation line with the Yugoslav occupation zone running just a few kilometers east of the town.
In September 1947, the Paris Peace Treaties gave the town to Yugoslavia, namely to the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. In 1951, the town became a city. With the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, Bovec became part of the independent Slovenian state.
Bovec was heavily damaged by the 1976 Friuli earthquake. Another moderate quake with a magnitude of 5.6 on the Richter scale shook the city in April 1998, and a weaker one occurred in July 2004, with a 4.9 magnitude.
Several natural sights are included in the Bovec municipality, such as the source of the Soča River, the 106 m high Boka Falls, the ski resort Kanin, and the Trenta Valley, connected to Bovec with a tourist trail. The municipality has a well-developed tourist industry, centered in the city itself, with numerous hotels, and an airfield (LJBO).
In 2007, part of the movie Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was shot close to Bovec.
The city has a population of 1,300, and the entire municipality has a bit more than 3,000 inhabitants.
The municipality of Bovec is governed by a mayor, elected every 4 years by popular vote, and a municipal council of 12 members. In national elections, Bovec has strongly favored conservative candidates, and it is considered one of the most loyal strongholds of the Slovenian Democratic Party in the whole country. In the local elections, however, the vote is usually more dispersed, although mayors of the Slovenian Democratic Party have governed the municipality since 1998.
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