Laško

Laško (German: Tüffer) is a spa town and municipality in eastern Slovenia. Traditionally the area was part of the Lower Styria region. The municipality is now included in the Savinja statistical region. The town is located at the foothills of the Hum hill on the Savinja River. It is first mentioned in written documents dating to 1227 and was granted town privileges in 1927.^[2] It is known to have been settled since the Iron Age and Roman archaeological finds are common in the area, though the precise location of the Roman settlement is not known.^[3] Today the town is best known as the town of beer and flowers and is famous for its annual Festival of Beer & Flowers (Pivo - Cvetje) and the local Laško Brewery, the largest brewery in the country.^[4] In 2010, Laško was heavily affected by the floods.

The town's coat of arms depicts three white fleurs-de-lis on a blue field.

The local castle, known as Tabor Castle, dates to the 12th century, though it is first mentioned in written sources dating to 1265. It was burnt down during Ottoman Raids in the late 15th century and was extended in the 16th century.^[5]

The parish church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Martin and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Celje. It is a Romanesque building dating to the 13th century with various later additions and adaptations.^[6]

Spa

The healing properties of the local waters were known since antiquity. As a health resort it developed towards the end of the 19th century.^[7]

In 1818 a report appeared in a Graz newspaper about the Laško springs. Water temperature has been measured at 35 °C (95 °F) and the setting up of a health spa was announced. An engineer named Rödel began to work systematically on the springs during the construction of the railway line. Work progressed from September 1852, when he purchased the land, until May 1854, when he ceremoniously opened the spa. The three springs were each given a name: the Emperor's Spring, Franz's Spring, and Joseph's Spring. The spa was given the name Kaiser Franz Josef Bad, after Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Along with a building with a pool, Rödel also reorganised the nearby mill and built a luxurious villa. In 1857 the spa was purchased by the Viennese professor and cosmopolitan Dr. Stein, who invited the cream of Viennese society to the health spa. For this purpose he built onto the spa's building, an extension with a dance hall and planted a park. He also took care of his guest social life. Stein was later forced to sell the spa. The spa's reputation returned under the later owner Gunkel, who radically renovated it and in 1882 built his own hydroelectric power plant, the first on Slovene soil, which lit up most of the buildings and the whole park. In cooperation with the brewery they began to brew thermal beer. During World War I the spa played the role of a military hospital. The property was left in disrepair after the war, but was partly renovated in 1923. Later the spa passed into the hands of the Pensions Institute (Pokojninski zavod) and the Central Office for Workers' Insurance (Osrednji urad za zavarovanje delavcev).

In October 1953 the spa was registered as a medical rehabilitation centre. Further development mainly followed the needs of the health care service and to a large degree it was the fruit of cooperation with the orthopedic (later neurological, traumatology, and neurosurgical) clinics in Ljubljana, regional hospitals, and health centres across Slovenia.

The Laško Thermal Spa Resort is becoming one of the most important health spas and tourist centres in Slovenia.

Other uses

Lasko Products is also the name of an American company, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, that makes home comfort appliances (fans, heaters, etc.) which are sold worldwide.^[8]

References

External links

• Laško on Geopedia
• Municipal website (Slovene)
• Festival of Beer and Flowers
• Festival background