KUNŠPERK - A TRADING SETTLEMENT Location: Bistrica ob Sotli Category: Architectural and ethnological heritage

Kunšperk was built for trading purposes underneath the same-named castle. As a settlement, it was first mentioned in 1201, and given the title of a “forum” (trg) in 1490. What’s been preserved until today is a stone console and a late-gothic wooden statue of St. Giacomo the older.

According to the testimony of some, there was once a pillory in Kunšperk- a pillar, to which law-breakers were tied or strapped and left for public mockery and humiliation as punishment in the middle-ages. There is an interesting anecdote about this (see: Antipranger).

Today, Kunšperk is a very atypical line settlement on a hillside, which has three or four interspaced parts, each a bit removed from the other. Each of these parts has a ‘ground plan’ design, but in space, the village acts as a straight line. The rustic houses are clustered and space-wise quite crammed. The village preserves many buildings of traditional architecture and remains to be precious for its value as a settlement-whole that is very atypical for this area.

 

Coordinates: 46.059631, 15.685361

 

Additional info:

Collection of pictures of Kunšperk from year 1977 on the Slovene Etnographic Museum webpage