Rožnik Hill was attested in written sources in 1326 as Rosenberch. The Slovene name is a translation from the German name Rosenberg, originally a compound of
Middle High Germanrôse 'rose' and berc 'mountain, hill'.[1] In modern German, the hill was known as Rosenbach.[2][3]
Geography
The hill has two peaks, called Šiška Hill (
Slovene: Šišenski hrib, 429 m) and Cankar Peak (
Slovene: Cankarjev vrh, 394 m). Cankar Peak was formerly known as Zgornji Rožnik ('upper Rožnik',
German: Oberrosenbach),[4] in contrast to Spodnji Rožnik[5] ('lower Roznik'; also known as Podrožnik,
German: Unterrosenbach)[4] at the base of the hill, where the Čad Inn is located.[5] On Cankar Peak stand
Visitation Church and an inn where the writer
Ivan Cankar lived between 1910 and 1917. Below it, on the southern slope of the hill, is the
Ljubljana Zoo.[6]
Events
May 1: On
May Day, a bonfire is lit on Cankar Peak and a festival is held in the nearby meadow.
June 21: A
summer solstice ceremony takes place with a bonfire on Cankar Peak to celebrate the winners of the
Kresnik Award, named after the Slavic pagan deity
Kresnik, invoking Slavic pagan ceremonies from before
Christianization.