Donačka gora

Rising up from the gentle rolling hills dotted with small farms and vineyards is the peak of Donačka Gora (884 m). The locals call it “Štajerski Triglav” owing to its three peaks visible from the south (Triglav = “three-head”).

Leading from the Rudijev Dom mountain hut to the summit, through a protected virgin beech forest reserve, is the first mountain trail in Slovenia to be set up and marked (around 1853). A special feature of Donačka Gora is its diverse flora (endemic species, the Dianthus plumarius pink called hoppejev klinček, and the only growing area for juvanov netresk, or Juvan’s houseleek/Sempervivum juvanii). Owing to its geomorphological, botanical and zoological characteristics, Donačka Gora was designated a natural monument in 1990.

Those in search of adrenaline thrills will be drawn to the trail from the eastern saddle, which leads up the final 20 metre rise by steel rope. The favourable thermals make this hill a perfect paragliding spot. The Equestrian Centre offers a truly special experience, a tour of the area around Rogatec on horseback along 7 arranged riding trails, or you can just ride a circuit or two around the manège.

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ROGÁČ

DONÁČKA GORA
DVOR – multi-period refuge settlement
heritage register number 30583

Below the summit of Mt Rogáč (‘horned’)is an area known as Dvor (‘court’) that holds traces of a long-abandoned terraced settlement. This remote and naturally protected hilltop settlement is a silent witness of the turbulent times brought about by plundering, military incursions, protracted wars and migrations of peoples from the beginning of the Late Bronze Age to the end of the medieval period.

The earliest known archaeological record from Rogáč dates to the Late Bronze Age and coincides with the dramatic events taking place in the Eastern Mediterranean in the early 12^th century BCE, when the cities of the advanced civilisations went up in flames. The Early Iron Age pottery from the site is closely associated with the Scythians, horsemen-nomads whose mounted pursuits brought them to the Alpine areas from the East. It has long been known that Rogáč also provided shelter for the people in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, i.e. the unsettling Migration period when different peoples in arms either crossed this land or incorporated it into their short-lived political entities.

When the inhabitants finally felt safe enough to again settle in the lowland, the hilltop may have remained in brief or prolonged use for pasturing purposes. We may even imagine that a small alpine or dairy hut stood on one of the terraces. In the time of Turkish raids into central Europe, a fire beacon was built on top of the mountain that used fire and cannon thunder to signal impending danger.

Towards the end of the 19^th or beginning of the 20^th century, stone working developed on the mountain; the hand-mills from Rogáč were renowned across the Balkans for their high quality. Throughout history, Rogáč was an excellent watch post that also offered shelter to people fleeing from danger and provided them with means of subsistence. In the Podravje region, it is also presumed that the Old Slovenes included Rogáč and its surroundings in their mythical tradition.

THE MOUNTAIN

In the High Middle Ages, the Old Slovenes named the mountain Rogáč. The castle and the settlement below it, located just over an hour’s walk from the summit, took the same name. The first written records of the mountain, castle and settlement mention Roas (‘Rogáč’; CE 1130), purch ze Rohas (‘castle at Rogáč’; CE 1192) and de Roats (‘from Rogáč’; CE 1207).

In the famous medieval epic poem Parzival(created between 1200 and 1210), German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach mentions the borough/castle/mountain Roas as many as three times. Eschenbach must have been well acquainted with the region of Štajerska/Stire, as his poem also mentions Celje/Cyle, the brook Grajena/Greian, which flows through Ptuj/Gandin and discharges in the Drava/Tra. Beyond this confluence lies the hamlet of Hajdina. With few exceptions (Sevilla/Sibilie, Sicily/Cilie, Nantes/Nantes and Aquileia/Aglei), these are the only real places in the whole poem.

By building the church of St Donatus on Rogáč, between 1716 and 1719, the German-speaking administration renamed the mountain after a Christian saint. The Josephinian military map from 1785 still marks the mountain with the Germanised name of Rohitscher berg, whereas the Franciscean cadastre from 1824 already uses the new German name of Donatiberg.

With its highest point at 884 m above sea level, Rogáč is composed of limestones and quartz sandstones at the summit ridge and of soft Tertiary rocks, mostly marlstone, in the main part and foot of the mountain. It is overgrown with a beech forest and hosts large mammals such as roe deer, wild boar and chamois. Virgin beech forest survives on the north side of Rogáč, at altitudes between 600 and 884 m, and has been protected as natural heritage since 1965.

The head medical doctor of the Rogaška Slatina spa resort, Viennese Ernst Hilar Frölich (1811-1882), had a mountain trail made in 1852-1856 that led his guests to the summit of Rogáč, where they could take respite in a small hut. In 1884, the tourist club from Rogaška Slatina built a small mountain hut just below the summit of Rogáč, of which only modest ruins survive to this day.

Further reading:

HISTORY OF RESEARCH

ARCHAEOLOGY

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