Morava was attested in written records in 1498 as Hemoraw. It is believed to be derived from the archaic Slovene common noun *morava '(wet) meadow'.[5] Locally, the village is known as Omrava.[5][6] The village was known as Mrauen in German in the past.[2][3]
Church
The local church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was a Late Gothic building. A church already stood at the site at least as early as 1674, based on the date carved into the door casing; however, there was probably already a structure at the location by the end of the 15th century. A 1753 visitation report is the first written mention of a church in the village. The church was a single-nave structure with a flat ceiling and a narrower barrel-vaulted octagonal chancel walled on five sides. There was an open portico in front of the entrance. The church was renovated in 1896, and then remodeled and extended in 1902, when a bell tower with a clock was added, replacing the shingled bell-gable and serving as an entry vestibule. After the Second World War, the church continued to serve as the parish church for the Parish of Kočevska Reka. The church was dynamited in 1955 and the ruins were razed in 1956.[7][8]
^ abSnoj, Marko. 2009. Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana: Modrijan and Založba ZRC, pp. 269–270.
^Savnik, Roman, ed. 1971.Krajevni leksikon Slovenije, vol. 2. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, pp. 232–233.
^Ferenc, Mitja, & Gojko Zupan. 2012. Izgubljene kočevske vasi, vol. 2 (K–P). Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, pp. 142–148.
