Mercury was discovered in the area in the 17th century, but was only mined for a brief period in the Hribar Gorge (Slovene: Hribarjev graben) during the interwar period. The Stergar Quarry (Slovene: Stergarjev kamnolom) operated in Marija Reka from 1936 to 1962. In the past, there were also water-driven sawmills and grain mills.[4]
During the Second World War, the area was a crossroads for Partisan courier routes, and there were several armed engagements between Partisan and German forces in the area. On April 14, 1942, a Partisan unit destroyed a Gestapo vehicle on the road from Marija Reka to Trbovlje, and the Partisans' Robida printshop operated on the north slope of Mount Reka (Slovene: Reška planina) in the summer of 1943.[4]
Mass graves
Shrine and plaque at the Kregar Ravine 1–12 mass graves
Marija Reka is the site of 12 known mass graves from the period immediately after the Second World War: the Kregar Ravine 1–12 mass graves (Slovene: Grobišče Kregarjev graben 1–12). The graves are located east and west of the Kregar Ravine southwest of the main settlement, along a forest road leading past wayside shrines into the forest. The graves contain the remains of about 2,000 civilians from Trbovlje, Hrastnik, Zagorje ob Savi, Laško, Žalec, and the surroundings of Celje, as well as several hundred Croatian civilians and about 100 German prisoners of war. The victims were murdered between May and August 1945.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]
Church
The local parish church is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Celje. It was originally a 14th-century church with major reconstruction in the 18th and 19th centuries.[18] The church was first mentioned in written sources in 1545. It was damaged in a fire in 1790, and then re-vaulted. The church obtained the status of a vicariate in 1787, and a parish in 1891.[4]
Notable people
Notable people that were born of lived in Marija Reka include:
^ abcdeSavnik, Roman, ed. 1976. Krajevni leksikon Slovenije, vol. 3. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, pp. 507–508.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 1". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 2". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 3". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 4". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 5". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 6". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 7". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 8". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 9". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 10". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 11". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 12". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Kregarjev graben 13". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved April 25, 2020.