Črna na Koroškem is a town and a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in northern Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

. It lies at the confluence of the Meža

Meža

The Meža is a long river in Carinthia, Slovenia. It has its source on the Austrian side of the state border near Mount Olševa, becomes subterranean a kilometer from its source, and reappears on the surface in Koprivna near Črna na Koroškem, Slovenia. It is the central river of the Mežica Valley...

 River with its tributary Javorski potok in the traditional Slovenian province of Carinthia. The German name Schwarzenbach means 'black creek'.

Črna na Koroškem has a long ironworking history. A foundry

Foundry

A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...

 was established in Črna na Koroškem by Mehior Puc, who moved there from the Lavant Valley in 1620, started mining iron ore, and built two smelting furnaces

Smelting

Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...

. This operation was sold to the Counts of Thurn from Bleiburg

Bleiburg

Bleiburg is a small town in the south Austrian state of Carinthia , south-east of Klagenfurt , in the district of Völkermarkt, some four kilometres from the border with Slovenia....

 in 1624, who built a new ironworking operation on the Meža River at Mušenik to the north of the town in the 18th century. Due to better railway connections to Ravne na Koroškem

Ravne na Koroškem

Ravne na Koroškem is a town and a municipality in northern Slovenia. Until 1918, the town was part of the Duchy of Carinthia. It is the largest town in the traditional Slovenian province of Carinthia and its capital. Its Slovene name means 'Ravne in Carinthia', in order to distinguish it from...

 in the 19th century, the Counts of Thurn moved operations there and abandoned their ironworks in Črna na Koroškem around 1880.

The parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 in the town is dedicated to Saint Oswald

Oswald of Northumbria

Oswald was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death, and is now venerated as a Christian saint.Oswald was the son of Æthelfrith of Bernicia and came to rule after spending a period in exile; after defeating the British ruler Cadwallon ap Cadfan, Oswald brought the two Northumbrian kingdoms of...

. It is a Neo-Romanesque

Romanesque Revival architecture

Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...

 building erected in 1868 after the old church burned down in a fire.

Slovenian skiers Tina Maze

Tina Maze

Tina Maze is a renowned Slovenian alpine ski racer. She is the current world champion in giant slalom.Maze first competed in the 2001 World Championships at age 17 and in the 2002 Winter Olympics the following year. She started her career as a giant slalom specialist but later expanded and...

, Mitja Kunc

Mitja Kunc

Mitja Kunc , is a former Slovenian alpine skier.He has one victory in Alpine Skiing World Cup. The first peak of his career was in 1994 Winter Olympics, where he finished 4th in slalom...

, Aleš Gorza

Aleš Gorza

Aleš Gorza is a Slovenian alpine skier.Gorza represented Slovenia at the 2006 Winter Olympics. His World Cup debut was on December 21, 2001 in Kranjska Gora. His best results so far are two 3rd places in Super-G, won in Whistler, British Columbia and in Bormio, Italy, in 2008.- References :...

, Katjuša Pušnik, Danilo Pudgar

Danilo Pudgar

Danilo Pudgar was a Yugoslavian ski jumper who competed from 1971 to 1973. He earned his best individual career finish of eighth in the individual large hill at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo.-External links:...

, Drago Pudgar and Nataša Lačen

Nataša Lačen

Nataša Lačen is a Slovenian cross country skier who competed from 1993 to 2003. Her best World Cup finish was 12th twice with one each in 2001 and in 2002....

 come from Črna na Koroškem. Črna is also the native town of the journalist and politician Miro Petek.

External links

• Črna na Koroškem on Geopedia
• Črna na Koroškem, official page of town (in Slovene)
• Črna na Koroškem - Info page, un-official info page