Ženavlje
Encyclopedia
Ženavlje is a village
in the Gornji Petrovci
Municipality
in the Prekmurje
region of Slovenia
.
Its claim to fame is an unplanned landing of a stratospheric balloon with the Belgian
pioneering balloonist
Max Cosyns
and his student Nérée van der Elst on 18 August 1934. The 18th of August had been declared the municipal holiday and in 1997 a large bronze
monument in the shape of a balloon was erected on the spot of the crash landing to commemorate the event.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in the Gornji Petrovci
Gornji Petrovci
Gornji Petrovci is a town and a municipality in Slovenia. The municipality includes 14 villages, represented in the municipal coat of arms by fourteen simplified blue houses. The shield also includes a heraldic otter holding a golden fish...
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 the Prekmurje
Prekmurje
Prekmurje is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region settled by Slovenes and lying between the Mur River in Slovenia and the Rába Valley in the most western part of Hungary...
region of 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...
.
Its claim to fame is an unplanned landing of a stratospheric balloon with the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
pioneering balloonist
Balloon (aircraft)
A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....
Max Cosyns
Max Cosyns
Max Cosyns was a Belgian physicist, inventor and explorer.He was Auguste Piccard's assistant at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and on 18 August 1932 participated in the record-breaking ascent into the stratosphere to 16,200 m , launched from Dübendorf, Switzerland...
and his student Nérée van der Elst on 18 August 1934. The 18th of August had been declared the municipal holiday and in 1997 a large bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
monument in the shape of a balloon was erected on the spot of the crash landing to commemorate the event.