The village PIŠECE is just like thousands of other villages, and yet different in some ways. People are honest and hospitable. The language of their heart is a song, so seeing them makes you full of feelings and joy. Tamed stream Gabernica is perfect for daydreaming in two at the spring Duplo at the church of St. Michael. Many hiking paths, among other to the highest peak Špiček, are real attraction!

Pišece is situated on sunny southern foothills of the wooded Orlica (Veliki Špiček, 686 m). On the hills around the locals grow vines, highly developed is also a fruit production. On the surrounding hills there are settlements Čereje, Prekože, Orehovec, Liberk and Plištajn.

The nearby mountains are challenging and enticing. Here is the wine road, there are tennis court, sports fields, horses for riding and you can also go skiing in winter. An interesting experience is the path of adventure, in which you get familiar with wild animals. Water Education Trail. For keen swimmers, there are some interesting spots in the vicinity, for example Spa resort Čatež, Spa resort Podčetrtek, rafting on the river Krka, shooting range Krunšperk, Mokrice golf and wine cellars. If you miss pulse of a modern, touristic city, there are only ten miles away Brežice, Krško, Dobova. Welcome!

Map:
46°0′11.48″N, 15°38′52.42″E

Plan of Pišece and region
Altitude: 231.7 m
Population: 312
Highest point: ~ 450 mnm
Volume: 13,36 km (border)
Area: 4,25 km2
First mention: 1268
Zip code / post: 8255 Pišece
Local community: Pišece
Parish: Pišece
Municipality: Brežice
Province: Štajerska

Pišece is a village in a municipality Brežice. It is the center of the Local community Pišece and Pišece Parish. Nucleated central village is situated on sunny southern foothill of wooden Orlica. The area of Pišece is wide enough that it is affected by effects of subpannonian climate and protected with parallel mountain range (Orliško hribovje), which protects the area from invasion of cold air from north. Climate is very sunny and mild, so the crops fully grow half month before those on the northern side of Orlica. Especially famous is Pišece apricot. On the hills in the surroundings, there are vineyards and orchards, and between them settlements Čerenje, Prekože, Orehovec and Pilštajn. On the steep slopes of Orlica, there is deciduous forest. A road from Globoko to Bizjansko leads through the settlement and splits itself to the Pavlova vas. On the south is a valley of a stream Gabernica, which originates above the rectory in the cavity called Duplo. The water is used for waterworks and it has constant temperature of 12°C and doesn’t dry up even in the dry months. At the source it is also the starting point of the first water education trail in Slovenia. On the hill (352 meters) north-west of the village, there is Pišece castle from 13th century with an English garden, where are many exotic trees. Current parish church of St. Michael is a building from baroque, dated at the end of 18th century.

Arrival at Pišece ob 9.00 uri

RECOMMENDED PROGRAM:

09.00 – 10.00: admission and breakfast at the mill, tour of the church of St. Michael and the spring of the stream Gabernica
10.00 – 12.00: shooting range
12.30 – 13.30: Repnica (tour and tasting)
14.00 – 15.00: Pleteršnik's museum (afternoon snack and cultural program)
15.30 – 17.00: Pišece castle (tour, drink, cultural program)
17.30: dinner (ribs and »prebranec« from open oven or suckling pig and half liter of wine)

Known Slovenian linguist and lexicographer was born in 1840 in Pišece, idyllic village, where today stands organized museum, named in his honor, and also local primary school is named after him.
Pleteršnik, who died in 1923, is the author of famous Slovenian – German dictionary. It was released in two parts, first in 1894 and second in 1895.

Maks Pleteršnik was born on 3rd of December 1840 in Pišece. Here he finished primary school. He attended the gymnasium in Celje, and then he studied classical philology and Slavic studies in Vienna. He worked in Maribor, Celje, Kranj, Gorica, Trieste and Ljubljana. At his retirement he was rewarded a Knight’s cross of Francis Joseph’s order. He died on 13th of September 1923 in Pišece, where he is also buried.

He wrote about Greek and Roman culture, about Slovenian people, Slavism, he was translating, writing stories… But his greatest work is a Slovenian – German dictionary, which he was working on for nine years. In it, he gathered very rich vocabulary. In 1893 was released the first draft of a dictionary. Jože Toporišič had written in the Encyclopedia of Slovenian language: Pleteršnik’s dictionary – until SSKJ our greatest dictionary work.

Maks Pleteršnik’s (1840-1923) Slovenian – German dictionary I-II (1894-1895) is a classical work of Slovenian lexicography, which was due to the volume of contained vocabulary (102,522 words) and quality of its presentation already at the release very praised in domestic and foreign professional communities. Even after the release of a Dictionary of Standard Slovenian, it was still our largest dictionary and our only thesaurus of Slovenian language, since it contains beside literary language and dialects of 19th century also significant part of vocabulary since the time of Trubar. It has permanent value due to its systemic pitch marked vocabulary and statement of authors and geographical sources.

So the dictionary is today still one of the main sources for lexical, formational, synonymous, phraseological, accentological, terminological, etymological, dialectological, lexicographical… researches of Slovenian language and it is indispensable to everyone interested in Slovenian language.

You can go to a pilgrimage from Pišece:

Holy mountains above Bistrica ob Sotla boast with pilgrimage church of Mary and St. George’s and St. Martin’s chapel of St. Sebastian and St. Fabian and Lourdes Chapel. Mary’s church was first mentioned in 1265 as Monte Sancte Marie. In 17th century, there was reconstruction, and bishop of Ljubljana, Tomaž Hren consecrated the enlarged church in 1611. Around year 1727 they rebuilt both aisles, raised and arched the main nave and added the oratory and singers’ empor to the sacristy. Between years 1868 and 1871, the church was painted by Tomaž Fantoni.

Current early baroque church has a form of basilica. In the main altar, there are presented the main events of Mary’s life and all Mary’s relatives. There are also six side altars in the main nave (St. Anna, St. Florian, St. Anthony the Hermit, St. Mary of the Rosary, St. Francis Xavier and St. Isidor). Popular pilgrimage almost became forgotten in the time of Joseph, and was rediscovered after 1860, when Šempeter priests Jurij Stepišnik and Martin Sevnik revived it.

Pilgrims pray to the Mary on the throne in the main nave. The statue is famous because they change its chlotes from time to time. Below the Mary’s church is a chapel of St. George, and lower a chapel of St. Martin. They are both considered as one of the oldest sacral buildings in Slovenia. They are dated differently, between 9th and 11th century, some archeologists even say they are from 6th century. Above the Mary’s church, there are chapels of St. Sebastian and Fabian, which is the only one placed perpendicular to the ridge. On the top there is a chapel of Lourdes Madonna.

Pišece forest path

Trail runs from Pišece, from the homestead of the linguist Maks Pleteršnik, to the Pišece castle and forward to the hill to the Pečar breg. It finishes in Pišece. It offers an opportunity to know the natural vegetation and the most frequent park plants in Slovenia. In the homestead of the linguist Maks Pleteršnik it is possible to see organized collection of objects and manuscripts from his life.

Length: 4.5 kilometers with possible shortenings
Content items: 10
Starting point: Pišece, at the mill
Time for the visit: 3 hours

Water education trail

If you want to experience and explore the life at the stream from the source to the firth, the stream Gabernica is the right thing to visit. At the stream Gabernica you can explore diversity of a life in the stream – natural watercourse, use of the stream (mills), stream in the lowlands, regulation of the natural watercourse – what are consequences for the environment, lowland flooded forest of Dobrava and interesting flood land at Kapela (natural monument Jovsi). At the education trail we expand our environmental awareness by learning about presence and importance of the water in the nature (habitats, ecology) and in the society (source – basin, mills, pond, and pavement gorge – removal of excess water for agriculture, use of thermal water…). Trail leads by the stream Gabernica, which originates in Pišece, all the way to the firth of the stream to the river Sava. Trail is equipped with tables. For exploring the ecology of the watercourse you will need transportation.

Length: 25 kilometers
Content items: 7
Starting point: Pišece
Time for the visit: 4 hours

Pišece (castle)
Pischätz
13th century

Pišece castle is first mentioned in 1329 as Haus Pischaetz, then in 1346 as Pischatz, in 1426 as Pischecz and in year 1443 as gesloss Pischecz. It was built by archbishops of Salzburg on the east border of their areas in Posavje, which was from Sevnica across Rajhenburg – Brestanice and Brežice to the firth of the river Sotla to the river Sava, and bordered with a stream Dramlje at the north-east. It was taken care of by ministers, first was mentioned Konrad between years 1268 and 1300 and his brother Ekhard (1268). Pišece is also mentioned as Bischaez in medival sources, which is believed to mean “bei der schanz” – at the fort, which can mean that there was an old fort.

The knights of Pišece died out around year 1353 and the castle was managed by archbishop’s servants. In the year 1406, Žiga Dobrnski bought it for 3000 hungarian florints. In the year 1426, the manager of the castle was Friderik Rad older, from 1454 to 1536 Žiga Mordachs and his successors, and then Jurij Rajhenburški, whose widow gave the property to the Salzburg government adviser Johan Marschalek in 1542. Then the castle was available for rent. Hans Khiessl had it in the year 1590 and then Inocenc pl. Moscon bought it together with Sevnica and Reštanj. That purchase triggered long lasting lawsuits, but it was eventually given to the Mosconovs in 1637. Salzburg archbishop preserved the main feudal right until 1803, and family of Moscon had it until the latest war. A decade ago, there were still apartments in the castle, but now it is being renovated. The contractor: The Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Culture, type of work: static restoration of facades and the restoration of retaining walls and terraces (Source: Official Gazette of RS, no. 061, no. 344/04).

In the year 1573, when the farmers rebelled, the castle wasn’t hit, but the rebellions attacked Hans Jacob Moscon and his wife Elizabeth and killed them on Christmas day in 1661. The story continues that their son Johan Baptist was saved by the coincidence and then revenged for the death of his parents. One other story says that a young woman was prisoned to death in the room in the castle because of fights about heritage. He became mentally sick and died after seventy years of prison. In the last part of her life, he only played with dolls.

There was an important renovation of the castle in 1568. This year is supposed to be engraved in a panel on a southern wall of a castle, which I didn’t see (maybe it was removed at the beginning of the current renovation). The next renovation took place in baroque, and it got its neoromantic look, which can be seen as architectural pieces, designs of windows, bihoras and triphoras on the tower and elsewhere etc., during the modernization in years from 1867 to 1884. The origin of its oldest part, romantic tower, could date back to 12th or at least early 13th century. In parish church, there are four memory panels, one of them represents more than three hundred years lasting era of barons Moscons in Pišece castle.

There is also an interesting blacksmith museum in Pišece at Podgoršek’s, where I found out that also Pišece castle had its own blacksmith. I couldn’t figure out, in which room that blacksmith could be. The path to the castle is marked and also road to the foothill is easily accessible. In the year 1999, the area of Pišece castle was declared as a cultural monument of national importance.