Novo Mesto

The seventh-largest city in Slovenia and the economic and cultural centre of Lower Carniola, set on a bend of the Krka close to the border with Croatia. Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, granted it town rights in 1365, and the German name Rudolfswerth is built from his name and wert, land above the water; what the place was called before 1365 is unknown. The Slovene name simply means new town, a common European name, usually given where an older settlement had burned or been destroyed. From 1865 to 1918 it was officially Rudolfovo in Slovene.