Gornji Petrovci 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 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...

. The municipality includes 14 villages, represented in the municipal coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 by fourteen simplified blue houses. The shield also includes a heraldic otter

Otter

The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....

 holding a golden fish. The municipal holiday is 18 August, chosen as the anniversary of the crash 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 baloonists

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 Nérée van der Elst in 1934.

The majority of the population of the municipality are Lutherans, making Gornji Petrovci one of the very few Slovenian municipalities with a non-Catholic majority.

There are two churches in the village of Gornji Petrovci. The Roman Catholic 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....

 is dedicated to The Holy Trinity

Trinity

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...

 and is a structure that originates in the late 13th century, but was rebuilt on a number of occasions in the following centuries, preserving certain features from each phase. The relatively short nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 is Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

, with Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 internal fittings. The sanctuary is Late Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

. The local Evangelical

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

 church is a large single nave building which is one of the largest Evangelical churches in Prekmurje. It was built in 1804 and renovated in 1894.

The writer Mátyás Godina

Mátyás Godina

Mátyás Godina Slovene Lutheran pastor, writer and teacher in Hungary.Born in Lemerje, his family was of minor nobility. He went to school in Surd in Somogy county, where he lived and worked with two Slovene littérateurs István Küzmics and Mihály Bakos...

 and János Hüll, dean of Tótság (Slovenska okroglina), lived and died in the village. The physics teacher and irredentist Sándor Mikola was born here.

External links

• Gornji Petrovci at Geopedia