Slovenian poet, translator, editor, academician and Prešeren Award winner.
Born on 22nd March 1924 in Slovenske Konjice.
One of the best Slovenian poets, author of the well-known poem You Must Love Someone, was born in the Celje Road in Slovenske Konjice, next to the Old Town Square center. There he spent his first 5 years and then he had never returned to his birthplace until his death. He was an honorary citizen of the Municipality of Slovenske Konjice. His statue can be found at Radio Rogla, and in the lobby of the media house is the Minatti's bookshop. One of the cafés in the Old Town Square offers Minatti's coffee.
Top basketball player and basketball coach.
He spent his childhood, adolescence and first basketball years in Slovenske Konjice.
One of the best Slovenian basketball players started his career in his hometown, Slovenske Konjice, where he still likes to return today. He left his mark at Olimpija in Ljubljana and many European clubs. As part of the Yugoslavian national team he won Olympic medals and World and European championships, and as part of the Slovenian team he played in Slovenia's first appearances in European championships. After his basketball playing career, he began a successful coaching career. He has coached several foreign clubs, led the home club Union Olimpija to the national champion title, and became the best coach of the European Championship in the season 2011/2012. In his first season as the selector of the Slovenian national team, he brought the players to the greatest success of Slovenian basketball at that time, the semifinals of a major basketball tournament.
Caretaker of the Zajdenšek farm, star of the 2017 reality show and Farmer of the year 2017.
A sacrificing farmer from Boharina above Zreče.
A hard working farmer, who, together with her husband, takes care of a 21-acre sheep farm and farm with other animals, as well as a quarry of Pohorje slate. She bakes the most delicious and crispy fruit bread in the Pohorje bread oven, which bears the sign the Tastes of Rogla. In 2017 she was selected the Farmer of the Year by the Union of Slovenian Farmers. Many people remember her from the television show The Farm - the new beginning.
Folk singer and actor.
He spent his entire life in the idyllic village of Pohorje, Skomarje, where he left a poetic influence.
The contemporary of France Prešeren and Anton Martin Slomšek was born in Skomarje where he spent his entire life. He devoted most of his witty poems, written in the local dialect, to Pohorje life. They are a remarkable monument to the everyday farming of that time. Restless in spirit, he wandered all over Pohorje and the Dravinja valley, carrying most of the time a bottomless basket, which was also philosophically symbolic to him. He is buried in the cemetery next to the St. Lambert's Church in Skomarje.
Mysterious baroness, writer, medium and initiator of spiritism in Slovenia.
She spent most of her creative life in Slovenske Konjice.
A pioneer of spiritism and theosophy in Slovenia and Hungary, a healer and a huge benefactor, Adelma and her husband, Baron Ödön von Vay, moved to the manor in Slovenske Konjice, now known as Baronvaj. She was known for her mystic abilities, including talking to ghosts and automatic writing through which she received the dictates of a higher power and wrote a remarkable book Spirit, force, substance (Duh, sila, snov) that is intertwined with records of the creation of the worlds and the greatness of the Spirit. In spite of her Protestant faith, she is buried in the Konjice cemetery.
Progressive and devoted Slovenian, teacher, youth poet and member of the Liberation Front.
Born in Čadram near Oplotnica.
Originating from the teaching family of Ludvik Černej, she also became a teacher, when she graduated in Zagreb in pedagogy, psychology and philosophy with honours. She taught in Griže, Celje, Ormož, Maribor and Ljubljana. She was an excellent youth poet who created the collections Butterflies (Metuljčki), For Happy and Sad Times (Za vesele in žalostne čase), Droplets (Kapljice) and Amidst Homeland (Sredi domovine). As a member of the Liberation Front, she was arrested in 1943 and taken to the German camp in Ravensbrueck, where she died in May 1944 due to exhaustion from hard labor. The primary school in Oplotnica keeps the record of her, engraved with golden letters.
Well-known teacher, secretly also an excellent writer, poet and translator.
Born in Prihova between Oplotnica and Slovenske Konjice, where she had been teaching Slovenian for many years.
The teacher, who had been teaching Slovenian for decades at the Konjice primary school, was known to many generations. However, until her death in 2003, almost no one knew of the legacy she had given us. Miss Serajnik had all this time been secretly publishing, translating and writing plays, stories, critical articles and more than 2000 poems, mostly under a pseudonym. She was also one of the first translators of Alma M. Karlin. A part of her opus is now published in the publication the Silent Flowers of Zdenka Serajnik (Tihe rože Zdenke Serajnik).
Futurist, rocket engineer and pioneer of astronautics and cosmonautics.
Connected with Vitanje via maternal roots.
A visionary, who was already engaged in space technology in the early 20th century, comes from Kokošinek family from Vitanje on his mother's side. His grandfather was a local judge (mayor) who later moved, but kept in touch with Vitanje. At the front of their house, today the Rupnik's Inn, are still his grandfathers initials, F. K. When Herman was barely two years old, his father died and his mother and him moved to Vitanje for a while. His most famous idea is a lounge bike, which can be seen at Noordung Center. In 1929, under the pseudonym Noordung, he wrote a book The Problem of Space Traveling - a Rocket Engine (Problem vožnje po Vesolju – Raketni motor), which inspired the modern space engineers to develop space-travel technologies.
Slovenian essayist, philosopher, critic, educator, poet and writer.
Born in the old town square centre in Slovenske Konjice.
Rudolf's father was an excellent physician, known far and wide in Slovenske Konjice and its surroundings. He owned one of the town square houses on top of the beautiful Konjice Old Square, accross the Church of St. George. Branko Rudolf was a productive author of good quality who kept publishing in numerous magazines and publications. He wrote philosophical texts and poems for adults, and is best known for his literature for children. In the collection of children's poems Young nigger and boat (Zamorček in ladjica) (1955), you can find the almost folk poem Angry Ant (Huda Mravljica), which was later musicalized.
Academic painter, Student Prešeren Award winner, journalist and boxer.
He worked in the area of Rogla - Pohorje tourist destination.
This talented painter graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana under the mentorship of the renowned professor Gabriel Stupica, and also received the Student Prešeren Award. When he was young he was twice the Slovenian boxing champion and later the selector of the first boxing team of the independent Slovenia. The award for the best technical boxer was named after him at the World Cup Grand Prix in Slovenske Konjice. Also named after him were the Skumavec's Days at Resnik - a colony that he helped to found and participated in it for the first four years. Right there at Resnik you can also find his statue.
Illustrator and designer.
Born in Konjice, still keeps creating in Slovenske Konjice.
Mojca Cerjak is from Konjice and is best known to children. As an excellent, multi-award-winning illustrator with recognizable works of art, she has above all raised much enthusiasm with the heart-shaped pastel drawings and paintings, accompanying fairy tales, such as Sleepy Star (Zvezdica Zaspanka) by Fran Milčinski Ježek, Legged Ball (Žogica Nogica), Boy and the Sun (Deček in sonce), and many others. She presented herself with Sleepy Star (Zvezdica Zaspanka) in 1993 at the Bologne Fair of Children's Books Illustrations. She graduated from the College of Applied Arts in Vienna.
