The Story is telling how Villa Lasis became Velike Lašče, in time it got market rights and has evolved in lively market town. The town became the fair center diferent traders and craftsmen. Five livestock fairs were held annually in Velike Lašče, visited also by many people from abroad and flourishing mostly during the two wars. At these fairs, craft products and livestock were also sold. Through Velike Lašče traffickers herded horses and oxen from the Dolenjska towards Bloke and further on to Italy. The fairs provided profitable business to local inns and taverns. At that time, there were as many as 13 inns (»devil's chapels«) in Velike Lašče, as well as 4 butcher's shops and several other shops. Most of the artisans were shoemakers, there were also some tailors, seamstresses and carpenters. Since the horses were the main freight animals, blacksmiths were also of crucial importance. Velike Lašče is trying to revive the spirit of that time with various ethnological events, presenting and reviving old crafts, ways of producing handmade products, the almost forgotten habits and customs, as well as culinary and other intangible heritage. In its efforts, the municipality frequently connects with neighbouring or twinned towns and areas. This year on 26 September, Velike Lašče will collaborate with its twinned municipality of Lützhelflüh from Switzerland.

The first settlements in our area were established by the monks from the Stična (Sitticum) Abbey after deforestation. On the first clear-cut, a »settlement on the clearing - villa lasis« was built. The word “villa” means a large estate, such as the Frankish kings and other ecclesiastical and secular prominent men set up on their lands to bring them tithes. At such “villas”, several smaller and larger outbuildings for subordinates were erected. The most important house was the one in which the supervisor or the manager of the villa, called the praeceptor, lived. Besides farmers, who represented the majority of the population in these estates, various artisans also lived there. The original settlement was located in the area called Sela along the Roman road (near today’s railway station), as the wooden cross at the site of the former chapel still indicates today. In the 15th century, the Turks burned down that settlement and the inhabitants withdrew somewhat away from the road to the shelter of the forest (the present-day Ščita area). They built wooden huts on the hill where Velike Lašče is still located today. Nearby, there was a spring of water called »Pod trnom« (under the thorn bush), which was essential for the location of the settlement. Velike Lašče became a market town much later, on 14 May 1913, when the emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria granted market rights to the town of Velike Lašče with the highest order. Life in the market town was very lively at the time. Velike Lašče had its own county court, tax administration, notary office, parish office, gendarmerie station, railway station and public (elementary) school, as well as two savings banks and loan offices. The town also had a district doctor and a post and telegraph office. In 1913, the Livestock Cooperative of Velike Lašče was established. According to the chronicler Justina Jagodic, the lively traffic on the new roads from Ribnica to Ljubljana and to Bloke and Suha Krajina brought much prosperity to Velike Lašče. Life in this mostly peasant settlement was very exciting. Five livestock fairs were held annually in Velike Lašče, visited also by many people from abroad and flourishing mostly during the two wars. At these fairs, craft products and livestock were sold. Through Velike Lašče, traffickers herded horses and oxen from the Dolenjska towards Bloke and further on to Italy. The fairs provided profitable business to local inns and taverns. At that time, there were as many as 13 inns (»devil's chapels«) in Velike Lašče, as well as 4 butcher's shops and several other shops. Most of the artisans were shoemakers, there were also some tailors, seamstresses and carpenters. Since the horses were the main freight animals, blacksmiths were also of crucial importance. In addition to agriculture, the inhabitants of the surrounding villages also made their living by producing woodenware - toothpicks, rims, buckets, spoons and other products. Velike Lašče is trying to revive the spirit of that time with various ethnological events, presenting and reviving old crafts, ways of producing handmade products, the almost forgotten habits and customs, as well as culinary and other intangible heritage. In its efforts, the municipality frequently connects with neighbouring or twinned towns and areas. This year on 26 September, Velike Lašče will collaborate with its twinned municipality of Lützhelflüh from Switzerland.

European rural settlements and towns (if we neglect the time component ) were created in a similar way. These settlements were home to farmers, livestockfarmers, craftsmen and traders. They met at fairs. In the small Velike Lašče square we will try to revive fair/market atmosfhere from the period between the two wars. The locals (the local providers and society) will present the almost forgotten habits and customs, as well as culinary and other intangible heritage. Our guests from Switzerland, from twinned municipality of Lützhelflüh will also present theirs.