Nova Gorica 

Nova Gorica is situated in the west of Slovenia, adjacent the Slovene-Italian border. In the north the town is delimited by the mountains Mt. Sabotin, Mt. Skalnica respectively Sveta Gora – the Holy Mountain, and Mt. Škabrijel, in the south and southeast by the hill and forest of Panovec and its dominant point Kostanjevica, and in the west by the River Soča. Nova Gorica lies 92 metres above sea level.

Nova Gorica, the town on the border to Italy, was founded only after the end of World War II.
According to the 6th Paris Peace Conference the town of Gorica/Gorizia belonged to Italy, and thus a substantial part of the Goriška area, the Soča Valley and the Lower Vipava Valley lost its centre. The population in the extensive surroundings of the present-day town started many thousands of years ago, proof of which are some significant archaeological sites.

The idea of a new centre of the Goriška area started to turn into reality in autumn of the year 1947 by the agency of a special committee led by Minister Ivan Maček. The urban plan for the new town was elaborated by the architect and town planner Edo Ravnikar. The foundation stone for the construction was laid on 13th June 1948. Youth work brigades from all over Yugoslavia started to build the new town. Six blocks of flats, the so called »Russian blocks«, the Town hall and the multi-storey building known as »Nebotičnik - Sky-scraper« were the first buildings of the town. Gradually bigger housing areas, other new buildings, the Nova Gorica Cultural Centre and the department store »Trgovska hiša«, as well as the social centre of the town of Nova Gorica developed.

The architect Ravnikar's idea and design of the town has been frequently changed during the fast expansion of the town. Only about two hundred species of local and exotic trees and shrubs are preserved out of the initial plan of a »City in a park«, which is without any doubt a noteworthy peculiarity.