Kranj

At the meeting of the Sava and Kokra rivers, Kranj grew on the site of the Roman settlement of Carnium. By the Middle Ages it was an important town of Upper Carniola, with a court and a growing community of craftsmen. Mills stood along the rivers, while workers processed hides and wood and wove linen and wool. In 1422 a town ordinance required houses to be built of stone to reduce the danger of fire.

Ottoman raiders devastated Kranj in 1471, but the town received further trading privileges later in the century, including permission to hold two annual fairs. In the 16th century many townspeople embraced Protestantism; merchants founded a school and imported Slovene books by Protestant authors. Religious change came amid unrest: leaders of the peasant revolt of 1515 were executed in Kranj, and troops sent against a threatened uprising in 1525 damaged the town. Despite the old building ordinance, fire consumed Kranj in 1749.