Moravske Toplice () is a settlement in the Municipality of Moravske Toplice in the Prekmurje region of Slovenia. It is the seat of the municipality and is best known for its thermal spa.
Name The name of the settlement was changed from Moravci to Moravske Toplice () in 1983 to reflect its new character as a spa town.Spremembe naselij 1948–95. 1996. Database. Ljubljana: Geografski inštitut ZRC SAZU, DZS. The earliest written form of the name (Moravc in 1366) is of Slavic origin and means 'marshy place'. This probably reflected the natural conditions of the area in the Middle Ages. The Hungarian name was derived from the Slovenian; it was recorded as Maracz in 1499. The 19th-century version was Tót-Morácz (), which was officially changed to Alsómarác () in 1907 to distinguish it from Felsőmarác ().
History The first written mention of the settlement dates back to 1366. In 1365, Miklós Széchy, the Ban of Croatia, and his brother, Domonkos, the Bishop of Transylvania, received Lendva Castle and its appurtenances in exchange for Éleskő castle and its appurtenances as royal grant from King Louis I of Hungary. When the brothers were invested with their lands a year later, the estate was described in great detail, and two villages were listed as Morauch et alia Morauch in districtu Sancti Martini.The 1366 charter of investiture is cited by Dezső Csánki: Hunyadiak kora Magyarországon, Vol. 7., Budapest, 1894, p. 778 The wording suggests that there were two villages right next to each other and both were called Moravc ("Moravc and the other Moravc"). The royal deed of donation (1365) lists a few villages with Hungarian names in the same area, two of which (Dewecherhaza and Pezkfolua) can be tentatively identified with the two Moravces.József Dénes: A felsőlendvai uradalom falvainak azonosítása, in: Savaria – A Vas Megyei Múzeumok értesítője 23/3, Savaria Múzeum, Szombathely, 1998, p. 371 Administratively, the village was part of Vas County in the Kingdom of Hungary from the earliest record of its existence.
Like many other small settlements in the area, Moravc did not have its own church; from an ecclesiastical point of view, it belonged to the parish of Sancti Martini (now Martjanci). The village was owned by the Széchy family until the extinction of their Felső-Lendva branch in 1570. Through their female descendants, the estate passed to the Batthyány family in 1640. It remained in their possession for nearly 250 years.
In the second half of the 16th century, the owners of the feudal estate became Lutherans, and the Slovenian villages in the southwestern part of Vas County converted to the Lutheran faith. The record of a canonical visitation conducted by Lutheran ecclesiastical officials in the area in 1627 listed Marácz among the villages that belonged to the Lutheran parish of Martyáncz.Visitatio Genereralis Ecclesiarum Schlavo-vendorum, published by Sándor Payr: Egyháztörténeti emlékek. Forrásgyűjtemény, Sopron, 1910, p. 110 Although the Batthyány family, the local feudal lords, returned to the Catholic faith in the 1630s, Marácz remained a predominantly Lutheran village.
After Kanizsa fell into Ottoman hands in 1600, the area along the Mura River also became a border region, and in the following century it was exposed to Turkish raids and taxation. Although Marácz's name is not mentioned in the sources, it certainly shared the fate of the neighboring villages, and its inhabitants were probably often forced to flee. A more peaceful era began after 1690, when the Turks were finally expelled.
After the 1781 Patent of Toleration religious freedom was granted to the Lutherans, and Tót-Morácz became the daughter congregation of the Lutheran parish of Puczincz (now Puconci). During the first Hungarian census in 1785, there were 262 people living in 42 houses in the village, almost all of them peasants. The lords of the village were the Counts Szapáry and Count Miksa Batthyány.Az első magyarországi népszámlálás 1784–1787, Központi Statisztikai Hivatal, Budapest, 1960, pp. 228-229
The manor house of the Batthyány family stood right by the highway leading towards Mura-Szombat. The late Baroque house was surrounded by a garden with a few outbuildings. The estate was inherited by Count Lajos Batthyány as a child from his father, Count József Sándor Batthyány, in 1812, but it was managed by his mother, Borbála Skerlecz, until an agreement was reached between them in 1830.Tibor Ács: Batthyány Lajos katonai szolgálatának története, Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 1984/4, p. 739 Lajos Batthyány, who became the first prime minister of Hungary, owned the estate until his execution in 1849. Then the estate was confiscated on grounds of treason, and it was redeemed by his wife's brother, Count János Zichy. In the early 1860s, it was purchased by the Ernuszt family, who later sold the land piece by piece. The estate was finally liquidated in 1888.
In 1855, a Lutheran school was established. In 1871, the school had 40 students, and the local congregation numbered 271 people.A Dunántúli Ágost. Hitvall. Evang. Egyházkerület névtára, Sopron, 1871, p. 36
The cadastral survey conducted at the end of the feudal era, in 1860, listed 68 houses in Tót-Morácz. The houses were scattered over a large area, standing alone or in small, irregular clusters. Almost all buildings were made of wood. There was an inn that was owned by the Zichy estate, opposite the manor. The village had a small cemetery (on the site of today's volunteer fire department). The surnames show that the majority of the inhabitants were Slovenes, but Hungarian names also occurred. Arable land and forests were the two dominant categories in land use, but the proportion of meadows was also significant, indicating the importance of animal husbandry.Franciscan cadaster of Tót-Morácz, Hungary, Vas County (now Moravske Toplice, Slovenia), recorded by the Imperial and Royal General Directorate of Cadastre / Karl Schuha in 1860; Virtualna arhivska čitalnica (VAČ) - Arhiv Republike Slovenije
The cadastral map recorded numerous microtoponyms used in the village at the time, only a few of which remain in use today. Microtoponyms in the lowland area include Lipnicze (the present thermal spa), Za skedny (the present village centre), Skaliny, Mocsvár, Dugi breg, Trebesaj, Upecske, Borovje, Gaj, and Brzinscsek. Locations in the Goričko area include Goustya, Baloghegy (now Rumičev Breg), Czuber, Alsó-Mihalovcsin (now Vinska Graba), and Felső-Mihalovcsin (now Moravske Gorice).
The local toponymy was almost entirely Slovenian; the only Hungarian name was Baloghegy. Several names referred to vegetation and woodland, other names described terrain and landscape features. For example, Borovje derives from the Slavic word *borъ 'pine', indicating a pine forest, and Gaj denotes a small grove. The name Goustya, for a still existing large forest, probably derives from Slovene gošča 'dense woodland'. Skaliny most likely refers to stony ground (from Slovene skala 'rock'), and Dugi breg literally means 'long slope'. The name Brzinscsek probably relates to a small fast-flowing stream or gully (cf. Slavic *bъrzъ 'fast'), and Mocsvár most likely derives from Slavic *močьva 'marsh'. Za skedny 'behind the barns' was an area located behind farm buildings, and Trebesaj probably derives from the Slovene verb trebiti 'to clear forest', suggesting land created by woodland clearance. A few names were connected to personal names.
The slow material growth of the village is shown by the fact that at the time of the 1910 census, 109 of the 151 houses were still built of wood, while 89 houses already had tiled roofs. Eighty-seven percent of the population over age six could read and write. A volunteer fire brigade was established in 1894.
In 1919, the entire Prekmurje region was united with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes; the border change was formalized in the Treaty of Trianon the following year. When the District of Murska Sobota was established in 1921, Moravci became a local community in the newly formed Municipality of Tešanovci. After annexation to Vas County and Hungary for a short period between 1941 and 1945, it became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia following World War II, then independent Slovenia in 1991.
Administratively, it remained part of larger municipalities until 1994, when the new Municipality of Moravske Toplice was formed, of which it became the seat. The municipality contains 28 local communities.
Geography Moravske Toplice is located in the Prekmurje region of Slovenia, on the border of two different landscape units, the hilly region known as Goričko () and the flatlands known as Ravensko (). The center of the village is located on both sides of regional road no. 442, on a flat area (about 190 m above sea level). The terrain rises to the north, reaching the foothills of Goričko. The highest point in the territory of the settlement is Kamena gorica (, 317 m). A low, sloping range between the valleys of Lipnica and Mostec creeks reaches its highest elevation at Rdeči breg (, 277 m). Several streams run south from the hills and merge on the southern edge of Moravske Toplice; the most important is the Lipnica, which is fed by Mostec and Ribnjek creeks and is a tributary of the Ledava River.
Demographics The demographic evolution of Moravske Toplice has been documented through modern population censuses conducted regularly since 1881, first by the Hungarian state and later by the Yugoslav and Slovenian authorities.
After a period of growth in the last decades of the 19th century, the population declined after 1900, mainly due to outward migration, reaching its historical low point in 1971. Strong population growth in the last third of the 20th century can be attributed to the changes that followed the discovery of thermal water. Moravske Toplice's development diverged from that of the surrounding rural settlements, and the village gradually evolved into a thermal resort. Due to new job opportunities in the service sector and better living standards, migration attractiveness has increased. These trends continued into the first decades of the 21st century.
The village was populated by Slovenians throughout its history, but the first census in 1881 also showed a small Hungarian presence (82 people, 12 percent of the population). In later censuses, the village remained almost exclusively Slovenian, but the proportion of those who could speak Hungarian was growing (30% in 1900, 44% in 1910). This peaked in 1941, when 55 percent of the population was able to speak Hungarian. Bilingualism disappeared in the decades following World War II. The proportion of Lutherans was 74 percent in 1882, the rest of the population was Catholic. In the following decades, the proportion of Lutherans was even higher, but in 1941 it stood again at 74 percent.
Spatial structure The spatial structure of the settlement was shaped by historical and geographical conditions. Until the 1970s, Moravci was a small village along the highway leading to Murska Sobota (today's Kranjčeva ulica) and a side road toward Fokovci (today's Dolga ulica). It also included scattered hamlets among the Goričko foothills. The nucleus of the present village center was established around the feudal manor in the 18th century on both sides of the highway. There was rapid growth in the second half of the 20th century, after the discovery of thermal water made Moravske Toplice one of the most important resorts in Slovenia. Hotels, guesthouses, and services were established around the thermal spa, and the center took on an urban character. The more remote parts, on the other hand, have retained their rural character even in the 21st century.