Šmihel (; ) is a dispersed settlement in the Municipality of Nova Gorica in western Slovenia.Nova Gorica municipal site It is located in the lower Vipava Valley.
Name The name of the settlement was changed from Sveti Mihael (literally, 'Archangel Michael') to Šmihel in 1955. The name was changed on the basis of the 1948 Law on Names of Settlements and Designations of Squares, Streets, and Buildings as part of efforts by Slovenia's postwar communist government to remove religious elements from toponyms.Spremembe naselij 1948–95. 1996. Database. Ljubljana: Geografski inštitut ZRC SAZU, DZS.Premk, F. 2004. Slovenska versko-krščanska terminologija v zemljepisnih imenih in spremembe za čas 1921–1967/68. Besedoslovne lastnosti slovenskega jezika: slovenska zemljepisna imena. Ljubljana: Slavistično društvo Slovenije, pp. 113–132.Urbanc, Mimi, & Matej Gabrovec. 2005. Krajevna imena: poligon za dokazovanje moči in odraz lokalne identitete. Geografski vestnik 77(2): 25–43.
Church The small church, from which the settlement gets its name, is dedicated to Saint Michael and the belongs to the Parish of Šempas.Roman Catholic Diocese of Koper List of Churches May 2008
References
External links Šmihel on Geopedia