Sacral buildings

With its imposing image, the Church of St. George gives Slovenske Konjice its mark and rounds off the image of the Old Square, which tells stories of the past to new generations.

The Konjice parish church of St. George reaches for ancient history and has a special status as an archparish, and the priest is granted the title of archdeacon.

The parish of Konjice was first mentioned in 1146 in the documents of the Aquileian Patriarch Peregrine. Between 1085 and 1096, the Konjice parish separated from the Hoška parish. Today’s church is the successor to the original church, which stood here even before the Peregrine Charter.

The Church of the Sacred George is Late Gothic and consists of a rectangular and side nave, presbytery, bell tower on the west side and the baroque Rosary Chapel on the south side, where we find preserved frescoes of Joseph A. Lerchinger with Marian motifs and personification of the four seasons from 1749.  The original wooden ceiling in the nave was replaced by a vault on the inner buttresses during the work of the parish priest Valentin Fabri. The keystone was preserved in the main nave, with the coat of arms of Archpriest Fabrius, with an anvil and a hammer.

The oldest part of the present church is the main nave, which was built in the 12th or 13th century. The burial chapel of the Konjice lords was later added to the main nave, which was dedicated to St. Jacob. The bell tower which, with its mighty architecture, ranks among the oldest and largest in Slovenian Styria, also originates from the end of the 13th century.

This lies on the slope of the castle hill, in the middle of the parish cemetery, which rises along the terraces. From it there is a beautiful view of the Dravinja valley and the Pohorje hills with many villages and churches.

The entire building was built in the middle of the 16th century and has signs of Gothic and Renaissance elements. Only a long lobby in front of the bell tower, which is built on piers, is of later origin. In it, the stone coat of arms of the knight Ivan Khissl, who owned the Konjice castle in 1572, adorns the facade. He was elevated to baron in 1592 and received an improved coat of arms. Therefore, it is assumed that the hallway was built before that year and the church itself must be even older. The church has a rectangular nave with a chapel of St. Florian on the north side (altar from the middle of the 17th century), bell tower and presbytery with octagonal arch. Outside, there are supports on the nave and the presbytery.

The altarpieces were transferred from other parish churches. The main altar is from the beginning of the 19th century with a wonderful statue of Catherine of Alexandria from the 18th century. A special feature is the pulpit fence. It is decorated with reliefs depicting, from left to right, John the Baptist preaching to the Jews; the Last Supper and the arrival of the Holy Spirit (Hall with the Twelve Apostles).

In the middle of the nave is the tomb of the Tattenbach family from the beginning of the 17th century. Their coat of arms and some letters are still seen on the wing plate, from which the name of Baron Ivan Krištof (+ 1626) can be identified. Two more stone monuments are built into the walls. On the north side there is the Tattenbach coat of arms (an oblique stripe of fur) and the second coat of arms, which is crowned and has a left-facing unicorn (perhaps the coat of arms of his wife). In the middle of the frieze is a cross with Mary and John below and Jerusalem in the background. The Tattenbach family kneels before the cross (father with four sons and three daughters). The monument must originally have been painted, as in some places colour pigment is still visible. On the south side is a slightly larger monument with the coat of arms of the Tattenbach and Resch dynasties (Ivan Krištof T. was married to Judita Resch).

The Church of the Sacred Peter was built in 1392, when a few decades earlier, the Carthusians of Žiče asked Cardinal Napoleon Ursini to build an associate church in Žiče. Interestingly, the cardinal allowed them to do so without first asking the local bishop, which was the rule at the time.

Of the original church, which looked more like a chapel, only the western part of the nave is preserved. In 1660-61, they erected the present church with a vaulted nave, presbytery and a built-in singing matroneum. On the richly ornamented southern portal we find the year 1661, and on the main one, 1705. The main altar was built in 1765 and is the work of Janez Jurij Mersi, and the side altars are the work of Mihael Pogačnik. The frescoes in the interior represent the life of St. Peter, and their author is Franc Horvat, who created them in 1903.

The nave’s exterior is adorned with the remains of the frescoes of St. Christopher and Mary the Patroness. These were created in the 14th century. Next to the church is a parish from the 19th century.

The Žiče Carthusian Monastery was designed in accordance with the Carthusian rules of the time and was divided into two complexes – the upper one served the monks and the lower one served the lay brothers. The Church of the Visitation of Mary, ecclesia minor, is located in the area of the lower monastery in Špitalič. It was created around 1164 and consecrated in 1190.

The building is one of the most important Slovenian late Romanesque monuments, and in terms of quality of execution, it could be placed at the very top. Particularly important are the main and side portal, most likely created at the end of the 12th century. They are among the most important stonemasonry masterpieces of their time in Slovenia, as they show early Gothic sprouting capitals, which were used for the first time in this area. Also of interest are the arches of sediliums, which reflect the direct transfer of new, Gothic forms from France with pointed archivolts. Masons and stonemasons probably came from there, which can be concluded mainly by the high level of stonemasonry skill. The church was modestly renovated in the late Romanesque period, and in the 19th century the bell tower and sacristy were added. In 1839, when reconstructions were being undertaken, the main portal, once on the left side of the nave, was transferred to a new entrance under the bell tower. At the top of the portal is the Lamb with an antique cross. The Lamb represents Christ, whose entrance we go through to reach salvation.

The church was first mentioned in 1430, but it is known that a priest from Slovenske Konjice celebrated Mass in it four years later. In folktales, the church is called “The Holy Ghost on The Lake”, because there used to be a lake here, and the church was supposed to stand in the middle.

The original nave was later enlarged, and chapels were added in 1662. In 1734, the bell tower was also built, as evidenced by the years written on its north and south sides. The presbytery is adorned with images of St. Gregory, St. Ambrosius, St. Hieronymus and St. Augustine, and saints can also be found on the nave vault. Among others there are the depictions of St. Margaret, St. Catherine, St. Barbara, St. Valentine, St. Blaise amongst others, and their author is J. Gornik. In addition to painting depictions, altars are also important. The great altar of the Holy Ghost was probably made in 1856 and could still be classified in the late Baroque period by design, but we know that it is the work of various hands. Chronologically, the statues of St. Francis Xavier and John of Nepomuk were made first next to the altar niche, and were attributed to the sculptor Franc Zamlik. As the second sculptor of the great altar, art historians cite Joseph Holzinger from Maribor, and the sculptural works in the central niche are attributed to carvers from Grodno.

The church is located on a hill between meadows and vineyards, from where there is a beautiful view on all sides.

The parish church must have been built at least in the 14th century, as it was first mentioned as an affiliate of Konjice in 1403. The current nave is preserved from the original church, but at the beginning it was 1.5m lower and had a flat ceiling. This is still visible today on the east side of the bell tower and on the current nave above the triumphal arch. In the first half of the 18th century, the bell tower, the decorated southern chapel and today’s presbytery were added. The latest addition is the sacristy from 1785.

The main altar with the statue of St. Bartholomew and the side altars are the work of Franc Zamlik from 1750, the altar of St. Margaret, however, was created 20 years later and is the work of Janez Jurij Mersi. In this chapel, in the clouds of the Attic, there are statues of St. Sixtus the Pope and St. Lawrence, and between St. Lucia and St. Apollonia, we can see Margaret. The statues of the Pope and the saints may have come from the Žiče Carthusian Monastery or they may have been in the church before. A pulpit was built at the same time as the chapel. The rectory was built at the end of the 18th century.

Church of the Sacred Family is a good example of a modern sacral building. It was built in 1972.

The locals wanted a church for quite some time. The cause for it was then the unjustified demolition of the chapel along the road to the cemetery in Zgornja Pristava near Konjice. The costs were paid for by the Archparish of Slovenske Konjice, and a lot of volunteer work was done by the locals from Tepanje. The plan for the church was made by the senior construction technician, Jože Požauko, and the construction was taken over by the Kongrad construction company of Konjice. On November 26, the Bishop of Maribor, Dr. Maximilian Držečnik blessed the church dedicating it to the Sacred Family.

The church was completely renovated in 2002: it received new oak benches, a marble altar and windows, the roof was re-covered and the bell tower refreshed.