Church of Saint George, Piran
Encyclopedia
The Church of Saint George (Slovene: Cerkev svetega Jurija) is a catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 church located on the hill above Piran
Piran
Piran is a city and municipality in southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the three major towns of Slovenian Istria. The city resembles a large open-air museum, with medieval architecture and a rich cultural heritage. Narrow streets and compact houses give...

, a Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

n coastal town. It is dedicated to Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...

.

Early history

The first church on top of the hill was already built in 12th century. In 1595 a construction of a new church began on the same location, replacing the old one. The construction of the new one was finished in 1637, and the front portal of the church was made in 1608 by Bonfante Torre. The construction of the bell tower that is separated from the church started in 1600 and was also designed by Bonfante Torre, and was finished in 1608. As the last building built on the site was a baptistery
Baptistery
In Christian architecture the baptistry or baptistery is the separate centrally-planned structure surrounding the baptismal font. The baptistry may be incorporated within the body of a church or cathedral and be provided with an altar as a chapel...

. It was finished in 1650. Because of unstable foundations and the whole hill, enhancement walls and barriers were made from the 17th to the 19th century on north and south sides of the hill to prevent any damage to the building. Several restorations were made afterwards.

Present

A general restoration has been launched in 1990 because of overall bad condition of the structures. Between 2002 and 2005, the main building was closed because of restorations of the frescos and statues inside. The hill was further enhaced and stabilised to prevent the structures to deform or even fall of cliff.

The church is now a major tourist attraction and one of the most important town landmarks, as it is seen from Tartini Square
Tartini Square
The Tartini Square is the largest and main square in the town of Piran, Slovenia. It was named after a famous violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini, of whom a mounument was made in 1896.-History:...

 aswell as from many other parts of town. The bell tower is accessible for 1€ via stairwell, and the church interior is accessible anytime from 7:00 to 22:00, although the inner hall can be entered only during mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...

. Infront of the church portal is a large lawn which used to be a graveyard, and is now a spot for tourists to see the whole Bay of Trieste, aswell as the town and nearby coastal settlements.

External links

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