St Mark's Church (Vrba)
Encyclopedia
Upper Carniola
Upper Carniola is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jesenice, Tržič, Škofja Loka, Kamnik, and Domžale.- Historical background :...
in 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...
. Though it is a small and simple church, it has achieved near mythical status in Slovenia, after it was mentioned in the sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
O Vrba
O Vrba
O Vrba is a sonnet written in 1832 by the Slovene Romantic poet France Prešeren, who is considered the national poet of Slovenia. It is the introductory exposition of a cycle of six sonnets named the Sonnets of Unhappiness . The sonnet is dedicated to the Prešeren's home village Vrba, expressing a...
by Slovene national poet France Prešeren
France Prešeren
France Prešeren was a Slovene Romantic poet. He is considered the Slovene national poet. Although he was not a particularly prolific author, he inspired virtually all Slovene literature thereafter....
. Though it is only mentioned in the last verse of this single sonnet, it has come to symbolise homeliness and safety to which one can turn when bitterness and disappointment over having followed one's destiny to foreign lands becomes too much to bear. In January 2011, it was proclaimed cultural monument of national importance by the Government of Slovenia
Government of Slovenia
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia is the cabinet that excersises executive authority in Slovenia pursuant to the Constitution and the laws of Slovenia. It is also the highest administrative authority in Slovenia. It comprises the Prime Minister and 15 ministers, three of them without...
.
History
The church is dedicated to St MarkMark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....
and is a plain looking building with a wooden roof and a variety of features from various periods. The Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
foundations of an apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
displayed inside the church, under the floor of the present apse, show that there was a smaller church on this site before the 14th century. The first major rebuilding seems to have been undertaken in the 16th century when the choir was rebuilt with decorative, rather than structural ribbed vaulting
Rib vault
The intersection of two or three barrel vaults produces a rib vault or ribbed vault when they are edged with an armature of piped masonry often carved in decorative patterns; compare groin vault, an older form of vault construction...
. As indicated by the date 1627 on the rear portal, the steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
and the entry porch were rebuilt. The belltower would at the time have had an onion dome wooden roof
Onion dome
An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles the onion, after which they are named. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the drum upon which they are set, and their height usually exceeds their width...
—the current pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
al roof is from the 19th century.
Features
An important feature of the church are its frescoFresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es, though they are rather fragmented. Some wall paintings are preserved on the exterior of the church. An image of St Christopher
Saint Christopher
.Saint Christopher is a saint venerated by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, listed as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd century Roman Emperor Decius or alternatively under the Roman Emperor Maximinus II Dacian...
and one of the Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
date to the early 15th century and are in the style of the Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...
school. St George and the Dragon
Saint George and the Dragon
The episode of Saint George and the Dragon appended to the hagiography of Saint George was Eastern in origin, brought back with the Crusaders and retold with the courtly appurtenances belonging to the genre of Romance...
, dating to the 16th century, are by the painter Jernej of Loka
Jernej of Loka
Jernej of Loka was a 16th-century painter active in the Škofja Loka area, from which his epithet is also derived. He is known to have painted the frescoes in a number of other churches throughout the Upper Carniola region and some in the area of Tolmin and in the Natisone Valley .Churches where...
who also painted the church of St John the Baptist at Lake Bohinj
Lake Bohinj
Lake Bohinj is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia. Lake Bohinj is located in the Bohinj municipality in the north-west of the country, and is inside Triglav National Park.-Description:Lake Bohinj is 4.2 km long and 1 km at its maximum width...
. Both painters also painted parts of the interior. The Gorizia master is the author of the image of Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, the Twelve Apostles and the symbols of the Evangelists.
Four Evangelists
In Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:*Gospel according to Matthew*Gospel according to Mark...
On the right side of the dividing arch a different contemporary painter depicted St Mark kneeling and a skinned
Skinning
Skinning, a gerund from the verb to skin, commonly refers to the act of skin removal.The process is usually done with animals, mainly as preparation of the meat beneath and/or use for the fur...
St Bartholomew holding his skin in his hand and smiling. Above the arch an image of an angel from an Annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
scene is preserved and is the work of Bartholomew of Loka who also decorated the western wall with scenes from the Passion of Christ
Passion (Christianity)
The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion...
, a few of which are preserved.
The church furnishings are more recent. Two gold plated
Gold plating
Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold onto the surface of another metal, most often copper or silver , by chemical or electrochemical plating...
side altars are from the early 17th century with slightly crude 17th century sculpture and 19th century paintings of the Pietà
Pietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
and of St Bartholomew. The main altar dates to the 18th century. The marble altar table was designed by Tone Bitenc, pupil of Jože Plečnik
Jože Plecnik
Jože Plečnik , was a Slovene architect who practised in Vienna, Belgrade, Prague and Ljubljana.-Biography:...
and combines Baroque elements with a Plečnik style modernism.
On the basis of fragments of a painted wooden ceiling dating from around 1500–1515, a new reconstructed ceiling was built in 1990. In the porch is a bust of the archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Anton Vovk
Anton Vovk
Archbishop Anton Vovk was born in the village of Vrba in Upper Carniola in the same house where the poet France Prešeren had been born 100 years earlier . Vovk’s father Jožef Vovk and mother Marija née Debelak died when he was young...
(1900–1963), great grand nephew of Prešeren, born in the same house
Prešeren's house
Prešeren's birth house is a house in the village of Vrba in the Žirovnica municipality in Slovenia. It is the house where the Slovene poet France Prešeren was born in 1800. The Slovene theologian and archbishop Anton Vovk was also born in the same house in 1900. The house is a good example of an...
in Vrba.
The mixture of styles and periods in this tiny church is an artistic witness to the pride of local inhabitants in the small village.
Sources
Ivan Sedej: Sto najlepših cerkva na Slovenskem, Prešernova Družba, Ljubljana, 1996, ISBN 961-6186-20-5External links
See also
- Vrba, Slovenia
- France PrešerenFrance PrešerenFrance Prešeren was a Slovene Romantic poet. He is considered the Slovene national poet. Although he was not a particularly prolific author, he inspired virtually all Slovene literature thereafter....