The Parish Church of St. Rupert in Šentrupert is one of the most beautiful Gothic churches in Slovenia. Its primary monumental value lies in its architecture, which demonstrates a blend of Styrian and Upper Carniolan Gothic influences. The presbytery was built at the beginning, while the nave was completed at the end of the 15th century.
The Gothic church is first mentioned in records in 1163; however, considering its origins, patronage, and historical circumstances—especially the formation of the proto-parish—its inception likely dates back to the 11th century. In 1393, patronage over the parish was acquired by the famous Count Hermann II of Celje, and in 1493, the church was annexed to the new collegiate chapter in Novo mesto.
According to research by Robert Peskar in 1993, the current appearance of the church is the result of at least three construction phases in the 15th century. The most significant is the first, defined by architectural members and stonemason marks on sandstone pieces, encompassing the presbytery, the ground floor and first floor of the bell tower, the stair turret on the northern side, and the eastern wall of the nave with a buttress on the southern side. Work continued only in the second half of the century, when the bell tower was finished and the nave shell was built to its current extent. In the third phase, completed in 1497 (the date on the portal), the nave ceiling—initially flat and wooden—was vaulted, and a simple pointed portal was inserted into the western facade.
The walls of the presbytery (long choir) are surrounded on the outside by six double-stepped buttresses, capped diagonally and decorated with finials and blind trefoils. The walls feature five high windows, extending down to the plinth. The windows have pointed arches decorated with tracery in the shapes of fish bladders, trefoils, and quatrefoils. The bell tower is articulated with profiled windows on the ground floor (used as a sacristy) and the first floor, while the third floor transitions from a square base into an octagonal tower. The interior of the presbytery is vaulted with a stellar-rhomboid vault divided longitudinally into three bays and a five-eighths closure. The ribs, featuring a wedge-shaped profile with a semi-circular bead on both sides, rest on geometric consoles along the longitudinal walls and on semi-circular shafts in the end walls; two of these shafts have figural capitals. All rib intersections are elegantly decorated with keystones in the form of heraldic shields and rosettes. Only the four-part stellar vault in the sacristy is without keystones, resting instead on figural consoles most likely representing the Angel and Mary from the Annunciation and a musician angel. Of the once numerous architectural sculptures, only a figural console (or capital) in the later modified triumphal arch and heavily fire-damaged sedilia in the southern side of the choir closure have been preserved.
The models for the design of the presbytery are to be found in Czech architecture, specifically in the works of the workshop of Peter Parler’s successors, as evidenced by the stylistic elements of the architectural sculpture first noted by art historian Emilijan Cevc. Similar elements can be found in the Church of St. Martin in Hajdina and the church at Ptujska Gora, where masters came directly from Parler’s workshop in Prague, as well as in the old church of the Pleterje Carthusian Monastery and the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows in Celje.
The rectangular nave space has three high three-light windows with rich tracery on each longitudinal side, plus a smaller three-light window and a simple pointed portal on the western facade. The vault is executed following the model of Upper Carniolan hall churches. It rests on three pairs of slender stone octagonal pillars that divide the space into three equivalent aisles and on figural wall consoles. It is divided into 12 vault bays, each with ribs in the form of an eight-pointed star. The consoles depict male figures and angels. The ribs, growing from the pillars without interruptions, have a wedge profile with grooves on both sides. The intersections of the ribs, including those under the choir loft, are consistently decorated with keystones in the form of saintly figures, rosettes, and heraldic shields. The stylization of the architectural sculpture is characteristic of the Kamnik workshop, which has its roots in the Kranj-Škofja Loka architecture.
Immediately after the completion of the vault in 1497, the church was converted into an anti-Turkish camp (fortified church). Walls were built around the church, and the church building and bell tower were heavily fortified. At that time, the lower parts of the church windows were walled up and converted into arrow slits; in the nave, arrow slits are still preserved in some windows. (The walls were removed only in 1834.)
In 1520, the Bishop of Caorle, Daniel de Rubeis, solemnly consecrated the church and its six altars.
The church's furnishings changed over the following centuries. During the Historicist period, a Gothic character was returned to the interior in what was then a modern, exaggerated version. The church received Neo-Gothic furnishings, including a pulpit and side altars (1860). In 1865, the Ljubljana stonemason Ignacij Toman Jr. made the main altar, with statues by sculptor Matej Tomc and brass reliefs by the metalsmith Valentin Sadnikar. In the central altar niche stands a statue of Saint Rupert, with Saint Peter and Saint Andrew to the left and right. The Ljubljana painter Janez Wolf painted "Saint Rupert before the Holy Trinity" (1866), which hangs in the presbytery on the northern wall. Older elements include the tombstone of Count Maximilian Valerius Barbo-Wachenstein in the northern wall of the nave (1699), the Gothic tabernacle to the left of the main altar, and Baroque statues of bishops in Neo-Gothic niches next to Wolf’s painting.
In 1896-97, the painter Matija Koželj painted the ceiling of the church with floral decoration, thereby covering the frescoes of the so-called Podpeč Master from the end of the 15th century.
Literature and Sources (year 2006):
I. Komelj, Gothic Architecture, Ljubljana, Mladinska knjiga, 1969;
J. Höfler, Medieval Frescoes in Slovenia, surroundings of Ljubljana with Notranjska, Dolenjska, and Bela krajina, Ljubljana, Družina, 2001;
I. Steklasa, History of the Parish of Šent Rupert in Dolenjska, Ljubljana, self-published, 1913;
M. Zadnikar, (1973–1975), Monuments of Church Architecture and Art, 1. Celje: Mohorjeva družba.