Svete gore (525 m) hil above Bistrica ob Sotli are an ancient pilgrimage center. The church of Mary was first mentioned in 1265 as Monte Sancte Marie. The current building on the location was original from the 17th century, in 1611 it was dedicated by Bishop Tomaž Hren. A hundred years later, the church was rebuilt in significantly larger one.
The locals say that the church was being built by the kunspers gentlemen. The Kunschurch Countess once drove towards the suburban castle and was lost in the forest. Exactly where the churches stand on the mountains today, it has become entangled in shrubs and blackberries from which it could not be rescued. At that time of anxiety, she promised to build a church on this location if she managed to get rid of her thorn. This story also tells us the oldest preserved votive image from 1680.
In the era of Josephism, the Holy Mountains almost delclined totally, but a new impetus came after 1860, when the parish priest Jurij Stepišnik and Martin Sevnik took care of the new reconstruction. In the years from 1868 to 1871, the church was decorated wit paintings of painter Tomaž Fantoni. On the obverse of the presbytery he depicted the Assumption of Mary, and painted scenes from Mary's Litany on the sides. In side naves, an unknown painter set various hearings on the walls of the Holy Virgin Mary.
The present Early Baroque church features an image of the Basilica. It is spacious, tramlish and measures 31 meters in length and 17 meters in width. The main nave is divided from lower, lateral, four pairs of mighty slopes. The presbytery is as wide and high as the ship and three-sided. In the main altar, the main events from Mary's life are before us. In the semicircular niche Maria Maria is crowned with a scepter in the left and children in the right. Angels make music on various musical instruments. This part of the altar probably stems from the old church. The central part is dedicated to the Birth of Mary (8 September), then there is the Annunciation of Mary (March 25) and the Assumption of Mary (August 15). The rest of Mary's relatives are also gathered on the altar.
In the nave, six lateral altars stretching from the third quarter of the 18th century collapsed to the slope. They are consecrated by St. Ani, sv. Florian, St. Anton the Hermit, St. Mary's Church Rosary Wedding, sv. Francis Xaverius and St. Izidorju. Most often, around the pilgrims, Mary's throne is drawn into the ship. It is much closer to them than the main altar, and they resort to their problems and impulses. It's an interesting statue to change it. There are more votive images in the church, the oldest one is from 1680.
Below the church of Mary are the chapels of St. Yuri and St. George Martina, above it are the chapels of St. Sebastian and Fabian, and a chapel dedicated to the Lurska Matera of God. The lower chapels are among the oldest sacral buildings in Slovenia. On the chapel of St. Yuri also finds Oransa - the image of a man sculpted in stone, and an unreadable inscription on the bazaar of the portal, which has not been decoded to this day.
Since 2000, as the ascent to the hill is accompanied by a wooden cross path, the work of academic sculptor Stane Jarm.
The main pilgrimage is on the holiday of Mary's birth, on September 8th. The pilgrims begin on Easter Monday. Holy Masses take place on the Holy Mountains from 1 May every Sunday until Martin's Sunday, while pilgrims visit the Holy Mountain on August 15 (ascension) and on the Thanksgiving Sunday in November.
Source: https://marijina-romarska-pot.si, information board Maria pilgrimage route |
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