Mengeš is a town with 7,000 inhabitants and the municipal center of the municipality of the same name with 8,400 inhabitants (2022). The settlement lies at an altitude of 320 m on the western edge of the central part of the Mengeš field, which is part of the Kamnik-Bistrica plain.
Due to its location, well-developed infrastructure and proximity to the capital city of Ljubljana (13 km air distance), Mengeš is an immigration destination that promotes the growth of the settlement.
Mengeš has a developed industry with smaller industrial plants and a strong presence in the pharmaceutical industry. Typical crafts for the place are baking, straw-making and saddlery. Mengeš is also known for his music, especially for making accordions.
Among the important cultural sights of Mengeš is the church of Sv. Mihaela. The parish of Mengeš is one of the proto-parishes and was founded according to written sources at the end of the tenth century, and its history supposedly dates back to the period of Ancient Rome, and probably to the period of Christianization of today's ancestors of Slovenes. The original pre-Romanesque Christian wooden church in Mengeš was built in the late 9th or early 10th century as a central part of the Christian mission that ruled the area between the Karavanke and the Sava River.
The original Romanesque basis of the present church of St. Mihaela was built at the end of the 13th century, which was later rebuilt in the 15th century in the style of Gothic architecture. Originally, the church had three naves, the middle of which is still wider than the side ones and also higher. Each of these naves ended in the Romanesque period with a semicircular altar space - the apse. In the Gothic period, shortly after 1400, the three apses were removed and the present presbytery, adorned with famous frescoes by John of Ljubljana, was added. Jožef Anton pl. Schüff Erstein had the church baroqued in 1740, after buying the Mengeš parish from the Stična monastery in 1733. The Gothic pointed windows of the presbytery were replaced by baroque rectangular ones.
In addition to worship in the 15th and 16th centuries, the church, like many churches in Slovenia, served as a defensive camp for the surrounding population against Ottoman invasions. In addition to the church, an independent, 30 m high church bell tower was built in the early 16th century, which also served as a defensive tower of the camp around the church.
Attractions inside the church are frescoes by John of Ljubljana from 1462, which were discovered in 1932 during the renovation of the church. The high altar dates from 1740, dedicated to the parish patron saint. Michael, the Stations of the Cross from 1875 and the organ from 1889. Memorial plaques with coats of arms from the 17th and 18th centuries are built into the cemetery wall.
On the site of today's mežnarija once stood the old mežnarija, in which the Slovene baroque painter Franc Jelovšek was born in 1700.
In the square in front of the church is the sign of the Immaculate Conception of Mary from 1857, which originally stood on the Main Square in Mengeš. Behind it is the rectory, which was built in 1899 on the site of the old one. Several Old Slavic graves were discovered during the construction of the parish church.
East of the church is the entrance to the cemetery, where many famous Mengšans are buried, and there are also some tombstones with German inscriptions. These are the graves of Tyroleans who were engaged in straw-making in Mengeš.
According to Plečnik's plans, dated between 1953 and 1955, the church of Sv. Mihaela arranged the baptistery, confessionals and the decoration of the ceiling above them and the stairs to the choir.
The popular recreational area of Mengeš, in the immediate vicinity of the sports park above the north-western area of Mengeš, is the hilly area of Gobavica (433 m above sea level). At the top is Mengeška koča. The Gobavica area is a popular recreational area with numerous footpaths and a trim trim track. On a hill in the eastern area of Gobavica, just above Mengeš, are the remains of the former Mannsburg castle from the 12th century.
The castle and the settlement below it are said to be named after the pagan knight Meng. Name Mengeš oz. its German version Mannsburg, apparently derived from the old German name Meingo, Mengoz or Megingoz, is mentioned in documents from the 10th to the 12th centuries.
The first indirect mention of the castle (as Meingosburg) is found in 1154, when the Mengeš knight, the Andean ministerial Dietrik of Mengeš (Dietricus), is mentioned. After 1230, the castle belonged to the Styrian Duke Frederick II. From 1248 to 1251 it was occupied by Count Majnhard of Goriška as an imperial administrator, followed by Spanheimi. The castle was ceded to them in 1250 by one of the heirs of the Andes, the Patriarch of Aquileia Bertold. This year, the castle is first explicitly mentioned as the Mengosburch castrum. In 1260 the vassal Ortolf of Mengeš is mentioned. The next mention of the castle comes in 1316 (das haus datz Meyngospurch); at that time Hartvik Steier (Styrian) handed over his share of the castle (half was owned by Frederick) to his wife and children. As early as 1329, Hertlein received from the Duke of Carinthia Henry in the feud a third of the castle, which had previously belonged to the sons of Frederick Steyer. Part of the second half was sold by Frederick's widow Trauta with her sons in 1335 to Hartle. Sources:
Stopar, Ivan, Dr.: "Grajske stavbe v osrednji Sloveniji - I. Gorenjska (Območje Kamnika in Kamniške Bistrice)", Viharnik, Ljubljana, 1997, ISBN 961-6057-12-X
Gradovi.net URL: http://www.gradovi.net/grad/menges_grad , 20. april 2022
Stražar, Stane (1993), Mengeš in Trzin skozi čas. Mengeš in Trzin;
Vidali, Ivan (1984). Mengeš. Kulturni in naravni spomeniki Slovenije, Maribor: Obzorja.
Potočnik, Tina (2013), Josip Vancaš in Jože Plečnik v Mengšu. ZUZ – XLIX – 2013 (URL: potocnik2013web.pdf (suzd.si), citirano 14.4.2022)
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