St. Stephen Church

St. Stephen Church or Cerkev svetega Štefana as called in slovene language is work of the most famous slovene architect Jože Plečnik. He is also famous for building National and University Library in Ljubljana, renovating the Prague castle as well as creating Triple bridge next to Prešeren square in Ljubljana. He also had a major impact in Vienna and Belgrade.

The triple bridge. Source: http://www.slo-foto.net/modules/Galerija/data/media/18/212772754.jpg

St. Stephen church is located in a small town Ribnica, which is 40km from the capital but well worth a visit if you have enough time. Along with the castle it is one of the most iconic buildings in this city. It has been biult in 19th century. It has been demolished and rebouilt several times. The church is one of the largest churches in Slovenia and is made in neoromanic style. It has many colorful frescoes and the whole interior is painted either by paintings or with different ornamentation. The organ inside is the oldest one still working in Slovenia and for the Easter they play Hallelujah by Handel which sounds amazing. The bells have been replaced by new ones in 1999 which has represented a big event as they travelled around all the villages nearby and many people came to see it.

St. Stephen church. Source: http://kraji.eu/PICTURES/jugovzhodna/ribnica_z_okolico/ribnica/cerkev_sv_stefana/DSC_4189_ribnica_cerkev_sv_stefana_big.jpg

One of the most interesting things inside is the altar painting made by the famous slovene painter Ivan Grohar. It represents the largest oil painting he has made. The pope St. Stephen rises above Rome towards heaven accompanied by angels. The painting is there most of the time but is replaced for two weeks during the Easter period each year by the paiting of Jesus on a cross.

Oil painting of St. Stephen. Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Ivan_Grohar_-_Sv._%C5%A0tefan.jpg/800px-Ivan_Grohar_-_Sv._%C5%A0tefan.jpg

How to get there:

Take the bus number 19 from the Central bus station in Ljubljana, direction Kočevje. The buses run frequently, every hour or even every half an hour at times. For more information about the departures you can check it on the webpage: https://www.ap-ljubljana.si/en/. You can buy the ticket by the driver which costs around 5.60€ one way. In around one hour you will arrive to the station called Ribnica. Beware as there is no station calling by the radio so you can ask the driver to let you know where is the correct station. The picture of a station below can also be helpful.

Ribnica bus station. Source: http://kraji.eu/PICTURES/jugovzhodna/ribnica_z_okolico/ribnica/skrabcev_trg/DSC_4201_ribnica_skrapcev_trg_big.jpg