Zgornje Jezersko

Old church of St Oswald

Heritage record number: 205

List of paintings

Stage 1 (Zgornje Jezersko) right-arrow
001_Zunanjščina, pogled iz severozahodne smeri / northwest view of the church

The settlement of Jezersko (German: Oberseeland), where the old parish church of St Oswald is located, is mentioned in archival sources around 1420 as Seelein and in 1436 as ain hueben an dem See.[1] Until 1918, it was a part of the province of Carinthia. The church used to belong to the parish of St Michael in Železna Kapla (Eisenkappel), while today, it is a succursal church of the more recent parish church of St Oswald in Jezersko, built in the 19th century.[2] The only reliable reference to the old church in the Middle Ages can be found in the archival sources regarding the ordinations in Cividale from the year 1391.[3] As the source mention the church in question as a succursal church of the parish of Rebrca (Rechberg), Janez Höfler assumed that the parish priest of Rebrca was also the parish priest of the nearby village of Železna Kapla.[4] According to the records of the parish priest Janez of Ljubljana, the old church in Jezersko had been served by the vicar of Železna Kapla until it was assigned a resident priest or chaplain in 1593.[5] In his work The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, Janez Vajkard Valvasor already referred to it as a parish church,[6] and according to one of the documents from the monastery in the village of Dobrla vas (Eberndorf), the parish was allegedly founded in 1680.[7] Together with the succursal church of St Andrew in Ravno (established in 1786), the parish of Jezersko was under the patronage and advocacy of the Dobrla vas seigniory.[8]

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[1] See Historična topografija 2021, p. 1977.
[2] HÖFLER 2016, p. 38; see also HÖFLER 1996, p. 187.
[3] HÖFLER 2016, p. 129. See full citation in OTOREPEC 1995, p. 266: “Mathias natus Michaelis de Capella nobis presentatus per dominum Henricum plebanum de Rechperga ad titulum sue filialis ecclesie sancti Oswaldi circa Lacum.” Albin Pogačnik collected some information about the alleged history of the church for his short essays, but he does not cite the exact sources. Andrej Karničar also summed up the information about the church from Albin Pogačnik’s writings and the oral tradition of the local population of Jezersko (KARNIČAR 1994, p. 18). A transcript of Albin Pogačnik’s account was published in KARNIČAR 1998, pp. 18–20, 199–202. Pogačnik states that a wooden chapel used to stand on the site of the present church as early as 811; that a church was erected here between 1198 and 1216, and that Pope Innocent III sent relics to it; that the church was restored in 1348 due to earthquake damage; that in 1386, it was visited by the Patriarch of Aquileia Francis, who donated a statue of Mary to it; that the monastery in the village of Dobrla vas donated a new statue of St Oswald to the church because the previous one had decayed; that the church was painted and restored again at the beginning of the 16th century; and that in 1680, it received a charter from the monastery in Dobrla vas on the appointment of an independent parish church; cf. KARNIČAR 1994, p. 18; KARNIČAR 1998, pp. 18–20, 199–204, 213.
[4] HÖFLER 2016, p. 129 (n. 133).
[5] HÖFLER 2016, p. 129. For a transcription of the 1593 document, see SCHROLL 1870, pp. 177–178.
[6] VALVASOR 1689, p. 806.
[7] KARNIČAR 1994, p. 18; see also KARNIČAR 1998, p. 19.
[8] HOHENAUER 1850, pp. 376, 378–379; HÖFLER 2016, p. 129 (n. 134).

The old parish church of St Oswald stands on a hill west of the centre of Zgornje Jezersko. It is an early 14th-century single-nave church with a chancel terminated by three sides of an octagon, flanked on its northern side by a more recent sacristy, while a Baroque belfry was erected next to the nave’s western wall.[1]

The preserved murals reveal that the nave was already originally covered by a flat ceiling,[2] while the chancel is rib vaulted.[3] The triumphal arch was originally slightly lower and probably pointed.[4] Despite a few alterations, the church has mostly retained its medieval appearance.[5]

The church’s medieval painted decorations were created in at least four different periods and over a span of two centuries. The church was first painted in the second quarter of the 14th century (the chancel, nave, and the exterior southern wall of the chancel).[6] The fragments of the mural with a Cosmatesque bordure in the nave indicate that around the year 1400, the church was painted for the second time.[7] The most comprehensively preserved murals in the chancel and on the nave triumphal arch were painted around 1490[8] and represent a fine example of late Gothic realism in Upper Carniola.[9] In the 16th century, the image of St Christopher was once again painted on the exterior of the chancel’s southern wall, but unfortunately, it is no longer preserved.[10]

The most remarkable example of the former medieval furnishings is the Gothic wooden statue of St Oswald from around 1425, which is now kept at the National Gallery in Ljubljana.[11]

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[1] HÖFLER 1996, p. 187; LEBEN 1998, p. 161.
[2] STELE 1921a, p. 82; STELE 1921b, p. 111.
[3] HÖFLER 1996, p. 187.
[4] Cf. Mitteilungen 1911c, p. 461; Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, Informacijsko-dokumentacijski center za dediščino, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Zgornje Jezersko, p. 1, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0981.html (25 January 2022). The fact that the current semi-circular triumphal arch opening is not the original one is also evident from the damaged part of the mural on the nave side of the triumphal arch.
[5] The church was altered twice: for the first time in the 16th century, as evidenced by the semi-circular stone Renaissance portal at the junction between the western wall of the sacristy and the northern wall of the nave; and for the second time in the 18th century, when the belfry was added and the nave was heightened, see LEBEN 1998, p. 161; LEBEN 1999, p. 8.
[6] HÖFLER 1996, pp. 187–188; see also LEBEN 1999, pp. 8–11.
[7] HÖFLER 1996, pp. 187–188.
[8] For a more detailed discussion of the mural layers, see HÖFLER 1996, pp. 188–190; see also STELE 1921b, pp. 113–137.
[9] ROZMAN 1990, p. 303; VIGNJEVIĆ 1995, p. 293; HÖFLER 1996, p. 187.
[10] HÖFLER 1996, p. 190. In the 16th century, St Christopher was painted over the same 14th-century motif; see LEBEN 1999, pp. 8–11. The 16th-century image of St Christopher has been preserved in a 20th-century photograph; see Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, Informacijsko-dokumentacijski center za dediščino, photo library, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_MK_MKS-002-06232.html (25 January 2022).
[11] WLATTNIG 1995, p. 179.

The first references to the Zgornje Jezersko murals can be found in the periodical publication of the Central Commission for the Study and Investigation of Art and Historical Monuments in Vienna, titled Mitteilungen. Here, the older mural layer was referred to in 1905,[1] while in 1911, the discovery of the remaining medieval frescoes in the chancel and the nave was also mentioned.[2] France Stele included the first detailed description of all parts of the uncovered murals in his field notes in 1920.[3] A year later, he also published a relevant report[4] and then regularly included these murals in his overviews.[5] Mihaela Logar also discussed them in her diploma thesis.[6]

Tanja Zimmermann also dedicated herself to the medieval murals in the old parish church of St Oswald. However, she focused exclusively on the oldest layer and looked for comparisons with other murals in Austrian Carinthia.[7] Janez Höfler included all of the mural’s medieval layers in his overview of medieval mural painting in Slovenia.[8] Nika Leben also discussed and defined the Crucifixion scene and the depiction of St Christopher on the church’s exterior during their uncovering in 1998.[9]

 

BRÜCKLER 2009
Theodor BRÜCKLER, Thronfolger Franz Ferdinand als Denkmalpfleger. Die Kunstakten der Militärkanzlei im Österreichischen Staatsarchiv (Kriegsarchiv), Wien 2009 (Studien zu Denkmalschutz und Denkmalpflege, 20).

Historična topografija 2021
Historična topografija Kranjske (do leta 1500), Ljubljana 20212 (Slovenska historična topografija, 1), https://omp.zrc-sazu.si/zalozba/catalog/view/1322/5572/1565.

HÖFLER 1996
Janez HÖFLER, Srednjeveške freske v Sloveniji. 1: Gorenjska, Ljubljana 1996.

HÖFLER 2016
Janez HÖFLER, O prvih cerkvah in župnijah na Slovenskem. K razvoju cerkvene teritorialne organizacije slovenskih dežel v srednjem veku, Ljubljana 20162, http://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:doc-XT3D6JUK.

HOHENAUER 1850
Franz Lorenz HOHENAUER, Kurze Kirchengeschichte von Kärnthen, Klagenfurt 1850.

JENKO 2007
Mojca JENKO, Katalog zbirke kopij fresk v Narodni galeriji, Zbirka kopij fresk v Narodni galeriji (ed. Mojca Jenko), Narodna galerija, Ljubljana 2007, pp. 47–154.

KAČIČNIK GABRIČ 2009
Alenka KAČIČNIK GABRIČ, Jezersko. Pozabljeni delček Koroške, Kronika. Časopis za slovensko krajevno zgodovino, 57, 2009, pp. 29–46.

KARNIČAR 1994
Andrej KARNIČAR, Obnovljena zunanjost stare cerkvice sv. Ožbolta na Jezerskem, Gorenjski glas, 21 June 1994, p. 18.

KARNIČAR 1998
Andrej KARNIČAR, Jezerska kronika. Jezersko v ustnem izročilu, Kranj 1998 (Gorenjski kraji in ljudje, 8).

KOMELJ 1965
Ivan KOMELJ, Dvajset let odkrivanja srednjeveških stenskih slik, Varstvo spomenikov, 10, 1965, pp. 39–76.

KOMELJ 1972
Ivan KOMELJ, Zgoščen pregled restavratorske dejavnosti Zavoda za spomeniško varstvo SR Slovenije v letih 1950–1971, Varstvo spomenikov, 16, 1972, pp. 41–50.

KOMELJ 1973
Ivan KOMELJ, Gotska arhitektura na Slovenskem. Razvoj stavbnih členov in cerkvenega prostora, Ljubljana 1973.

LEBEN 1998
Nika LEBEN, Figuralne stenske poslikave na Gorenjskem. Odkritja v zadnjih letih, Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, n. s. 34, 1998, pp. 160–191.

LEBEN 1999
Nika LEBEN, Podružnična cerkev svetega Ožbolta na Zgornjem Jezerskem. Najstarejša ohranjena upodobitev sv. Krištofa na Gorenjskem, Varstvo spomenikov, 38, 1999, pp. 8–11.

LEBEN 2013
Nika LEBEN, Sakralna arhitektura na Jezerskem, Jezersko za turistične vodnike. Interno gradivo (ed. Polona Virnik Karničar), pp. 43–46, Jezersko 2013, https://www.jezersko.si/DownloadFile?id=250420.

LOGAR 1963
Mihaela LOGAR, Cerkev Sv. Ožbalta na Jezerskem, Ljubljana 1963 (diploma thesis typescript).

LOŽAR 1938
Rajko LOŽAR, Narodna galerija, Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, 15/1, 1938, pp. 81–101.

Mitteilungen 1904
Kärnten. Oberseeland, Mitteilungen der k. k. Zentral-Kommission für Erforschung und Erhaltung der Kunst- und historischen Denkmale, 3/3, 1904, p. 397.

Mitteilungen 1905
Kärnten. Pfarrkirche St. Oswald in Ober-Seeland, Mitteilungen der k. k. Zentralkommission für Erforschung und Erhaltung der Kunst- und historischen Denkmale, 3/4, 1905, pp. 411–412.

Mitteilungen 1906a
Kärnten, Mitteilungen der k. k. Zentralkommission für Erforschung und Erhaltung der Kunst- und historischen Denkmale, 3/5, 1906, p. 19.

Mitteilungen 1906b
Kärnten. Ober-Seeland. Oswaldkirche, Mitteilungen der k. k. Zentralkommission für Erforschung und Erhaltung der Kunst- und historischen Denkmale, 3/5, 1906, p. 349.

Mitteilungen 1911a
Kärnten. Ober-Seeland. St. Oswaldkirche. Fresken, Mitteilungen der k. k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege, 3/10, 1911, p. 58.

Mitteilungen 1911b
Kärnten. Oberseeland. St. Oswaldkirche. Freskenrestaurierung, Mitteilungen der k. k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege, 3/10, 1911, p. 399.

Mitteilungen 1911c
Kärnten. Oberseeland. Filialkirche Skt. Oswald, Mitteilungen der k. k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege, 3/10, 1911, pp. 461–462.

Mitteilungen 1912
Tätigkeitsbericht. Seeland. St. Oswaldkirche, Mitteilungen der k. k. Zentralkommission für Denkmalpflege, 3/11, 1912, p. 180.

OTOREPEC 1995
Božo OTOREPEC, Gradivo za slovensko zgodovino v arhivih in bibliotekah Vidma (Udine). 1270–1405, Ljubljana 1995.

Poročilo 1950
Poročilo o delu Zavoda v prvem polletju 1950, Varstvo spomenikov, 3/1–2, 1950, pp. 71–76.

ROZMAN 1990
Ksenija ROZMAN, Jezersko. Umetnostni spomeniki, Enciklopedija Slovenije, 4, Ljubljana 1990, p. 303.

SCHROLL 1870
Beda SCHROLL, Urkunden-Regesten des Augustiner-Chorherren-Stiftes. Eberndorf im Jaunthale, Klagenfurt 1870.

STELE 1921a
France STELE, Jezersko. Podružnica sv. Ožbalta, Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, 1/1–2, 1921, p. 82.

STELE 1921b
France STELE, Gotske freske na Jezerskem, Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, 1/3–4, 1921, pp. 109–137.

STELE 1924
France STELE, Gotsko stensko slikarstvo na Kranjskem, Bulićev zbornik (eds. Mihovil Abramić, Viktor Hoffiller), Zagreb 1924, pp. 477–491.

STELE 1935
France STELE, Monumenta artis Slovenicae. 1: Srednjeveško stensko slikarstvo, Ljubljana 1935.

STELE 1969
France STELE, Slikarstvo v Sloveniji od 12. do 16. stoletja, Ljubljana 1969.

STELE 1972
France STELE, Gotsko stensko slikarstvo, Ljubljana 1972 (Ars Sloveniae).

VALVASOR 1689
Johann Weichard VALVASOR, Die Ehre des Hertzogthums Crain, 8, Laybach-Nürnberg 1689.

VIGNJEVIĆ 1995
Tomislav VIGNJEVIĆ, Oljska gora in Marija iz Oznanjenja, Gotika v Sloveniji (ed. Janez Höfler), Narodna galerija, Ljubljana 1995, p. 293.

WLATTNIG 1995
Robert WLATTNIG, Sv. Ožbalt, Gotika v Sloveniji (ed. Janez Höfler), Narodna galerija, Ljubljana 1995, pp. 179–181.

ZADNIKAR 1951–1952
Marijan ZADNIKAR, Poročilo o delu Zavoda 1951–1952. 3: Referat za umetnostne spomenike, Varstvo spomenikov, 4, 1951–1952, pp. 89–109.

ZADNIKAR, KOMELJ 1955
Marijan ZADNIKAR, Drago KOMELJ, Konservatorska poročila za leti 1953 in 1954. Umetnostni spomeniki, Varstvo spomenikov, 5, 1955, pp. 141–160.

ZIMMERMANN 1995
Tanja ZIMMERMANN, Stensko slikarstvo poznega 13. in zgodnjega 14. stoletja, Gotika v Sloveniji (ed. Janez Höfler), Narodna galerija, Ljubljana 1995, pp. 221–223.

ZIMMERMANN 1996
Tanja ZIMMERMANN, Stensko slikarstvo poznega 13. in 14. stoletja na Slovenskem, Ljubljana 1996 (doctoral dissertation typescript).

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[1] Mitteilungen 1905, p. 412.
[2] Mitteilungen 1911a, p. 58; cf. BRÜCKLER 2009, p. 234.
[3] Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, Informacijsko-dokumentacijski center za dediščino, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Zgornje Jezersko, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0981.html (25 January 2022).
[4] STELE 1921a, p. 82.
[5] STELE 1935, pp. 1, 21–22; STELE 1969, pp. 62, 78, 134; STELE 1972, pp. 10, 128–129.
[6] LOGAR 1963.
[7] ZIMMERMANN 1995; ZIMMERMANN 1996. Already KOMELJ 1965, p. 48, emphasised that the mural’s older layers exhibited the influences of Carinthian art.
[8] HÖFLER 1996, pp. 187–190.
[9] LEBEN 1998, pp. 161–162; LEBEN 1999, pp. 8–9. Already in the 1920s, France Stele predicted the existence of older mural layers on the church’s exterior; see Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, Informacijsko-dokumentacijski center za dediščino, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Zgornje Jezersko, p. 6, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0981.html (25 January 2022).

France Stele’s field notes from the 1920s are kept at the France Stele Institute of Art History of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana.[1] Among the visual documentary materials, the photographs taken in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century by the Central Commission in Vienna are exceedingly important. Today, they are kept in the glass-plate photo library at the Information and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia (INDOK Centre) in Ljubljana.[2] The copies made for the National Gallery in Ljubljana are also relevant for the discussion of the mural from around 1490, as in 1921, Matej Sternen made copies of Judas’s Hanging and Ecce homo scenes.[3] In 1974, Štefan Hauko copied the scene with Christ again and simultaneously made a copy of Mary from the Annunciation scene.[4] We should also mention a sketch included in France Stele’s notes, showing an unpreserved scene on the chancel’s northern wall, where St Michael from an older mural layer can be seen today.[5] The sketch contains a scene with five figures, which France Stele identified as Christ before Pilate.[6]

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[1] For further information, see also Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, Informacijsko-dokumentacijski center za dediščino, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Zgornje Jezersko, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0981.html (25 January 2022).
[2] A list of relevant materials is available at: http://eid.si/#!/enota/205/dokumenti (25 January 2022). The photographs document the following scenes and motifs from the older mural layer: the Virgin of Mercy with the mantle on the triumphal arch; the Last Judgement on the southern wall; St Joseph in the Procession and Adoration of the Magi scene on the northern wall; and St Michael in the chancel.
[3] JENKO 2007, p. 47.
[4] JENKO 2007, p. 113.
[5] Znanstvenoraziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti, Umetnostnozgodovinski inštitut Franceta Steleta, Terenski zapiski Franceta Steleta, I, 1920, fol. 41r.
[6] Znanstvenoraziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti, Umetnostnozgodovinski inštitut Franceta Steleta, Terenski zapiski Franceta Steleta, I, 1920, fol. 41r. France Stele mentions that the original drawing of the destroyed scene is kept by “Fr. Muri in Ljubljana, Kazina”. This is most probably a reference to Franci Muri–Kazinar (1846–1926), who wrote a chronicle about Jezersko between 1910 and 1920; see Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, Informacijsko-dokumentacijski center za dediščino, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Zgornje Jezersko, p. 2, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0981.html (25 January 2022). Franci Muri is mentioned in KAČIČNIK GABRIČ 2009, p. 30.

Although the church of St Oswald was abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century due to the construction of a new parish church, the reports that the Vienna Central Commission published in its journal between 1904 and 1912 reveal that the medieval murals were already known at that time.[1] The paintings were discovered while investigating the church due to the planned restoration and rehabilitation of the damaged building. The Central Commission argued in favour of their preservation and considered the older layer of murals to be of lower quality than the more recent one.[2] In 1911, Hans Viertelberger uncovered the entire newer layer[3] and the older mural only in those places where the more recent one had been destroyed.[4] He also removed the section of the more recent bordure on the nave part of the triumphal arch, as the report already mentions the Virgin of Mercy with the mantle scene, which belongs to the older layer. Matej Sternen restored the murals after World War I, in the summer of 1921.[5] In 1943, Jakob Zaplotnik from Železna kapla carried out an amateur overpainting of all the Gothic frescoes with lime-based colours, preserving the iconographic content and composition. After World War II, the monuments service questioned the intervention that had been carried out, so between 1955 and 1965, the overpainting was removed and the medieval murals were restored.[6] During these works, a layer of murals painted in the Friulian style was discovered, revealed by a fragment of a bordure on the lower edge of the Kiss of Judas scene on the southern part of the triumphal arch.[7] In 1998 and 1999, the restorer Aleš Sotler uncovered and restored the older mural layer on the southern exterior wall of the chancel. On this occasion, the more recent and lower-quality depiction of St Christopher was removed.[8]

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[1] HÖFLER 1996, p. 187. As the church had been in extremely poor condition, the Vienna Central Commission initially intended to demolish the nave and the belfry and only preserve the chancel, which would serve as a cemetery chapel. However, later, the building was completely restored; see Mitteilungen 1904, p. 397; Mitteilungen 1905, pp. 411–412; Mitteilungen 1906a, p. 19; Mitteilungen 1906b, p. 349; Mitteilungen 1911a, p. 58; Mitteilungen 1911b, p. 399; Mitteilungen 1912, p. 180.
[2] BRÜCKLER 2009, p. 234.
[3] HÖFLER 1996, p. 187.
[4] Mitteilungen 1911a, p. 58.
[5] STELE 1921a, p. 82; HÖFLER 1996, p. 187.
[6] ZADNIKAR 1951–1952, pp. 100–101; ZADNIKAR, KOMELJ 1955, p. 147; KOMELJ 1965, p. 71; for a photo of the overpainting, see KARNIČAR 1998, p. 203. See also KOMELJ 1972, p. 46; HÖFLER 1996, p. 187.
[7] KOMELJ 1965, p. 71.
[8] LEBEN 1999, pp. 8–9.

Gallery

Floor plan with paintings

Zgornje Jezersko, Old church of St Oswald, 2024 (last updated 7. 1. 2025). Corpus picturarum muralium medii aevi, https://corpuspicturarum.zrc-sazu.si/en/spomenik/church-of-st-oswald-2/ (20. 1. 2026).
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