The nave, which was originally slightly lower and deeper, probably dates back to the 14^th century and is still flat-roofed.[1] In the mid-16^th century, the nave walls were heightened, while a lierne vaulted chancel with three-sided eastern termination in Gothic style was added to the nave.[2] A century later, the church was rebuilt yet again, as attested to by the distinctive portal with moulded door jambs, dated 1653 on the lintel and signed with the initials A. C.[3] At the same time, the church also received two new pairs of tall rectangular windows with bevelled window splays and iron crosses. Two of these replaced the earlier windows in the side walls of the chancel, the third one extended the original third window in the southern wall of the nave, while the fourth window pierced the northern wall of the nave anew.[4] On the western façade, a carved stone bell-gable with a low plinth and two semi-circular loopholes was simultaneously constructed.[5] In accordance with the new trends, the chancel vault was also redesigned as a vault with lierne diamonds, which was very common at the time. Judging from the stylistic features, the portico with two pillars was probably built in the same or at least the following decade.[6] In the 18^th century, the church retained its external appearance but was equipped with new furnishings and underwent some major repairs. At that time, it was dedicated to St Nicholas and St Helen[7] and featured a cemetery next to it.[8] Between 1740 and 1742, it received a new bell,[9] while in 1744, a new stone high altar with marble encrustations was added, whose lintel bears an acronym and a year, F X 1744 G V.[10] A year later, a new altar painting was commissioned, which was then replaced with the altar painting of St Helen a century later.[11] In 1753, new stone paving made of massive rectangular slabs and a new stair leading to the chancel were laid.[12] In 1763, the decaying slate roof was completely renovated.[13] The painted wooden ceiling was probably added at the same time, along with a new walnut wood door.[14] In 1769, a precious silver processional cross was bought, while in 1785, a new bell was purchased in Ljubljana when the bellmaker Janez Jakob Samassa worked there.[15] In 1929, the Italian authorities replaced the bell, which had been taken during World War I, with a new one bearing the name of the Bologna foundryman Cesare Brighenti.[16]

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[1] Based on the shape of the window frame arches, which is closer to the Gothic than the Romanesque style, the treatment of the ashlars, and the manner of construction, Božidar Premrl dated the church to the late 14^th or early 15^th century (PREMRL 2006, p. 468), while Janez Höfler, judging from the preserved fragment of a mural painting on the southern wall’s second window, concluded that the church had been built as early as the 14^th century (HÖFLER 1997, p. 89). However, based on the shape of the monolithic arch sections of the two walled-up windows in the southern wall of the nave, Borut and Mojca Uršič placed the original church in the Romanesque tradition of the late 13^th or early 14^th century, although they already detected a hint of the early Gothic period in the shape of the broken arch of these small windows (URŠIČ, URŠIČ 1990, pp. 180–182).
[2] HÖFLER 1997, p. 89. Based on the indistinct, suppressed, pointed triumphal arch, PREMRL 2006, p. 469, dates it to the middle of the 16^th century. When the triumphal arch was built, the frescoes on the eastern wall, still attested to by the small fragments in the corners, were destroyed.
[3] Cf. PREMRL 2006, p. 469; HÖFLER 2022, p. 184. Premrl quotes the information about the master stonemasons Gašper Perhavec and Andrej and Ivan Cerkvenik from the Gradišče area, who were involved in several major construction works in the nearby churches. He sees the connection in the stylistic comparisons with the contemporaneous churches in Boljunec and Dolina: the chancels in all of them share the same star-and-diamond scheme of vaulting ribs, rustically shaped and connected with identical round keystones, while the rib corbels are more or less flat and mainly decorative. On this basis, he concludes that these three local artisans were also in charge of the 17^th-century renovation of the church of St Helen and that the initials A. C. on the portal strongly suggest the work of Andrej Cerkvenik. For more about this, see PREMRL 2006, pp. 470–471. About the development of the vaulting schemes in the Rijeka valley, see URŠIČ, URŠIČ 1990, pp. 184–185.
[4] PREMRL 2006, p. 469.
[5] PREMRL 2006, p. 470.
[6] Acanthus decorations are characteristic of the stonemasonry works of the time; for more about this, see PREMRL 2006, p. 470.
[7] PREMRL 2006, pp. 471–472.
[8] PREMRL 2006, p. 472.
[9] PREMRL 2006, p. 472.
[10] Based on the data from the contemporaneous annual accounts, Božidar PREMRL 2006, p. 472, deciphered the abbreviations as the initials of Franciscus Xaverius Garzarolli.
[11] For further information about this, see PREMRL 2006, p. 472, who also states that the painting was signed and dated by Jakob Raspet from Idrija in 1865.
[12] PREMRL 2006, p. 472. Borut and Mojca Uršič are of the opinion that the original nave paving was heightened considerably (URŠIČ, URŠIČ 1990, p. 180), while Božidar PREMRL 2006, p. 473, states that the existing paving is at the same level as the older slab, which remained in place between the jambs and threshold of the portal from 1653.
[13] PREMRL 2006, p. 473.
[14] The present plastered flattened barrel vault in the nave is more recent; more about this in PREMRL 2006, p. 473.
[15] PREMRL 2006, p. 473.
[16] PREMRL 2006, p. 473.