Ribčev Laz

Succursal church of St John the Baptist

Heritage record number: 621

List of paintings

Stage 1 (Ribčev Laz) right-arrow

The church of St John the Baptist in Ribčev Laz by Lake Bohinj, a branch of the Bohinj parish of St Martin in Srednja vas, was first mentioned as Sand Johannes in the 1464 Brixen urbarium.[1] The church’s dedication and geographical position at the junction of the Upper and Lower Bohinj valleys indicate that originally, it most probably served as the baptismal chapel or baptismal church for the whole of Bohinj.[2] Given that two churches already existed in Bohinj in the second half of the 11th century, Janez Höfler suggests that the church of St John the Baptist was one of the two.[3] In 1562, the Brixen commissioners Wolfgang Seidl and Jurij Rumpl instructed the steward of Bled at the time, Herbard of Auersperg, to have the coat of arms of the Bishop of Brixen, Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, painted in all the churches of Bohinj and the Bled seigniory, which included the church of St John the Baptist by Lake Bohinj.[4] A year later, this mural was also painted in the church under consideration.[5] In the older literature, the year 1563 is sometimes misinterpreted as the year when the church was built.[6]

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[1] ROZMAN 1984, p. 11; HÖFLER 1996, p. 158; ZIMMERMANN 1996, p. 194; HÖFLER 2017, p. 52.
[2] HÖFLER 1996, p. 158; HÖFLER 2016, pp. 217, 422; HÖFLER 2017, p. 52.
[3] HÖFLER 2016, p. 217.
[4] GRUDEN 1909, p. 130; ROZMAN 1962, p. 10; ROZMAN 1984, p. 5.
[5] GRUDEN 1909, p. 130; ROZMAN 1962, p. 10; ROZMAN 1984, p. 5.
[6] Notizen 1894, p. 189. This was already pointed out by GRUDEN 1909, p. 130 (n. 7).

On the eastern side, the single-nave vaulted church ends with a short choir, terminated by three sides of an octagon.[1] The nave dates from the Romanesque period, while the triumphal arch, the chancel, and the chapels in the wall behind the chancel were constructed during the Gothic period.[2] In front of the western façade, a portico was added to the church. According to Janez Höfler, it is most probably of Gothic origin,[3] while Ksenija Rozman places its origin in the 16th century but allows for the possibility that it is older.[4] During the Baroque period, a belfry and a sacristy were built on the church’s southern side.[5]

The church nave is therefore of Romanesque origin and was originally 1.5 metres lower than today, while on the eastern side, it was most probably terminated by a semi-circular apse.[6] Marijan Zadnikar believes it was built before 1300 – i.e. during the period after which the church soon received its oldest murals.[7] During the 14th century, the nave had a wooden ceiling; the triumphal arch wall on the nave side was tinted grey-blue;[8] and the interior of the church – at least the eastern part of the interior northern nave wall – was already painted. Three scenes from the legends of St George and St John the Evangelist from that period have been preserved. The portrayal of St Christopher on the western part of the southern exterior wall of the nave also belongs to this stage.[9]

In the following century, a Gothic chancel was added to the nave.[10] Janez Höfler dates the addition of the chancel to the end of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th century,[11] while Ksenija Rozman believes that the chancel is slightly more recent, dating from 1440.[12] It is vaulted, featuring grooved ribs with cut-off edges. The vaulting ribs are carved out of tuff and conclude with geometric corbels.[13] In the early 15th century, a Friulian-oriented painter painted St Christopher again, this time on the exterior southern wall of the nave.[14] Around 1440, the interior of the church was repainted. A fragment of the mural on the eastern part of the southern nave wall, which was later destroyed by the addition of a Gothic window, has been preserved from this period.[15] In the older literature, this mural is interpreted as the depiction of the Ascension. However, Janez Höfler rejected this hypothesis and instead suggested that a simpler votive scene might have been painted in this spot.[16] Around 1440, the Master of the Bohinj Presbytery was also at work in the Bohinj church.[17] He painted the chancel and the triumphal arch according to the concept of the so-called “Carniolan Presbytery”[18] while simultaneously decorating the exterior chapel, built into the eastern part of the medieval church defensive walls, with the Crucifixion with Mary and St John the Evangelist motif.[19]

Around 1520, the nave received a star-shaped vaulting. The vaulting ribs rest on corbels, while the junctions of the ribs feature keystones designed by a stonemason.[20] Together with the ribs, these are attributed to Master HR, who also furnished a few other churches in the province of Upper Carniola with his works.[21] The so-called Master of Jacob’s Legend painted the nave vault and the triumphal arch’s nave wall in the first third of the 16th century,[22] while already around 1530, Jernej of Loka decorated the church with additional murals.[23] He painted the western façade and the adjacent portico walls and added another portrayal of St Christopher to the exterior southern wall of the nave, while in the church’s interior, he painted the lower band of the chancel and the triumphal arch as well as the tops of the chancel’s termination walls.[24] He also painted the two saintly figures in the exterior chapel.[25] In 1563, a large coat of arms of Cristoforo Madruzzo, the Bishop of Brixen, was painted on the eastern part of the nave’s northern wall.[26]

About a century later, the sacristy was built; its creation is dated to 1661 or 1665.[27] In 1639, paving was laid in the portico.[28] Around 1668 and 1669, the church received two new windows, one in the nave’s northern wall and the other on the Gospel side of the chancel; the latter has the same shape as the two windows in the western façade.[29] Towards the end of the century – more precisely, 1698 – a wooden painted choir loft was constructed.[30]

The church was given its present appearance in the 18th century. In 1701, the ceiling of the outer portico was built, while in 1738, a Baroque belfry was added next to the church’s southern wall.[31] In 1894, Matej Koželj depicted the fourth St Christopher on the southern exterior of the nave, to the right of the older murals.[32]

It is also worth mentioning the 14th-century wooden head of St John the Baptist, which was once located on the northern side altar.[33] This is a precious artefact used for ceremonies in honour of St John the Baptist.[34] The central part of the winged altar with the statue of St John the Baptist dating from around 1490, which is now kept in the National Gallery in Ljubljana, is also of medieval origin.[35]

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[1] ROZMAN 1984, p. 7; MAČEK KRANJC 1995, p. 266; HÖFLER 1996, p. 158.
[2] ROZMAN 1962, p. 45; HÖFLER 1996, pp. 158, 163.
[3] HÖFLER 1996, p. 158.
[4] ROZMAN 1984, p. 7.
[5] ROZMAN 1962, pp. 37, 41, floor plan on p. 73.
[6] ROZMAN 1962, p. 13; ROZMAN 1984, p. 11; MAČEK KRANJC 1995, p. 266.
[7] ZADNIKAR 1973, p. 62. ROZMAN 1962, p. 13, dated the construction of the nave to the beginning of the 14th century but noted that it could also be older.
[8] ROZMAN 1962, p. 16.
[9] ROZMAN 1962, p. 16.
[10] ROZMAN 1962, p. 17; STELE 1972, p. 54; MAČEK KRANJC 1995, p. 266. At the junction of the ribs is a painted keystone featuring the head of Christ, which MAČEK KRANJC 1995, p. 266, believes to be the work of a Friulian painter, c.f. ROZMAN 1962, p. 45.
[11] HÖFLER 1996, p. 158. KOMELJ 1973, p. 275, also places the addition of the chancel to around 1400.
[12] ROZMAN 1984, p. 11.
[13] ROZMAN 1962, p. 17.
[14] STELE 1972, p. 54; HÖFLER 1996, p. 162.
[15] ROZMAN 1984, p. 13.
[16] ROZMAN 1962, p. 45; HÖFLER 1996, pp. 159–160.
[17] HÖFLER 1996, p. 160. About the Master of the Bohinj Presbytery and the mural from around 1440, see HÖFLER 1982, pp. 9–16; HÖFLER 1985, pp. 15–18; MAČEK KRANJC 1995, p. 266.
[18] STELE 1937, pp. 82–83; STELE 1972, p. 54; KOMELJ 1973, pp. 232, 275; HÖFLER 1996, p. 160. The chancel mural is also mentioned by STELE 1966, p. 43.
[19] HÖFLER 1996, p. 163.
[20] STELE 1972, p. 54; ROZMAN 1984, p. 11; MAČEK KRANJC 1995, p. 266; HÖFLER 1996, p. 158. The keystones in the nave are decorated with vegetal designs, while two of them are figural. One portrays the head of St John the Baptist, while the other depicts the Baptism in the Jordan scene, see ROZMAN 1984, p. 11.
[21] ROZMAN 1984, p. 11.
[22] STELE 1972, p. 54; MAČEK KRANJC 1995, p. 266; HÖFLER 1996, p. 161. The murals were dated to around 1525 (VIGNJEVIĆ 1995, p. 298) and circa 1530 (HÖFLER 1996, p. 162). About the Master of Jacob’s Legend’s mural, see VIGNJEVIĆ 1995, pp. 298–299. ROZMAN 1962, p. 45, states that the Master of Jacob’s Legend also painted the main entrance without the door, which is not mentioned by Tomislav Vignjević.
[23] STELE 1972, p. 54; HÖFLER 1996, p. 162. About Jernej of Loka, see URŠIČ 1987.
[24] STELE 1972, pp. 54–55; HÖFLER 1996, pp. 162–163.
[25] HÖFLER 1996, p. 163.
[26] HÖFLER 1996, p. 158.
[27] ROZMAN 1962, p. 37. From the visitation record of 1668–1669, it follows that the sacristy was built in 1665, while the inscription on the chancel side of the sacristy door states that the extension was completed already in 1661, see ROZMAN 1984, p. 13.
[28] ROZMAN 1962, p. 45.
[29] ROZMAN 1962, p. 38, states that in 1956, a window in the northern wall of the nave was walled up because the side altar was placed there.
[30] ROZMAN 1962, p. 46; ZADNIKAR 1973, p. 64.
[31] ROZMAN 1962, pp. 41–42; ROZMAN 1984, pp. 7, 13. ROZMAN 1984, p. 11, states: “The Visitation Report of 1653 mentions a ridge turret with two bells and ropes hanging into the middle of the church.”
[32] ROZMAN 1984, p. 10.
[33] ROZMAN 1987, p. 146.
[34] ROZMAN 1987, p. 146.
[35] ROZMAN 1984, p. 24.

The two oldest layers of murals can be found on the eastern part of the interior northern wall of the nave and the western part of the nave’s southern exterior. Three scenes have been preserved in the interior and two of these – St John the Evangelist in front of the priest Aristodemus and St George fighting the dragon – are still recognisable. However, only a fragment of the third scene remains visible. The oldest layer on the southern exterior has not been preserved but was described in the older literature. We are referring to the first of the three layers with the portrayal of St Christopher, of which the lower part of the saint’s robe and individual mythical creatures could once be discerned.

All of these murals were uncovered in 1957, so they were first mentioned in the literature in 1959, initially in a conservation report by Ivan Komelj, who was the first to define the scenes iconographically.[1] In a shorter report in 1965, Ivan Komelj stated that, in addition to the fragmentarily preserved scene of George fighting the dragon, “two scenes of St John before Aristodemus”[2] had been uncovered rather than just one. However, this information cannot be found in the works of any subsequent authors. Ksenija Rozman was the first to meticulously describe and define the mural in 1962, as part of the Spomeniški vodniki guides collection.[3] She gave a detailed description of the oldest mural paintings, including the now unpreserved fragment with St Christopher on the southern exterior wall.[4] The latter is documented in the abovementioned booklet with photographs, which nowadays constitute a notable source for studying this layer of the saint’s depiction.[5] In the guide, Ksenija Rozman also presented the crucial finding that the scenes on the northern wall did not continue on the eastern wall, as evidenced by the bordure framing the scene with St John the Evangelist on the right side.[6] She dated the oldest mural layers on the nave’s southern exterior and northern interior walls to around 1300.[7] In 1984, in another booklet on the Bohinj church, she presented the opinion that both the exterior and interior murals were the work of the same master.[8] Janez Höfler called this into question in 1996 when he wrote that “there are actually no common points” between them.[9] In 1995, in her contribution for the catalogue titled Gotika v Sloveniji (Gothic in Slovenia), discussing the image of the Angel of the Annunciation on the northern wall of the succursal church of the Annunciation in Crngrob near Škofja Loka, Tanja Zimmermann made a crucial observation about the Bohinj mural. She was the first to highlight the similarity between the facial types of the Bohinj figures on the northern wall and the Crngrob angel.[10] A year later, she also compared the other figures from these two murals.[11] Thus, Tanja Zimmermann concluded that the painter who had worked in Bohinj had come from the workshop of the master who had painted the cycle representing the Life of the Virgin in Crngrob.[12] Tanja Zimmermann’s contribution and Janez Höfler’s overview from 1996 contribute, each in its own way, to the understanding of the Bohinj murals. While Janez Höfler provided insight into all the layers the church was decorated with during the Middle Ages,[13] Tanja Zimmermann restricted herself to the oldest 14th-century murals.[14]

As early as 1966, Emilijan Cevc wrote that the two oldest layers of the Bohinj murals were stylistically related to other works from this period, namely the abovementioned Marian cycle in Crngrob, the older layer in the nave of the succursal church of St Cantianus in Vrzdenec near Horjul, and the mural in the chancel of the succursal church of St John the Baptist in Spodnja Muta.[15] However, it was Tanja Zimmermann who ultimately explicitly stated that the murals in Bohinj, Crngrob, and Vrzdenec were the work of the same workshop that had formed around the painter of the Marian cycle in Crngrob.[16] Only a year later, both Tanja Zimmermann and Janez Höfler added the mural in the succursal church of St Thomas in Sv. Tomaž above Praprotno to this group.[17]

The oldest layer of the Bohinj murals was also included in the earlier basic overviews of medieval mural painting in Slovenia. Thus, it is mentioned in France Stele’s monographs Slikarstvo v Sloveniji od 12. do 16. stoletja (Painting in Slovenia from the 12th to the 16th Century, 1969)[18] and Gotsko stensko slikarstvo (Gothic Mural Painting, 1972),[19] while the book Monumenta artis Slovenicae (1935) focuses on the more recent layers,[20] as the 14th-century mural was not yet uncovered at the time. In his 1973 overview of church monuments in Slovenia, Marijan Zadnikar also briefly presented the oldest layers.[21] In 1987, Ksenija Rozman once again mentioned the mural in an article on the topic of churches in Bohinj.[22]

In 1985, Ivan Sedej included the scene depicting the poisoning of St John the Evangelist in his work titled Sto znanih slovenskih umetniških slik (One Hundred Famous Slovenian Art Paintings). In the book, he elaborated on this particular scene and its significance for Slovenian art.[23] In her 1999 article, Vesna Velkovrh Bukilica also discussed the figures from the St John the Evangelist scene and focused on the depiction of sadness on the faces of the priest and the kneeling figure in white.[24]

 

BADURINA 1977
Anđelko BADURINA, Sveta Marina na Bohinjskom jezeru, Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, n. s. 13, 1977, pp. 156–158.

BRANC 2005
Tomaž BRANC, Bohinjska znamenitost bo zaprta še dve leti, Delo, 47/237, 12 October 2005, p. 7.

CEVC 1966
Emilijan CEVC, Slovenska umetnost, Ljubljana 1966.

DOSTAL 1909
Josip DOSTAL, Cerkev sv. Janeza ob Bohinjskem jezeru. Popis cerkve, Izvestja Muzejskega društva za Kranjsko, 19/3, 1909, pp. 133–142.

GOLOB 1982
France GOLOB, Upodobitve sv. Krištofa. Dela slikarja Jerneja iz Loke, Loški razgledi, 29/1, 1982, pp. 20–31.

GRUDEN 1909
Josip GRUDEN, Cerkev sv. Janeza ob Bohinjskem jezeru. Zgodovinski podatki, Izvestja Muzejskega društva za Kranjsko, 19/3, 1909, pp. 129–133.

HÖFLER 1982
Janez HÖFLER, Nekaj opomb k Mojstru bohinjskega prezbiterija, Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, n. s. 18, 1982, pp. 9–16.

HÖFLER 1985
Janez HÖFLER, Stensko slikarstvo na Slovenskem med Janezom Ljubljanskim in Mojstrom sv. Andreja iz Krašc, Ljubljana 1985, pp. 15–18.

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, available at: http://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:doc-XT3D6JUK.

HÖFLER 2017
Janez HÖFLER, Gradivo za historično topografijo predjožefinskih župnij na Slovenskem. Kranjska, Ljubljana 2017, available at: http://www.sistory.si/SISTORY:ID:38022.

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.

KOMELJ 1959
Ivan KOMELJ, Bohinj, Varstvo spomenikov, 6, 1959, pp. 62–63.

KOMELJ 1965
Ivan KOMELJ, Bohinj. P. c. sv. Janeza, Varstvo spomenikov, 10, 1965, p. 70.

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

KRIŽNAR 2006
Anabelle KRIŽNAR, Slog in tehnika srednjeveškega stenskega slikarstva na Slovenskem, Ljubljana 2006.

MAČEK KRANJC 1995
Ida MAČEK KRANJC, Apostoli, Gotika v Sloveniji (ed. Janez Höfler), Narodna galerija, Ljubljana 1995, p. 266.

MIKLAVČIČ PINTARIČ 2018
Magda MIKLAVČIČ PINTARIČ, Aleksandra Ivanc Olivieri (11. 8. 1916–11. 6. 2010), Akvareli. Dokumenti dediščine (ed. Tea Mohorčič), Ministrstvo za kulturo, Ljubljana 2018, p. 14.

MILIĆ 2019
Ljubiša MILIĆ, Poročilo o konservatorsko-restavratorskem posegu na zunanji poslikavi – cerkev sv. Janeza Krstnika, Ribčev laz, Ljubljana 2019 (research report).

Notizen 1894
Notizen. Wocheiner See, Mittheilungen der k. k. Central-Commission zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Kunt- und historischen Denkmale, n. s. 20, 1894, p. 189.

ROZMAN 1962
Ksenija ROZMAN, Janezova cerkev ob Bohinjskem jezeru, Ljubljana 1962 (Spomeniški vodniki, 4).

ROZMAN 1973
Ksenija ROZMAN, Delavnica Mojstra bohinjskega prezbiterija, Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, n. s. 10, 1973, pp. 5–12.

ROZMAN 1984
Ksenija ROZMAN, Cerkev sv. Janeza v Bohinju, Maribor 1984 (Kulturni in naravni spomeniki Slovenije, 129).

ROZMAN 1987
Ksenija ROZMAN, Cerkveni spomeniki v Bohinju, Bohinjski zbornik (ed. Jože Dežman), Radovljica 1987, pp. 139–147.

SEDEJ 1985
Ivan SEDEJ, Sto znanih slovenskih umetniških slik, Ljubljana 1985.

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

STELE 1937
France STELE, Cerkveno slikarstvo med Slovenci, 1, Celje 1937.

STELE 1966
France STELE, Oris zgodovine umetnosti pri Slovencih. Kulturnozgodovinski poskus, Ljubljana 1966.

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).

URŠIČ 1987
Mojca URŠIČ, Jernej iz Loke, Ljubljana 1987 (master’s thesis typescript).

VELKOVRH BUKILICA 1999
Vesna VELKOVRH BUKILICA, Opomba k prizoru Sv. Janez Evangelist blagoslavlja kelih s strupom v cerkvi sv. Janeza v Bohinju, Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, n. s. 35, 1999, pp. 171–179.

VIGNJEVIĆ 1995
Tomislav VIGNJEVIĆ, Obglavljenje sv. Janeza Krstnika, Gotika v Sloveniji (ed. Janez Höfler), Narodna galerija, Ljubljana 1995, pp. 298–299.

ZADNIKAR 1959
Marijan ZADNIKAR, Romanska arhitektura na Slovenskem, Ljubljana 1959.

ZADNIKAR 1973
Marijan ZADNIKAR, Spomeniki cerkvene arhitekture in umetnosti, 1, Celje 1973.

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

ZIMMERMANN 1995b
Tanja ZIMMERMANN, Angel oznanjenja in Kristusovo rojstvo, Gotika v Sloveniji (ed. Janez Höfler), Narodna galerija, Ljubljana 1995, pp. 228–229.

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

ŽELEZNIK 1989
Adela ŽELEZNIK, Umetnostnozgodovinski profil področij Radovljice, Bleda in Bohinja, Ljubljana 1989 (diploma thesis typescript).

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[1] KOMELJ 1959.
[2] KOMELJ 1965, p. 70.
[3] ROZMAN 1962.
[4] ROZMAN 1962, p. 14.
[5] ROZMAN 1962, fig. 12; ROZMAN 1984, p. 9.
[6] ROZMAN 1962, p. 14.
[7] ROZMAN 1962, p. 45.
[8] ROZMAN 1984, p. 13.
[9] HÖFLER 1996, p. 162.
[10] ZIMMERMANN 1995b, p. 229. Tanja Zimmermann was the first to more precisely define the similarities of the figurative elements, while the stylistic similarities between the two murals were pointed out by CEVC 1996, p. 52.
[11] ZIMMERMANN 1996, p. 62.
[12] ZIMMERMANN 1996, p. 59; cf. HÖFLER 1996, p. 159.
[13] HÖFLER 1996, pp. 158–163.
[14] ZIMMERMANN 1996, pp. 61–62.
[15] CEVC 1966, p. 52.
[16] ZIMMERMANN 1995a, p. 222.
[17] ZIMMERMANN 1996, p. 57; HÖFLER 1996, p. 10.
[18] STELE 1969, pp. 90, 134, a reproduction on p. 39.
[19] STELE 1972, pp. 10, 11, 54–57.
[20] STELE 1935, pp. 1–2, 6, 26, 36, 38.
[21] ZADNIKAR 1973, pp. 62–66.
[22] ROZMAN 1987, pp. 145–146.
[23] SEDEJ 1985, pp. 4–5.
[24] VELKOVRH BUKILICA 1999, pp. 171–179.

The photographs that Ksenija Rozman included in her booklet on the church of St John the Baptist in Bohinj represent an important visual source for the unpreserved oldest layer portraying St Christopher. The first edition from 1962 contains a photograph by Marijan Pfeifer, showing a fragment of the first layer of St Christopher along with the two more recent ones,[1] while the 1984 booklet includes a photo of a detail from this fragment, depicting a man with a hammer.[2]

In 1957, a copy of the scene with St John the Evangelist was made for the National Gallery.[3]

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[1] ROZMAN 1962, fig. 12.
[2] ROZMAN 1984, pp. 9, 34.
[3] The National Gallery, Ljubljana, Vladimir Makuc: a copy of a motif from the Legend of John (c. 1300), 1957, tempera on canvas, 103 x 118 cm.

The fact that older layers of Gothic murals were still preserved in the church in question had been known already before 1957[1] when the Institute for the Protection of Monuments carried out the conservation works during which the oldest murals in the church were uncovered.[2] The project was overseen by the conservators Ivan Komelj and Štefan Eržen; the latter was in charge of conservation in the Radovljica district at the time.[3] Between 2003 and 2005, the church and the murals were once again subject to restoration works, this time under the direction of the Kranj regional unit of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia.[4] The most recent conservation and restoration works on the murals were carried out in 2018 and 2019, once again under the supervision of the Kranj regional unit of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia.[5] The works were carried out on the murals on the church’s exterior: the depictions of St Christopher on the southern wall and the ones in the western portico.[6]

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[1] KOMELJ 1959, p. 62. HÖFLER 1996, p. 158, states that most of the frescoes in the church had already been known and uncovered before World War I and that during the 1957 conservation works, only the frescoes on the exterior and on the western façade under the portico were uncovered. Accordingly, KRIŽNAR 2006, p. 241, states that the interior mural paintings had been known and uncovered already before World War I. However, in Josip Dostal’s article, written in 1909, there is no mention of the oldest layer of murals in the church. He only noted that there was an even older layer on the southern exterior wall of the nave where two images of St Christopher were located but did not mention the existence of the then still undiscovered murals on the northern wall of the nave (DOSTAL 1909, p. 139). It is possible that STELE 1937, pp. 63–64, noticed the mural on the northern wall but assumed that it had been painted a little later, as he stated: “The paintings under the limewash in the nave, whose remnant on the southern wall bears a visitor’s signature with the year 1449, probably date from the same period”.
[2] KOMELJ 1959, p. 62; HÖFLER 1996, p. 158; ZIMMERMANN 1996, p. 194. KRIŽNAR 2006, p. 241, states that the St George and St John the Evangelist mural had been uncovered already before World War I and that it was restored during the 1960s. However, the painting in question was actually not uncovered until 1957, as KOMELJ 1959, pp. 62–63, states in his report.
[3] KOMELJ 1959, p. 62; KOMELJ 1965, p. 70.
[4] BRANC 2005, p. 7.
[5] MILIĆ 2019.
[6] For precise information on the works carried out, see MILIĆ 2019.

Gallery

Floor plan with paintings

Ribčev Laz, Succursal church of St John the Baptist, 2024 (last updated 24. 10. 2024). Corpus picturarum muralium medii aevi, https://corpuspicturarum.zrc-sazu.si/en/spomenik/church-of-st-john-the-baptist/ (27. 8. 2025).
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