Florjan near Gornji Grad

Succursal church of St Primus, Felician, and Florian

Heritage record number: 2994

List of paintings

Stage 1 (Florjan near Gornji Grad) right-arrow
Florjan pri Gornjem Gradu, Zunanjščina / exterior

The church of Sts Primus, Felician, and Florian[1] – a succursal church of the local parish – stands on the northern slope of the Menina plateau, southeast of Gornji Grad. This basically Romanesque church was first mentioned indirectly in 1389[2] and directly – as the church of St Primus – in the Gornji Grad urbarium in 1426.[3] The church was later named after the Baroque chapel of St Florian, who was also the inspiration for the name of the scattered surrounding settlement.[4]

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[1] Letopis Katoliške cerkve v Sloveniji 2017 (ed. Tadej Strehovec), Ljubljana 2017, p. 158.
[2] A reference to so-called Drachsel’s Hube (family farm) under St Primus hill (St. Preymsberg), see CURK 1966, p. 95. According to the inscription on the wooden entrance door jamb, the church was erected as early as 1094, see STEGENŠEK 1905, p. 159; CURK 1966, p. 94.
[3] HÖFLER 2004, p. 110; see also OROŽEN 1877, p. 36; STEGENŠEK 1905, p. 158; MEZE 1976, p. 217; KEMPERL 2006, p. 36.
[4] HÖFLER 2004, p. 110; KEMPERL 2006, p. 36.

The building in question is a simple, correctly oriented church with a small chancel and a long nave, an added belfry with a bulbous roof at the northeastern end, a sacristy on the ground floor, and the Baroque chapel of St Florian at the middle of the southern wall.[1] The main entrance to the church is located in the western part of the nave’s southern wall. The interior is illuminated by the windows in the northern wall of the nave and a window in the chancel’s southern wall. The fact that at least a part of the nave is of Romanesque origin and dates back to the 13th century is confirmed by two small funnel-shaped semi-circular windows in the southern wall’s eastern part. The original church, with a short, flat-roofed nave and most probably an eastern apse,[2] was thoroughly rebuilt towards the middle of the 17th century. At that point, the chapel of St Florian, the present belfry, and the three-sided altar area were added to the nave, which was notably extended towards the west.[3] As attested to by the inscription on the wooden entrance portal, the church was renovated in 1874, while further conservation and restoration works were carried out in 1966 and 1995.[4]

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[1] For a description, see STEGENŠEK 1905, p. 158; CURK 1966, p. 94; KEMPERL 2006, p. 36.
[2] STEGENŠEK 1905, p. 158; CURK 1966, p. 95; KEMPERL 2006, p. 36.
[3] STEGENŠEK 1905, p. 158; CURK 1966, p. 95. KEMPERL 2006, p. 36, allows for the possibility that the church’s nave was first extended towards the west already during the Gothic period. This extension could have taken place around 1529, which is the year that Avguštin Stegenšek noticed on the church’s brick paving; see STEGENŠEK 1905, pp. 158–159. The separate chapel of St Florian in front of the church’s western façade is mentioned in the visitation report as early as 1631; see OROŽEN 1877, p. 36. Jože Curk concludes that this chapel could have been incorporated into the western part of the nave when the church was enlarged; see CURK 1966, p. 95. For more information about the Baroque altar of St Florian from around 1670 and the rest of the church furnishings, see KEMPERL 2006, p. 38.
[4] STOPAR 1967, p. 142; HÖFLER 2004, p. 110.

The church’s medieval mural was uncovered in 1995 and first discussed in Janez Höfler’s overview of medieval mural painting in Slovenia.[1] Later, it was also mentioned by Metoda Kemperl.[2]

CURK 1966
Jože CURK, Topografsko gradivo. 5: Sakralni spomeniki na območju občine Mozirje, Celje 1966.

HÖFLER 2004
Janez HÖFLER, Srednjeveške freske v Sloveniji. 4: Vzhodna Slovenija, Ljubljana 2004.

KEMPERL 2006
Metoda KEMPERL, Podružnična cerkev sv. Florijana v Florjanu pri Gornjem Gradu, Leksikon cerkva na Slovenskem. Škofija Maribor. 5: Dekanija Gornji Grad (ed. Luka Vidmar), Celje 2006, pp. 36–38.

MEZE 1976
Drago MEZE, Florjan pri Gornjem Gradu, Krajevni leksikon Slovenije. 3: Svet med Savinjskimi Alpami in Sotlo (ed. Roman Savnik), Ljubljana 1976, p. 217.

OROŽEN 1877
Ignacij OROŽEN, Das Bisthum und die Diözese Lavant. 2: Das Benediktiner-Stift Oberburg, Marburg 1877.

STEGENŠEK 1905
Avguštin STEGENŠEK, Dekanija Gornjegrajska, Maribor 1905 (Cerkveni spomeniki Lavantinske škofije, 1).

STOPAR 1967
Ivan STOPAR, Florjan pri Gornjem Gradu, Varstvo spomenikov, 6, 1967, p. 142.

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[1] HÖFLER 2004, p. 110.
[2] KEMPERL 2006, p. 38.

During the 1995 restoration of the church’s exterior, carried out under the supervision of the Celje Regional Unit of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, two Romanesque windows were found in the eastern part of the nave’s southern wall, while traces of a decorative mural were also discovered on both the northern and southern walls of the nave.[1] Nowadays, the mural, partially uncovered at the time, only remains visible in the window splay and around the western Romanesque window in the nave’s southern wall.

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[1] HÖFLER 2004, p. 110.

Gallery

Floor plan with paintings

Florjan near Gornji Grad, Succursal church of St Primus, Felician, and Florian, 2024 (last updated 10. 12. 2024). Corpus picturarum muralium medii aevi, https://corpuspicturarum.zrc-sazu.si/en/spomenik/church-of-st-primus-and-felician/ (26. 8. 2025).
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