The church in Studenčice stands on a plain near the road. Its longitudinal axis is oriented in the southeastern direction.[1] The church’s rectangular nave with a net vault with groins is connected to a slightly narrower chancel featuring a Gothic triumphal arch with a triangular ending.[2] The triumphal arch is of Gothic origin and has a stellar vault, which also includes geometric and partly figural keystones and corbels.[3] Along the northern wall of the chancel, a Baroque sacristy was added in 1668, while a two-storey belfry was built above the sacristy in 1699.[4] A Baroque portico completes the western part of the nave.[5] A 17^th-century portal with an ornamented frame leads into the church.[6] Previously, this had been the location of an early Gothic portal, which is now believed to have been built into the former Bavančnek’s House.[7]
Already Marijan Zadnikar pointed out the church’s Romanesque origin. Under the mural on the southern exterior wall of the nave, he identified an irregular stonework with a thin plaster that had lines cut into it, characteristic of Romanesque architecture.[8] According to the 1668 visitation of Bishop Joseph Rabatta, the Gothic chancel had been consecrated in 1480 by the Ljubljana Bishop Sigismund of Lamberg.[9] Although Ivan Komelj and Marijan Zadnikar date the construction of the chancel to around 1430, Janez Höfler believes that it was probably not built until the time of the consecration.[10] Today, the chancel is lit by two windows, one on each of the polygonal walls. In the 17^th century, the original Gothic windows were Baroquised, while in 1898, Janez Vurnik the Younger rebuilt them in the neo-Gothic style and added stone frames.[11] Initially, a Gothic window opening also existed behind the main altar on the eastern side of the chancel, but it was later walled up.[12] In Marijan Zadnikar’s opinion, the church had probably featured a semi-circular apse before the Gothic chancel was built.[13] The nave, originally flat-roofed with a wooden coffered ceiling,[14] was vaulted around 1656.[15] Vicar General Filip Terpin’s records of 14 May 1657 state that the church’s nave was illuminated by a single window at that time.[16] Today, each wall of the nave has two windows. Before the Baroque belfry was added to the church, it had a frontal bell-gable, which is now incorporated into the western roof wall.[17] Matjaž Ambrožič assumes that after the addition of the new Gothic chancel, a belfry in the form of a ridge turret was added to the church, as indicated by two preserved wooden bushings built into the nave vault, through which ran the ropes of the two bells.[18] In the past, the church was surrounded by a cemetery, of which only a remnant of the walls and two entrances have been preserved.[19]
Inside the church, two layers of murals were discovered on the northern wall of the nave. The older layer with the St George scene was created at the beginning of the 14^th century, while in the middle of the 15^th century, the wall was repainted, this time with the Procession of the Magi,[20] probably the work of the so-called Master of Žirovnica.[21] Janez Höfler underlined that the nave might have been heightened after the creation of the more recent mural, as the mural’s upper edge is lower than the triumphal arch wall.[22] A small fragment of the mural in the church’s interior, on the southern part of the western wall of the nave next to the church portal, has not been mentioned in the relevant literature so far. The only element that is still visible is a straight, thickened brown line with triangles placed side by side on top of it. Given its style, it is possible that the mural was painted either at the same time as the St George scene or at the turn from the 13^th to the 14^th century. The origin of the consecration crosses in the nave is also older. Two more recent consecration crosses have been preserved on the soffit of the triumphal arch next to the two side altars.
The interior of the church, as well as the exterior southern wall of the nave, were painted.[23] In the latter location, along the left edge of the wall, the older layer portraying St Christopher is still recognisable, while the subsequent one has been destroyed. Although researchers disagree on the dating, it is clear that both murals were created in the 15^th century, though with a considerable delay.[24]

By the window to St Christopher’s right, the scene that was still visible at the beginning of the 20^th century but has since been destroyed can be reconstructed with the help of the description in France Stele’s notes.[25] Three figures, two male and one female saints, were painted under the arcades. The scene probably continued, and although its upper part was destroyed because the window had been built in, its lower part was therefore still preserved at the time.[26] On the same wall, France Stele identified and described three other scenes that are no longer preserved: the remains of the Suffering Christ with the instruments of martyrdom to the right of the window, closer to the portico; the standing Virgin Mary with Jesus above the window, closer to the chancel; and a scene depicting three emperors on horseback in a location that the description does not specify.[27] Stele identified the horsemen as the Russian, Austrian, and Prussian emperors and defined the scene as a memory of the Congress of Laibach in 1821.[28]
The church’s furnishings date from the 19^th century. Of the original Baroque altars, only two paintings from the workshop of the painter Leopold Layer have been preserved.[29] These were replaced in 1898 with the altars made by Janez Vurnik the Younger.[30]

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[1] ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 554; cf. also the floor plan of the church. For the medieval period, when the orientation of churches deviates from the east-west rule, the perimeter walls are referred to as if the church were correctly oriented, which is also taken into account in this text.
[2] KOMELJ 1969, p. 44, associated the church’s architecture with potential Carinthian influences of the first half of the 15^th century; cf. KOMELJ 1973, p. 208; AMBROŽIČ 2021, p. 125.
[3] Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, INDOK center, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Studenčice, SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777, p. 2, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777.html (21 February 2022); KOMELJ 1969, p. 28; KOMELJ 1973, pp. 64, 66, 93, 278; ZIMMERMANN 1996, p. 224.
[4] AMBROŽIČ 2021, pp. 122, 125–126. For the information related to the belfry restoration works, see AMBROŽIČ 2021, pp. 126–127.
[5] Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, INDOK center, Gradivo Zavoda za spomeniško varstvo Kranj, Studenčice, SI_INDOK_ZAP_z009-0079, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z009-0079.html (21 February 2022); ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 554.
[6] Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, INDOK center, Gradivo Zavoda za spomeniško varstvo Kranj, Studenčice, SI_INDOK_ZAP_z009-0079, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z009-0079.html (21 February 2022).
[7] AMBROŽIČ 2021, pp. 125–126.
[8] ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 554.
[9] HÖFLER 1996, p. 151; ZIMMERMANN 1996, p. 224; LAVRIČ 2007, p. 144.
[10] KOMELJ 1973, p. 278; ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 554; HÖFLER 2017, p. 45.
[11] AMBROŽIČ 2021, pp. 124–125.
[12] AMBROŽIČ 2021, p. 124.
[13] ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 554.
[14] HÖFLER 1996, p. 151; AMBROŽIČ 2021, p. 125.
[15] HÖFLER 1996, p. 151; HÖFLER 2017, p. 45.
[16] AMBROŽIČ 2021, p. 117.
[17] AMBROŽIČ 2021, p. 125.
[18] AMBROŽIČ 2021, pp. 125–126.
[19] AMBROŽIČ 2021, p. 127.
[20] In her report on a newly discovered fragment of an older layer of murals, Nika LEBEN 1990, p. 258, wrote that the newer mural layer probably depicted the Procession of the Magi. HÖFLER 1996, p. 151 (same as AMBROŽIČ 2021, p. 133), mentioned only four figures (“two heads belonging to attendants and two heads belonging to trumpeters face the choir in the usual manner”), while today, a total of nine figures are visible on the more recent layer of the mural.
[21] The abovementioned mural layer was associated with the Master of Žirovnica by HÖFLER 1996, p. 151.
[22] HÖFLER 1996, p. 151.
[23] KOMELJ 1965, p. 74, mentioned the remains of murals on the exterior southern wall, while ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 554 also underlined “two layers of Gothic frescoes”.
[24] The design of St Christopher’s portrayal adheres to the Friulian type, which is also underscored by the addition of a Cosmatesque bordure, see ŽELEZNIK 1989, p. 35; HÖFLER 1996, p. 151. In his notes, France Stele dated the older layer with St Christopher to the middle of the 15^th century, see Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, INDOK center, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Studenčice, SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777, p. 1, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777.html (21 February 2022). ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 554, and ŽELEZNIK 1989, p. 35, place St Christopher at the beginning of the 15^th century, while HÖFLER 1996, p. 151, dates him to around 1400. For a description of the more recent layer, which is no longer preserved, and the older St Christopher, which is still visible, see Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, INDOK center, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Studenčice, SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777, p. 1, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777.html (21 February 2022).
[25] Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, INDOK center, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Studenčice, SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777, pp. 1–2, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777.html (21 February 2022). HÖFLER 1996, p. 151: “Another fresco might once have existed to the right of St Christopher.”
[26] Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, INDOK center, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Studenčice, SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777, pp. 1–2, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777.html (21 February 2022).
[27] Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, INDOK center, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Studenčice, SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777, p. 2, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777.html (21 February 2022).
[28] Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, INDOK center, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Studenčice, SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777, p. 2, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0777.html (21 February 2022).
[29] SOKLIČ 2000, pp. 77–78. For a more detailed description of the church furnishings, see Matjaž AMBROŽIČ 2021, pp. 127–131.
[30] AMBROŽIČ 2021, pp. 127–130. We are referring to three neo-Gothic altars: the main altar dedicated to St Florian; the side altar by the eastern side of the triumphal arch, dedicated to St Ursula; and the altar on the western side, dedicated to Sts Primus and Felician.