With the chancel on its eastern side, the church is correctly oriented, though precise measurements reveal that its long axis is oriented slightly towards the south-east.[1] The building is essentially a single-nave Romanesque church with a flat ceiling, which was later altered: among other things, it received an extension towards the west,[2] while the original height of the Romanesque nave has been preserved.[3] The vaulted chancel with a three-sided termination gives it a Gothic appearance, but it was added as late as the 17^th century.[4] A Baroque belfry was erected next to the chancel’s northern wall, while a portico was built in front of the western wall of the nave. The Romanesque origin of the nave is indicated by the upper part of the small window in the southern wall and the triumphal arch, which, according to Ivan Komelj, was once part of the original Romanesque apse.[5] In 1668, a new chancel was mentioned. Judging from the visitation records, it must have been constructed between 1654 and 1668.[6] In 1668, the church was already described as having an open portico, two steps lower than the level of the rest of the church.[7] The building’s state before the erection of the belfry was also recorded, as we can read that the church bells used to hang on two piers above the roof beams in the façade.[8]

The interior as well as exterior of the Potoče church was painted. Inside, it featured murals on the northern wall and the nave side of the triumphal arch. Two layers of Gothic murals can be identified.[9] The older layer, preserved on the triumphal arch’s southern part, portrays a poorly preserved figure of some holy bishop and a now almost completely destroyed scene, which Janez Höfler identified as Cain and Abel’s sacrifice.[10] A more recent mural, portraying the Procession of the Magi, can be found on the upper edge of the nave’s northern wall and the northern part of the triumphal arch wall.[11] Based on the facial types, Janez Höfler attributed the more recent mural, dated to around 1500, to the Master of St Jacob from Ribno.[12] Jan Höfler also assumes that the interior of the nave’s southern wall was not painted. However, it features Gothic consecration crosses, painted during two stages.[13] France Stele and Ivan Komelj dated the fragments of the Gothic murals on the nave’s southern exterior wall, of which only the part by the upper edge has been preserved, to the first half of the 15^th century and attributed them to the so-called Friulian painters.[14] Along the upper edge, near the Romanesque window opening, the remains of three scenes are visible.[15] To the left of the window are the fragments of the St Christopher and St James scenes, while to the right, the upper part of Christ from the Crucifixion scene is still discernible. Originally, Mary was also portrayed next to the cross, as confirmed by France Stele’s note from 1926.[16] St John the Evangelist was probably also included.[17] Based on the selection of iconographic motifs, Robert Peskar, in his overview of the murals on church exteriors in today’s territory of Slovenia, categorised the Potoče mural, depicted on the nave’s southern exterior, as belonging to the basic level of schemes with St Christopher (in this case also the image of the church’s patron saint) with the added Crucifixion.[18] The mural on the southern exterior wall was later whitewashed.[19] However, the preserved fragments of the mural are now once again uncovered.

________________________________________

[1] The church’s floor plan was published by ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 222.
[2] KOMELJ 1960, p. 238.
[3] HÖFLER 1996, p. 156.
[4] HÖFLER 1996, p. 156; cf. KOMELJ 1960, p. 238, and ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 222, who both write about a chancel in the Gothic floor plan tradition.
[5] ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 222; HÖFLER 1996, p. 156. ZADNIKAR 1982, p. 222, assumes that the western part of the southern wall must have also featured a window once.
[6] For more detailed information on the time of the creation of the new chancel, see the Historical Information section.
[7] LAVRIČ 2007, p. 134.
[8] LAVRIČ 2007, p. 134.
[9] HÖFLER 1996, p. 156.
[10] HÖFLER 1996, p. 156.
[11] The first stylistic definition, approximate dating, and definition of the more recent mural layer’s iconographic content were included in France Stele’s report, see STELE 1926, p. 173; cf. HÖFLER 1996, p. 157; JENKO 1999, pp. 170–174.
[12] HÖFLER 1996, p. 157.
[13] HÖFLER 1996, p. 158.
[14] The murals on the church’s exterior were uncovered and inventoried in 1926; see STELE 1926, p. 173. France Stele also documented their condition photographically, cf. JENKO 1999, p. 168. The photos are available at: http://eid.si/#!/enota/2170/dokumenti (6 December 2021). By the 1960s, when Boris Sajevic consolidated the murals, some of them had already fallen off, see KOMELJ 1960, p. 238. The murals were subsequently whitewashed (HÖFLER 1996, p. 158) until they were once again presented by the year 1999 (JENKO 1999, p. 168).
[15] For the photo, see KOMELJ 1960, p. 237; HÖFLER 1996, p. 158.
[16] STELE 1926, p. 173: “/…/ the head of the Virgin Mary, looking towards her son, has been preserved on the left side.” France Stele also mentions the painted head of the Virgin Mary in his notes, cf. Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije, Informacijsko-dokumentacijski center za dediščino, Zapiski Franceta Steleta, Potoče pri Preddvoru, available at: https://situla.gov.si/SI_INDOK_ZAP_z001-0595.html (6 December 2021).
[17] For a shorter description of the painting, see STELE 1926, p. 173; HÖFLER 1996, p. 158.
[18] PESKAR 1996, p. 317.
[19] HÖFLER 1996, p. 158.