| In the centre of Kranj, at the edge of the main square, stands a precious Gothic church with a tower above the entrance reminiscent of Ptujska Gora in the Štajerska region. The old Kranj parish was already famous in the middle of the 10th century, when an older church stood in the same location, with a Slavic cultic building in front of it. Next to it was a cemetery, which comprised the majority of the present medieval core on the elevated stem between the Kokra and Sava Rivers. Above the remains of the older church grew a pre-Romanesque successor that has been standing there since the middle of the 15th century. The relatively large altar area, a typologically long choir loft, was added on around 1400. On the portal of the church there is a preserved and renovated Gothic relief of the Mount of Olives from 1460. At the side facade leans the Majdič well, the work of the sculptor Fran Berneker, with statues of John the Steadfast (Janez Nepomuk) and the Queen.
The square hall-like nave was built later, along with the tower that rises above the entry facade. The hall is divided by four slim, eight-sided bearings. Above the ring-shaped capitals, the vaulted ribs rise like a net of stars, with numerous rich, figural joints (vaulting after 1452). The original paintings were discovered on some of them during restorations in 2004. Different colours hide individual layers of the vaulting. The vaulting of the central star is painted with vegetation decorations and frescos of angels (workshop of the master of Žirovnica, 1461). The original winged altar of the church, made in 1500, was sold to Vienna. The present altar with sculptures by France Gorše and colour windows are newer (architect Ivan Vurnik, 1934, painter Stane Kregar, 1969). |