Hotels in Stari Trg: Stations of the Cross, Churches and Colatio

The present-day name Stari Trg is first documented in 1331 as “Antiquum forum”. It takes less than ten minutes to walk from Slovenj Gradec to Stari Trg.

History

Above Stari Trg, the medieval castle was first mentioned in 1091 as Grez (“Gradec”). Grajski hrib was already inhabited in the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age; the Late Bronze Age is dated from the middle of the 14th to the middle of the 12th century BC.

At the foot of Grajski hrib stood Colatio on the Roman road between Celeia and Virunum. Colatio was an ancient settlement and posting station whose development can be traced from the 1st to the 5th century AD. The site is one of the few preserved and researched Roman posting stations in the territory of Slovenia. The archaeological sites of Grajski hrib and Colatio together form an archaeological complex of European significance.

Archaeology

Finds at the Puščava archaeological site show that a hillfort existed there in the Late Iron Age. At the Puščava archaeological cemetery, 136 Late Antique and Early Medieval graves were discovered, along with two additional graves in 1995.

In Grave 8 of the Puščava cemetery, both female and male grave goods were found with the same skeleton. The Late Antique graves date from the end of the 4th to the 5th century. After a two-hundred-year interruption, part of the cemetery was used again from the early 8th century onward. The Roman cemetery of Colatio lies south of Stari Trg on both banks of the Draga stream.

Sacred Sites

The Church of St Radegund stands in the centre of the settlement on a steep slope below the castle. Beneath the presbytery, it preserves a Late Gothic crypt. The church’s high altar was created by J. J. Mersi in 1768.

At the Church of St Pancras, the western entrance was built around 1240. The tympanum above the portal contains a fresco depicting Mary and Jesus. The church also has a covered Holy Stairway, whose walls are decorated with frescoes of Passion scenes. Its architecture incorporates elements of one of Slovenia’s oldest castles.

The Stations of the Cross in Stari Trg lead from the Church of St Radegund to the Church of St Pancras. They comprise thirteen chapels built around 1790 and end at the Holy Stairway, which serves as the fourteenth station. The reliefs in the chapels were created by the J. Mersi sculptor’s workshop in Slovenj Gradec.

The Mythical Trail presents the Church of St Pancras above Stari Trg as part of a ritual triangle in the Mislinja Valley.

Tradition

Despite being completely restored, the Mežnik hayrack still has a wooden structure in a traditional design and retains the year 1865; this makes it one of the oldest hayracks in the area. The Rupertov hayrack is a traditional, hilltop Toplar in Stari Trg and dates from the end of the 19th century.

Further destinations: Mislinja, Sele, Slovenj Gradec

To the higher-level travel overview: Slovenj Gradec.