The Church of St Radegund is first mentioned in 1617 in the records of Abbot Hieronim Marchstaller, but the author of the parish chronicle assumes that the church is much older and that it was used for worship while the Parish Church of St Lawrence was being renovated.
The originally modest Gothic church from the 17th century was enlarged at the abbot’s behest, and its nave was vaulted. It acquired its present form in 1776. The church consists of a rectangular nave with an entrance porch and a façade bell tower, and a slightly lower presbytery with a single-storey sacristy on the north side. It has three altars: of St Radegund, of the Virgin Mary and of St Catherine. A walled cemetery once surrounded the church; it was abandoned at the beginning of the 19th century.
During the Josephine reforms, the church was bought at auction by the townsman Jakše, who donated it to the municipality of Lovrenc. To this day it is the only church in Slovenia owned by a municipality.
Architecture of the church
The originally modest Gothic church from the 17th century was enlarged at the abbot’s behest, and its nave was vaulted. It acquired its present form in 1776. The church consists of a rectangular nave with an entrance porch and a façade bell tower, and a slightly lower presbytery with a single-storey sacristy on the north side. It has three altars: of St Radegund, of the Virgin Mary and of St Catherine. A walled cemetery once surrounded the church; it was abandoned at the beginning of the 19th century.
Interesting facts about the church
During the Josephine reforms, the church was bought at auction by the townsman Jakše, who donated it to the municipality of Lovrenc. To this day it is the only church in Slovenia owned by a municipality.
