St. Thomas’s Church, Rateče: A Romanesque and Gothic Branch Church in Slovenia
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Slovenia
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page11 sections
History
St. Thomas’s Church, Rateče, is a Roman Catholic branch church in Slovenia, dedicated to Saint Thomas, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Christian New Testament. Its nave is fundamentally Romanesque, while its Gothic sanctuary was added later, and archaeological evidence suggests that the site may have a history reaching back to Late Antiquity, the period between classical antiquity and the early Middle Ages.
Early Building Phases
Excavations beneath the church from 1972 to 1976 revealed several earlier construction phases. The evidence includes a possible pre-Romanesque phase and the foundation of a semicircular Romanesque apse in the sanctuary. These remains have led to descriptions of the church as one of the oldest in the upper Sava Valley and, on the basis of its archaeological remains, as one of the oldest churches in Slovenia.
The Romanesque sanctuary was replaced by a Gothic sanctuary in the middle of the fifteenth century. The surviving building therefore preserves a sequence of medieval changes, from earlier foundations and the Romanesque nave to the later Gothic area reserved chiefly for the clergy and altar.
Parish History and Written Records
St. Thomas’s was formerly an affiliate of the parish of Maria Gail near Villach in Carinthia. In 1390, Regent Count Frederick III of Ortenburg granted its transfer to the parish of Kranjska Gora in the Duchy of Carniola, a historical Alpine territory corresponding broadly to parts of present-day Slovenia. Jan Soběslav, Patriarch of Aquileia, confirmed the change on 8 December that year. The Patriarchate of Aquileia was a major medieval ecclesiastical authority whose jurisdiction extended across northeastern Italy and neighboring Alpine and Central European regions.
The oldest written document mentioning Rateče is Bishop Sigmund Lamberg’s vidimus, a medieval authenticated copy or confirmation of earlier documents, dated 28 January 1467. It preserves copies of three manuscripts from 1390, dated 30 May, 12 November, and 8 December, which concern the church’s parish affiliation. The parchment is preserved in the chapter archive of the Ljubljana archdiocesan archives.
The undated Rateče or Klagenfurt Manuscript is also associated with the church. Ivan Grafenauer’s linguistic and historical analysis placed its production possibly around 1370, although some of its wording preserves roots dating to the eighth century. The parchment was bound into a mass book used by the vicar of Maria Gail during visits to Rateče. It was discovered in Klagenfurt in 1880 and is preserved in the archives of the Carinthian Historical Society. A record from 1467 on its back cover lists members of the Brotherhood of the Mother of God, a lay religious confraternity devoted to the Virgin Mary, including the priest Nikolaj of Naklo and surnames still found among Rateče residents, such as Pintbah and Rogar.
Later Status
St. Thomas’s Church remains active and is associated with the parish of Rateče–Planica, within the Radovljica Deanery and the Archdiocese of Ljubljana. A deanery groups several parishes, while an archdiocese is a major ecclesiastical jurisdiction headed by an archbishop. Slovenia registered the church as an immovable monument of local importance under number 2216 on 1 February 1985.
Remains
The church combines a fundamentally Romanesque nave with a Gothic sanctuary and a Romanesque bell tower standing immediately beside it. Excavation beneath the building exposed a late-medieval stone floor, earlier foundations, and burial remains that extend the physical history of the site beyond the visible medieval structure.
Church Structure and Archaeological Layers
Romanesque Nave
Romanesque elements survive in the nave walls. Romanesque architecture is a medieval building tradition characterized by massive masonry, rounded arches, and heavy structural forms. A window in the south wall dates from the twelfth or early thirteenth century. The same wall contains an entrance whose wooden beam was scorched in the fire of 1693.
Gothic Sanctuary
The sanctuary contains the foundation of a semicircular Romanesque apse beneath a late-medieval stone floor. The earlier sanctuary was replaced by the present Gothic sanctuary in the middle of the fifteenth century. Gothic architecture developed after the Romanesque tradition and is associated with pointed arches, taller spaces, and more vertical design.
Earlier Foundations and Burials
Older wall foundations on the south side of the nave may represent a pre-Romanesque construction phase. A fragment of a ceramic jug characteristic of the Roman period was found in another part of the nave. The sanctuary contained 25 preserved Roman-period graves with associated burial objects, and their burial method suggests early Slovene practices.
Bell Tower and Bells
The Romanesque bell tower beside the church is clearly a fourteenth-century construction, although it has sometimes been dated specifically to 1360. Its belfry contains a bell dated 1521, with a Gothic-minuscule inscription naming Jesus, Mary, and the four Evangelists.
The belfry also contains a steel bell cast at a foundry in Jesenice and blessed on 22 February 1922. Tuned to C, it weighs 242 kilograms. Since 1 October 2000, it has been flanked by two bronze bells weighing 198 and 136 kilograms. Bell specialists in Passau, Germany, cast the bronze bells, which were consecrated by Stanislav Hočevar, Archbishop of Belgrade.
Rateče or Klagenfurt Manuscript
The Rateče or Klagenfurt Manuscript is a parchment with red and blue ornamented initial letters. It contains the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Apostles’ Creed. It is traditionally associated with St. Thomas’s Church, where it may have originated or was certainly used.
