Parish Church of Our Lady

Sitting atop a gentle slope 200m north of Cesta 4 Maja, the Parish Church of Our Lady (Župnijska Cerkev Sv Marije) is the only real attraction right in Cerknica. To reach it, walk up the street called simply Tabor, which runs to the east of the shopping centre.

The church sat in the middle of a fortified settlement - the ramparts and two towers, built to withstand Turkish raids in the late 15th century, remain intact. On the Latin plaque in the wall, the number 4 of the year 1472 is written with a loop - the top half of an 8 - because 4 was considered unlucky in the Middle Ages, as it still is in much of Asia.

Completed in the early 16th century, this is a hall church - with nave and aisles of equal height - and not unlike the church in Kranj in Gorenjska. In the 18th century two side chapels were added, and the bell tower was given its baroque dome.