The Minorite Olimje Monastery, 3km southwest of Podčetrtek, was built as a Renaissance-style castle in about 1550. Its Church of the Assumption contains 17th-century ceiling paintings in the presbytery, one of the largest baroque altars in the country and the ornate Chapel of St Francis Xavier. On the ground floor of the corner tower to the left of the main entrance is the monastery’s greatest treasure: a 17th-century pharmacy painted with religious and medical scenes.
The Franciscan monks here grow their own herbs and medicinal plants in the nearby garden.
