Šmihel () is a settlement in the
Municipality of Laško in eastern
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
. It lies on a hill above the right bank of the
Savinja River, just west of
Laško. The area is part of the traditional region of
Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
. It is now included with the rest of the municipality in the
Savinja Statistical Region
The Savinja Statistical Region ( sl, Savinjska statistična regija) is a statistical region in Slovenia. The largest town in the region is Celje. It is named after the Savinja River. The region is very diverse in natural geography; it mainly com ...
.
The local
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
, from which the settlement gets its name, is dedicated to
Saint Michael and belongs to the Parish of Laško. It is a
pilgrimage church
A pilgrimage church (german: Wallfahrtskirche) is a church to which pilgrimages are regularly made, or a church along a pilgrimage route, like the Way of St. James, that is visited by pilgrims.
Pilgrimage churches are often located by the graves ...
with a double
belfry built between 1637 and 1641. Four of an original seven mid-17th century
chapel-shrine
A wayside shrine is a religious image, usually in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads, but often in the middle of an empty stretch of country road, or at the top of a hill or mo ...
s representing the
Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...
still survive along the road leading up the hill to the church.
Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference numbers ešd 3092, 20612, 20613, 20614, 20615
References
External links
Šmihel on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Laško
{{Laško-geo-stub