Nova Štifta () is a settlement in the Upper

Dreta The Dreta () is a river in Styria, northeastern Slovenia. The river is long. Its source is near the Črnivec Pass in the Kamnik Alps. It flows through the town of Gornji Grad, Bočna, and Šmartno ob Dreti, and merges with the Savinja River i ...

Valley in the

Municipality of Gornji Grad The Municipality of Gornji Grad (; ) is a municipality in Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the town of Gornji Grad. It lies on the Dreta River in the foothills of the Savinja Alps. Traditionally it belonged to the region of Styria an ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. It is made up of three hamlets: Šmiklavž, Tirosek, and Zgornji Dol (formerly known as Štajngrob). The area belongs to the traditional region of

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

and is now included in the

Savinja Statistical Region The Savinja Statistical Region () is a Statistical regions of Slovenia, 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 compr ...

History

Nova Štifta was formally established as an independent settlement in 2005, when it was separated from the territory of Dol and combined with the former settlements of Tirosek and Šmiklavž.

Churches

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the settlement is a popular

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

church. It is known as

Our Lady, Star of the Sea Our Lady, Star of the Sea is an ancient title for Mary, the mother of Jesus. The words ''Star of the Sea'' are a translation of the Latin title . The title has been in use since at least the early medieval period. Purportedly arising from a sc ...

Church () and belongs to the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Celje The Diocese of Celje (; ) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church located in the city of Celje in the ecclesiastical province of Maribor in Slovenia. History * April 7, 2006: Established as Diocese of Celje from the Diocese of Maribor ...

. It has a large nave with three

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

s on either side and two

belfries The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

on its western facade. It was built until 1854 by the master builder Matej Medved on the site of a former three-nave

Renaissance church Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought a ...

, which burned in a fire in 1850. A second church in the hamlet of Šmiklavž is dedicated to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

. It is

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

al in its

floor plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

with an added belfry and two rectangular chapels. It was built between 1869 and 1872. The third church stands in Zgornji Dol and is dedicated to the

Presentation of Mary The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known in the East as The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, is a liturgical feast celebrated on November 21 by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some Anglo-Catholic Churches. The fea ...

. It was erected in the early 16th century and redesigned in the 19th century.

Gallery

File:Postcard of Nova Štifta, Gornji Grad.jpg, Historical postcard of Nova Štifta File:1968 postcard of Nova Štifta.jpg, Historical postcard of churches in Nova Štifta

References

External links

*
Nova Štifta on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Gornji Grad {{GornjiGrad-geo-stub