Soteska (; ) is a settlement on the left bank of the Krka River in the

Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice The Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice (; ) is a municipality near Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia. Its seat is the town of Dolenjske Toplice. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola. The municipality is now included in th ...

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 ...

. The area is part of the historical region of

Lower Carniola Lower Carniola ( ; ) is a traditional region in 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 an ...

. The municipality is now included in the

Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region The Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region () is a statistical region in southeast Slovenia. It is the largest statistical region. The development of this region is largely the result of industry (the auto industry, pharmaceuticals, and other light ...

. Soteska includes the hamlet of Ključ southeast of the main settlement.Savnik, Roman, ed. 1971. ''Krajevni leksikon Slovenije'', vol. 2. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, p. 531.

Church

The local

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 ...

is dedicated to

Saint Erasmus Erasmus of Formia, also known as Saint Elmo (died ), was a Christian saint and martyr. He is venerated as the patron saint of sailors and abdominal pain. Erasmus or Elmo is also one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, saintly figures of Christian r ...

and belongs to the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Novo Mesto The Diocese of Novo Mesto (; ) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the city of Novo Mesto in the ecclesiastical province of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ljubljana, Ljubljana in Slovenia. History * April 7, 2006: Established as ...

. It is a medieval building that was restyled in the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

in the 17th century. The nave is barrel vaulted with an

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...

and

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

s. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

was reworked in the 19th century and has a semicircular

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, al ...

ed vault painted with figures by Franz Kurz von Goldenstein. The main altar is from the 19th century. The north side altar dates from the second half of the 18th century and features a painting by

Valentin Metzinger Jean-Valentin Metzinger (19 April 1699, Saint-Avold – 12 March 1759, Ljubljana) was a French-born Austrian-Slovenian painter, in the Baroque style. Life and work His ancestors were originally from Italy. He was one of twelve children born t ...

(1699–1759). The south chapel contains an 18th-century altar.

Landmarks

Soteska Mansion

Soteska Mansion ()Reisp, Branko. 1998. ''Gradovi dežele Kranjske.'' Ljubljana: Slovenska matica, p. 160. is now a ruin. It stood on the banks of the Krka River and was built by Count Georg Sigmund von Gallenberg in 1664 and 1689. It had a rectangular layout with an interior courtyard bordered by four two-story arcades, and four rectangular towers at the corners. The entry tower bore the crest of the Gallenberg and Schrottenbach families and the year 1675. The interior was richly painted, with some works attributed to the 17th-century Dutch painter Almanach. Soteska Castle was characterized by

Johann Weikhard von Valvasor Johann Weikhard Freiherr von Valvasor or Johann Weichard Freiherr von Valvasor (, ) or simply Valvasor (baptised on 28 May 1641 – September or October 1693) was a natural historian and polymath from Carniola, present-day Slovenia, and a Li ...

as one of the most beautiful castles in Carniola. The castle was sold to the Auerspergs in 1733, and then to the Counts of Lichtenberg in 1743. The Auerspergs reacquired the castle in 1793 and owned it until the Second World War. The

Partisans Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Itali ...

looted and burned the castle on 23 October 1943, and after the war many of the building stones were carried off. The gardens in the castle grounds survive, with a pavilion now referred to as the Devil's Tower (). The tower contains paintings by the 17th-century Dutch painter Almanach.

Old Soteska Castle

The ruins of an older castle, known as Old Soteska Castle (, ), stand on a nearby hill. It was initially owned by the Lords of Soteska, and then by the Istrian branch of the Counts of Gorizia from 1335 to 1374. A nobleman was killed at the castle in the peasant uprising of 1573. The Lords of Scheyer, lieges of the Habsburgs, held the castle after this; they were enthusiastic Protestants during the Reformation, and one of them even supervised the Protestant schools and received a red leather-bound copy of the Dalmatin Bible in 1584. The castle was strongly fortified during the

Ottoman wars in Europe A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in ...

and was the seat of a provincial court. The Scheyer family died out in 1650 and was succeeded by the Gallenbergs. Count Georg Sigmund von Gallenberg had the old castle razed when the new castle was built.

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Soteska include: * Andrej Glavan (born 1943), Slovenian Roman Catholic prelate * Jožef Rudolf Milic (1817–1888), printer and publisher * Mansvet Šmajdek (1819–1868), religious writer

References

External links

*
Soteska on Geopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soteska, Dolenjske Toplice Populated places in the Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice