Church of St. Rupert

The Parish Church of St. Rupert stands in the village center of Spodnja Voličina. According to legend, on the site of the present church there once stood a chapel from the 11th century, called “Marija in the Thorns” (Maria Dorn, zur hl. Maria in spinis). In 1352 it was first mentioned as the filial church of St. Rupert, belonging to the parish of St. Jurij in Ptuj. By 1443 it was already mentioned as an independent parish. The current building dates from 1538. The single-nave church, covered by a steep gabled roof, consists of a Gothic nave, a spacious Gothic presbytery with a tall massive bell tower to the north, a sacristy to the south, and side Baroque chapels. The interior of the church is adorned with works by Maribor sculptor Jožef Holzinger, while in front of the church stands a monument to Anton Murko, an advocate of a unified Slovenian language in the first half of the 19th century.

The parish patron, St. Rupert, remains popular among the common people. He is considered the patron saint of miners in salt mines, and is invoked as a protector against erysipelas and children’s convulsions. The parish feast day is celebrated on the third Sunday in September. The two-story rectory features a double-flight Baroque staircase on the entrance façade (facing the church). Enlarged and raised in the 18th century, the rectory has Gothic origins.