Marijan Zadnikar

THE MONASTERY OF STIČNA

A GUIDE

At the time of the founding of the monastery of Stična and the beginning of the Crusades at the end of the 11th century, a great ecclesiastical tumult captured Western Europe and the monks were not spared; this was a struggle for preeminence beween the papacy in Rome and the German Emporer and, as such, was named "the fight for investiture." Despite repeated reforms which originated at Cluny, the French "Rome," the ancient Benedictine order, with a multitude of monasteries throughout Europe, was immersed too much in worldly wealth and power and had abandoned the Rule (Regula) of their own founder, Saint Benedict, as well as the fundamental principle: "Ora et labora" ("pray and work") – besides prayers, earn your daily bread. Some rebellious monks from the Benedictine monastery Molesme in French Burgandy withdrew into solitude in order to begin a new, simple, and humble collective life, such as that which St. Benedict, the Father of Western Monasticism, began six centuries earlier. In this way, the "new monastery" Citeaux, from which the new Cistercian order derived its name, was established on the swampy plain south of Dijon. This occurred exactly 900 years ago, in 1098. The new order spread throughout Europe so quickly that there were already 343 monasteries in 1153, the year of the death of its greatest genius, St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux.

The Abbey of Stična was established in the sheltered hillocks of Dolenjska in 1132, only thirty years after the founding of the Cistercian Order; it is the oldest monastery in present-day Slovenia. The building of the monastery was formally begun in 1135/36 under the direction of the Aquilean patriarch Peregrin, an able bishop whose influence reached as far as Burgundy, the mother province of the Cistercian order and from where its French builder Michael and the first monks of this abbey came. In the centuries that followed, many aristocratic benefactors abundantly donated to the monastery. However, in the 15th century, Turkish invasions caused great damage throughout the monastery. In the 17th century, the monastery experienced great prosperity, but it was disbanded by Emperor Joseph II on October 6, 1784. With a renewal in 1898, regular monastic life began again. Today, despite a smaller number of monks, Stična abides and is developing into an important spiritual and cultural center.

During the course of its 860 years of existence, Stična developed into an extensive and systematically arranged building structure, surrounded by walls, which were reinforced and strengthened by towers for defense against the Turks at the end of the 15th century. In this building structure, one can even see the oldest monastery nucleus from its 12th century origin as it remains preserved. The monastery church, cloister, and surrounding tracts derive from this same Romanesque period as do also the external or entrance chapel of St. Paul and the church of St. Katharine, which stood near the northern outside walls and of which only the excavated foundation remains.

The monastery church, dedicated to the Divine Mother as are all Cistercian churches, does not betray its 850 years age on the outside because the part most revealing of this, the lower roofs of the basilica side wings, is concealed by a ridged roof with which it was covered during the first Baroque reconstruction at the beginning of the 17th century. At that time, there remained above the Baroque vault the whole luminous wall of the Romanesque basilica – a row of high windows above and on either side of the nave – as well as many indications that, at one time, the entire church, with its longitudinal nave and 2 aisles, transverse aisle, and crossing, was covered by a flat wooden ceiling. The only Romanesque traces preserved in the Baroque interior are the ground plan and the two rows of arcades with six pairs of semicircular arches, the seventh on the west side being shortened during the Baroque reconstruction in the 17th century. If we would look at the foundations of the church from the Romanesque period – the main apse beneath the paving in front of the altar, both side apses in the excavations of the east courtyard, and the little apses of the transverse aisle in the excavation of the "old sacristy," and, of course, the illuminated upper storey of the attic – we could mentally reconstruct the Romanesque church as a flatly-covered, columned basilica with a nave between two parallel aisles all ending in semicircular apses, a transverse aisle with smaller apses on either side, and two long chapels at the choir square. Thus, the design of the monastery church was not subordinated to the so-called Bernardian ground plan and vaulted Burgundian architecture of the Fortenay type, but rather repeated the archaic Benedictine design after the example of Cluny II. With this, Stična is today the only "non-Cistercian" Cistercian church in all of Europe. The church was consecrated July 8, 1156. Documents from the end of the 12th century name its constructor "cementarius" [mason] Michael, a Frenchman by birth.

During the early Baroque period at the time of abbot Jacob Reinprecht (1603–1626), there were attempts to give the Romanesque building a Baroque character by way of arches and new ornamentation. This was only partly successful in that the non-uniform Romanesque design of a nave and two aisles with columns and semicircular arcades is distinctive for the church space even today. The visitor cannot be persuaded that the church is of Baroque origin by the Baroque architectural decoration with its stucco ornamentation, series of provincial blazons on the arch beneath the choir loft, and episcopal and monastery blazons on the aisle arches; nor by the large, embellished, and impressive blazon of the renovator of the basilica, abbot Jacob, along with the paintings from the 17th century in the dome and under the arches in the middle of the nave.

With the exception of some tombstones, including the most beautiful one for abbot Jacob made of red stone and containing his epitaph, the church’s entire accoutrement is Baroque. Moreover, these articles are not from the time of the first Baroque reconstruction at the beginning of the 17th century – only the statue of the Madonna on the main altar is preserved from that time – but rather from the late Baroque, a few decades before the fatal dissolution of the monastery. The main altar and several side altars, which do not attain the highest quality but are in harmony with all, are also considered to be from this time, so also the pulpit and the organ cabinet. In contrast, the 14 Stations of the Cross deserve special attention in that they were painted by the Carniolan painter Fortunat Bergant and, along with their fretted frames, represent the greatest fine art in the Stična church.

South of the church lies the cloister. This active center of the monastery with its framed walls has also preserved its Romanesque design. Reminiscent of those times are the semicircular entrances into former common rooms, which, being previously accessed from the cloister, are now walled-in. Also from the first period are two Romanesque doubly-arched windows, which at one time connected the cloister with the chapter hall of the east wing. But today the predominant stylistic character of the cloister is early Gothic because it was rebuilt in approximately 1260 and arched with ribbed cross arches; originally it was wooden and the supporting structures, visible. Due to the austerity of monastic artistic sensibilities, there are only a few decorative figures, such as the Suffering Christ, the Lamb of God, and the Head of Christ, found in the corners of the broader corridor next to the church. In the west wing next to the fraternal housing tract, male and female masks surprise the visitor as the only decorative pieces among the otherwise austere geometrical consoles. Arch paintings which involve motifs from the Old Testament such as the patriarchs, the prophets, and the Jonah or Sampson stories as well as a variety of depictions of the mental and emotional world of the Middle Ages also attract one’s attention in the cloister. Thus are the paintings that were already rendered before the middle of the 14th century, a kind of painted encyclopedia of that time. Depictions of a personification of the four winds, allegories of the four virtues, as well as patriarchs, prophets, and some fantastic animals and sacrifices are very well-preserved; but time has already eroded many of the paintings on the 24 vaults to near unrecognizability. But irrespective of the architecture, sculptures, and paintings of the Stična cloister, it is the bearer of the emotional atmosphere. Its expression changes continually as with the seasons when in spring the lawn in the middle of the four corridors grows green and blooms, and also with the daily changes of the sunlight, which draw diverse outlines of the pointed window openings on the floor; and such invites one to experience this unusual architectural space – the heart of the monastery.

The beautiful chivalric tombstone of Count Pongrac of Turjak (von Auersperg) from the end of the 15th century is built into the now walled-in medieval monks` church entrance from cloister; there are also some valuable stonecut products in the niche, like the base of a great Romanesque pillar which is now used in the church in the nearby town of Šentvid, etc.

Following the usual ground floor arrangement of rooms around the cloister of all Cistercian monasteries, the corridor by the Chapter Room at Stična connected the eastern wing of the cloister with the large eastern courtyard. Up to the present, the semicircular openings in the cloister and the courtyard reveal the Romanesque elements that are still partially preserved. With excavations in 1997, the existence of the above-mentioned corridor was also ascertained archeologically. At the side of this corridor, there originally would have been a parlour or a monastery reception room, at least part of which would have been expended on a jail or place of detention, a requirement in the 13th century. A gothically-shaped, right-angled dormer window which belonged to this room is still preserved at the floor of the cloister. The connecting corridor and former parlour were reconstructed during the baroque period into a large unified room, the chapter, which was illuminated on the eastern side by three high window openings. In 1991 these windows were glazed with scenes of the Annunciation, the Crucifixion, and Pentecost, as designed by the Polish painter, Stanislav Jakubczyk. In 1998 new wood was affixed to the floor and 37 wooden seats added along the wall. They were constructed with great skill and knowledge by the self-taught carver and sculptor, Jože Trontelj. The abbot’s seat and both adjacent ones are embellished on the backrest with inlaid blazons of the Cistercian Order, of Stična, and of Wettingen-Mehrerau, the abbey which generated the renewal of Stična 100 years ago. Thoughtfully arranged on the dividing supports between the backrests are carvings in low relief of 41 Cistercian monks and nuns who have been canonized or beatified. In the middle of the chapter room there is an ambo or lectern supported by carvings of the four evangelists – the chroniclers of Our Lord’s teaching. This newly furnished Chapter is a beautiful addition to the monastery from our time; as every period adds something new to the old values; such is our life.

The southern part of the cloister opens to the monks’ common dining room, the refectory. It occupies the ground floor of a large Gothic building that extends into the garden. Originally the refectory was only one room, the height of which reached to the ceiling and was illuminated by high Gothic windows. In the Baroque period, this uniform room was divided by an arch, which allowed the monastery library to be built over it. In the dining room, there is a shallow arch with firmaments embellished by Baroque decorative and partly-figurative stuccowork; the now-whitened medallions on the arch were originally painted in fresco by the Tyrolean painter Ferdinand Steiner (in 1704).

In the library, which is an otherwise plain room with a flat ceiling, there are painted busts of legendary Greek and Roman philosophers on the walls around the large windows; in the middle of the side medallions are decorative scenes referring to their philosophy, and above, maxims inscribed in Latin. The style of these paintings is considered to be from the second half of the 18th century. Unfortunately, today the monastery library no longer has the famous Stična manuscripts from the second half of the 12th century. They are illuminated with colored initials and singularly ranked among the top European illuminated manuscripts of that time. After the dissolution of the monastery, some of those manuscripts were taken to the National Library in Vienna, but the majority is preserved in the National University Library in Ljubljana.

In accord with the needs of later centuries, the Romanesque nucleus of the monastery was reconstructed and enlarged. In the middle of the 16th century, abbot Wolfgang Neff (1550–1566) extended the south wing of the abbey quite far to the west with a two-floor tract known as Neff’s abbey. On the ground floor there is a vestibule which is accessed from the garden. It has a triple-cross ridged vault which is decoratively painted with a dense net of plant tendrils and green leaves among which are interwoven blossoms, various berries, and birds; at the apex is a large blazon of abbot Wolfgang and in the second vault section, a blazon of the Styrian monastery Rein near Graz – the abbey designated by the Cistercian order to be the mother monastery for Stična when Stična was founded, and which was later bound in association with a group of monasteries in this part of Europe. This type of decorative painting is characteristic of the mid-16th century.

High monastery buildings enclose the large eastern courtyard, where visitors are ordinarily first received by this respectable monastic community. The eastern side is closed by a long two-floor building with a ground floor arcade which has led to the main monastery entrance since the 18th century. To the north stands a notable renaissance building, the so-called "old prelature;" to the west the courtyard is limited by the age-old "chapter" tract as well as the eastern end of the monastery church with its extremely late "Gothic" manner of the early 17th century and vivid Baroque church tower above the crossing of the church naves. At the beginning of the 18th century, this courtyard was closed at its southern end by a typical Baroque building with the "abbot’s chapel" on the first floor and two lower wings at the sides.

The chapter tract in its nucleus is the oldest of the above-described buildings. Its restoration revealed beautiful Romanesque masonry on the ground floor, a semicircular entrance which once connected the courtyard to the cloister, and a series of variously designed walled-in openings, some of which illuminated the monks’ common bedroom on the first floor during the Romanesque period. In the 18th century, the main monastery entrance, the so-called monastery porch, was laid out in this building; before that time, it was located on the upper end of the long tract along the brook where the upper tower stands. Along the "Gothic" presbytery of the monastery church, the visitor can find the excavated laid-out foundations of two semicircular apses of the Romanesque basilica.

As evidenced by two 17th century graphics designed by Valvasor (the author of the most famous chronicle of Carniola), the southern end of the courtyard was still not closed at the end of the 17th century. Just into the 18th century abbot William Kovačič (1734–1764) decided to fill in this opening suitably and thus, in the spirit of the Baroque, made the large eastern courtyard uniform. After the example of other more opulent European monasteries, he constructed an impressive building with a wide double staircase designed in the same style as was known in castles and aristocratic palaces of that time. This staircase, with an adjacent fountain on the ground floor, leads to the magnificent hall on the first floor, known today as the abbot’s chapel. The building and its interior architecture were completed in the late Baroque period, not earlier than the time of abbot Taufferer (1764–1784). In accord with that late period are the richly garlanded molding, the light stuccowork, and the doors decoratively inlaid with motifs typical of the time. This festival hall thus expresses all the lightness and playfulness of the late Baroque period in which light colors take away all of life’s burdens as if life was only one exuberant song. This atmosphere is completed by wall paintings which are full of Christian symbolism and the work of the same anonymous painter whom we have already met in the monastery library.

The so-called old prelature, which closes the northern side of the large eastern courtyard, displays its actual facade to the north since monastery visitors arrived there at one time – the present-day Baroque monastery entrance did not yet exist. This building now presents itself as an imposing and unified two-story tract. If we take a more detailed look, it demonstrates that the western part is somewhat older as it was designed as an independent, almost tower-like building. This is also evidenced by the embrasures that are turned toward all sides since, at the time of its construction under abbot Laurence at the end of the 16th century, the country was still threatened by the Turks and their Balkan cohorts. The actual facade, with its northern renaissance style and two-cornered, steeple-like jetties, which originally extended much above the roof, shows the older part of the northern side, where a built-in inscriptional plate with the date 1599 documents its origin. The Latin inscription says that, at one time, this was an inn for troopers who, by way of exception, were accepted as distinguished guests of the monastery, and who left their horses in the spacious ground floor vestibule. As suggested by the inscription of abbot Laurence (1580–1600), the building was extended towards the east only some years later by his successor abbot Jacob (1603–1626), the great early Baroque constructor of Stična and promoter of a great variety of art. The year 1605 is on the stone porch which is decorated above with blazons; the year following dates the renaissance double window on the second floor southern side where an inscription also mentions abbot Jacob. At one time in this building were the administration of the monastery and its extensive properties, rooms for the bishop when he visited the monastery, and, next to the monastery archive, a house chapel consecrated to the Divine Mother. The "enlightened" times of the dissolution of the monastery in 1784 destroyed all of this as well as equipment, and the invaluable century’s-old Stična archives were randomly dispersed.

The "old prelature" is a two-storey edifice with a multitude of large and small rooms. On the ground floor, there are two entrance halls which link the internal monastery court to the open space on the north. One of them, the vestibule in the old western part, is particularly spacious and, at one time, was where the more distinguished guests tethered their horses. The architectural expression is Renaissance, with stone pilasters and a shallow vault. Since its restoration, this space is so generous that it can be profitably used for periodic exhibitions, which also make use of smaller rooms that flow together by way of the other entrance hall in the eastern part of this tract. From this hall is an entrance to the monastery store with its selected foods and other products; on the other side, is a smaller hall, where visitors can watch an audio-visual program about the history and most memorable aspects of the monastery.

Occupying the entire first floor are the museum and gallery collections of the Slovene Religious Museum, which has its headquarters at the Stična monastery. The center of this floor is also a vaulted hall which extends through the entire depth of the building and turns one’s interest to the south and north sides with its double windows which eloquently reveal the time of the building’s origin as the very beginning of the 17th century (1605/06). Many of the displayed objects from furniture to containers come from the legacy of the Dolenjska antique and art collector Leopold Kozlevčar (1904–1988), whose portrait in the central hall was painted by Matthew Sternen in 1947. In the gallery are a series of paintings from the 16th century onwards, a collection of metal liturgical objects such as chalices, monstrances, reliquaries, candlesticks, etc. Here also is the old metal tabernacle from the monastery church. There are seals, antique books, and again religious paintings of the national Baroque masters: Fortunat Bergant, Valentin Metzinger, Anton Postel, and others. Antique mass vestments may be found as well as scattered fragments of medieval stonecuttings and some old roofing products. You can also see two models of the monastery buildings and nearby surroundings – the Romanesque and the Baroque; they were constructed by Mr. Hubert Patzelt from Hirschaid, Germany, who is a significant authority on the Cistercian Order and a great friend of the Stična monastery. Research findings by the author of this Guide from his study of Stična Romanesque architecture are also collected and were used by Mr. Patzelt for the construction of his models. Passing through the gallery, you can find fine art paintings and sculptures that are primarily from the Baroque era. A special room is designated for a collection of paintings by the Stična priest and academic painter Gabriel Humek (1907-1993). A special area is also provided for books and other articles of Bishop and missionary Frederik Baraga. In the tract along the brook, some antique farming implements are collected, showing various trades which once were practiced at the monastery. Additionally, some devotional and pilgrimage articles - statues and pictures - are displayed. We can see the celebrated cast of "Maria of Solčava," one of the oldest Marian statues in Slovenia, being from the 13th century. A rich collection of painted glass and small wooden sculptures from the legacy of Leopold Kozlevčar  may also be found.

The second floor of the "old prelature" is not yet equipped as a museum. Its intended use is to chronicle the development of Christianity in Slovenia. Since the time of the renovation of this floor, one can see the internal architecture of its original structure as built just after the year 1605. Once again, this year is indicated in the latin inscription engraved in the upper part of the stone door which opens to stairs leading to the second floor. The inscription specifically mentions abbot Jacob Reinprecht, the great early Baroque renovator of Stična at the beginning of the 17th century, as the initiator of this construction "from the ground up" in the year 1605.

Also on the second floor is the central area of a large hall with two double windows on each side. As the restored murals from the 17th century show, initially there was a shallow vault, but now this hall has a flat plaster ceiling. The two stone portals each have a steep triangular front piece. On one of them is the Stična blazon with mitre and, on the other, a combined blazon of Stična and abbot Reinprecht, who provided for the building and its internal accoutrement. The ceilings in the room are mostly flat and of plaster, but the original wood ceilings are preserved in two halls on the northern side: one with parallel planks on stout beams, and the other, coffered with various geometric designs characteristic of the 17th century, and even more particularly rich. As a point of interest, we can mention the embrasures in the present intermediary walls, which suggest that this was once an older independent steeple in the western part; it was built by the end of the 16th century, when the area was still visited and "blessed" by the Turks. A corner room with balcony was decorated - first in the early Baroque period when it was inscribed with the names of various saints and four church fathers; then it was at least partially decorated anew in rococo, but the miniature paintings are not well preserved.

Especially rich are the wall decorations in the smaller area at the upper tower (where the main entrance of the monastery was once located). The vault of the small central hall is embellished in stucco with an allegory of the seasons, and both walls, with modeled medallions of painted blazons. The crossed vault of the small room is embellished with exceptionally rich mural paintings, plant tendrils interlaced with hunting scenes, which extend to walls adorned with blazons of Stična abbots, Carniola, and neighboring countries. These paintings beautifully enrich the knowledge of our mural painting during the early Baroque; this small guide cannot adequately describe them.

Owing to the reconstructive expansion of the "old prelature" in around the year 1600, the Romanesque chapel of St Paul at the medieval entrance into the monastery was almost entirely torn down because it violated the uniformity of the new Renaissance palace too much. Excavations in 1954 revealed that this "entrance chapel" had a long rectangular nave and, for the altar room, a semicircular apse. It extended passed the building line of the long structure next to the brook; the semicircular triumphal arch and little Romanesque window on the southern wall are still preserved today. Until recently, there was a Gothic fresco of St. Eligius, the patron of smiths, stablemen, and cabmen, on the remaining exterior part of the northern nave wall, which presents characteristic Romanesque construction; this was painted in the mid-15th century by the noted Gothic fresco painter Janez Ljubljanski, who was commissioned to paint for many churches in the vicinity of the Stična monastery. The St. Eligius painting was deemed appropriate for this wall because all the guests and distinguished visitors passed through this former entrance to the monastery. The removed fresco is now in the Stična museum together with a large contemporaneous blazon which once decorated the impressive building along the brook.

The afore-mentioned medieval entrance as well as the "external" St. Paul chapel were located where the imposing upper tower at the end of the long two-story structure along the brook now stands. Those visitors, and especially women, who were not allowed into the monastery church in former times because of the strict seclusion of the entire monastery, were able to attend mass in this chapel. This old monastery porch was abandoned in the 18th century and replaced with a new monumental Baroque entrance in the middle of the east building along the brook where it is still the main monastery entrance.

Regarding the old remains of the Romanesque "porch" chapel, one’s attention is particularly drawn by the vaulted vestibule of the entrance tower which is decorated with rich figurative and ornamental stuccowork. In the oblong medallions on the shallow arch appear four Latin Fathers of the Church: St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and St. Jerome. On one side of the lower part of the arch is a large multi-figured composition of the Crucifixion and, on its opposite side, a vivid crowd-filled depiction of the raising of the Lord’s cross. Special attention is aroused by the large eloquent narrative of the Last Judgement, which is on the east side above the entrance arch; it still preserves many iconographic elements that epitomize the Gothic fresco and is enriched by folk images. As substantiated by the initials, the two blazons, and the year 1620 on the apex of the vault, these stuccoworks were ordered by abbot Jacob, the first developer of Baroque style in this medieval monastery. These works are not only the oldest of their type in Slovenia, but also among the earlier examples of such in the broader European cultural sphere.

In 1994, after the removal of the provisional storage buildings in the "snail’s garden," the 22 m long facade of a storied fraternal tract was discovered. The shapes of small walled-in Romanesque windows on its groundfloor were already evident at an earlier time. At that time, similar window openings on the second floor were joined to them, and between them was also a semicircular Romanesque entrance. The upper window openings obviously illuminated and ventilated the brothers’ bedroom on the first floor, as did the windows below, their dining room, where later there was a pantry and a wine cellar as it still is today. The preserved rectangular aperatures in the wall indicate that there were supports for a wood beam ceiling of the groundfloor, which simultaneously supported the external corridor on the first storey, where there was an access to the bedroom. Below this corridor, there was also a special brothers’ entrance to the church on the groundfloor in its western-most part, which was demolished in the 17th century when the church was shortened. The discovery of this Romanesque facade beautifully supplements our understanding of the oldest building structure of the Stična monastery and its brothers’ area as well as answers the previously unexplained question as to how the brothers walked from their own completely separated living area to the church.

Of the individual buildings outside the monastery as such, it is necessary to mention especially the immense granary incorporated into the southwestern side of the wall enclosure. This imposing farm building, which, with its three successive vaulted stories, is a veritable technical masterpiece of its time, was erected in its entirety in 1683 by the 43rd Stična abbot, Ludwig von Raumschüssel (1680–1687).

Because the Turks threatened Stična once again in the 15th century while on their plundering expeditions against central Europe from Bosnia through Carniola and Carinthia, the monks additionally fortified the already walled-in monastery with strong walls and towers, and about 1519 abbot Urban Paradiž (1516–1523) even built a separate square fort on the western side. There were round towers (three of which are still preserved) at the corners of this fort and an immense square tower in the middle, like a sort of castle watchtower with its usual defense structures. The monastery wall enclosure is preserved most completely on the southern and western sides, where it is still 8 m high in some places.

The repeatedly-mentioned abbot Jacob Reinprecht, the great builder and first developer of Baroque style in medieval Stična, erected a summerhouse in which guests could take refuge from the summer heat in the middle of the flower garden west of the church. In keeping with the spirit of the times, he designed it as a central building on a regular octogan. On four sides, it has semicircular entrances and, on the remaining four sides, alike windows. The building is vaulted with an octagonal cupola. On the top of the pyramidal, clay tile roof is a forged windmill sail. On the sail there is a putto in the shape of an archer and on it, Jacob’s blazon with three lilies containing the capital letters PDIAS, latin initials meaning that Stična abbot Mr. Jacob erected this pavillion. At that time, such summerhouses were most usually found in castle gardens. From all that we know, only this one at Stična  is preserved from the time of the 20th year of the 17th century, and is therefore so much more important.

The part of the garden which is enclosed on the southern side is expended on a meditation park. Therefore, it is entirely separated from the other areas and organized as a peaceful green meadow. Round and round the vines climb the walls; this noble biblical plant which, from the abundant fall harvest, provides precious home-made wine. Places for small groups or individual meditations are also bordered by vines. On stone pedestals on the lawn are exhibited wooden statues of Christ, the Mother of God, and the two most renown men of western monasticism, St. Benedict, and St. Bernard, the great Cistercian after whom the 12th century of European history is named - Bernard’s Century. All the statues were sculpted in recent years by the self-taught domestic sculptor Joseph Trontelj. What a wonderful islet of peace this meditation garden is in the middle of our restless and crazy world.

In its Romanesque nucleus with church and cloister, the Stična monastery has stood for nearly 900 years. Its monastery life was forcibly disrupted only from the years 1784 to 1898. Because of its rich and long past, Stična is an important historical monument. Through the centuries it developed into an extensive building structure, which displays all the principal European artistic styles: from the beginnings of the Romanesque through the Gothic and Renaissance and, subsequently, to the late Baroque. Therefore, Stična is also a distinguished monument of the arts. Our understanding of the importance of the Stična monastery has been fundamentally enriched from the first descriptive attempts at the end of the 19th century, particularly in the last few decades. Of course, special attention is shared by her still-preserved Romanesque architecture, which, because of the design of this mid-12th century monastic church, has European significance for early Cistercian architecture. We now know much more about Stična than we did in the past. We will never know all that this venerable monastery still hides from our understanding. Still always, the alluring unknown exists for us and, therefore, always invites us anew behind its walls to uncover its last secret, which it jealously guards.

The architecture and fine art at Stična attained a golden age at two particular times: at its beginning in the 12th century and during the time of the great proliferation of Baroque style. For this reason, the Romanesque and Baroque are the main stylistic periods reflected in the artistic image of the Stična monastery.

As in its long-standing history, Stična has been the religious and cultural center of the Lower Carniola part of Slovenia, so also today and in the future the monastery will try to maintain and continue its nobel mission equally from both the spiritual and the universal cultural points of view.

 Translated by Patricia Walsh, Ph.D.