Uros P.hotography
Sveta Gora
Above the river Soča and the town Solkan the area steeply rises to Sveta Gora (»Holy Mountain«), 682m, an important pilgrimage site. From the mountain the pilgrim has magnificent views in all directions: the Julian Alps to the north, the Trnovski gozd, Škabrijel and Grgar to the east, Nova Gorica and Gorizia, Solkan and the mountain Sabotin, the region of Karst and the Adriatic Sea to the south, and the wine region Brda, the Carnian Alps and the Dolomites to the west.
Sveta Gora is comprised of a large basilica, the Franciscan monastery, a pilgrims’ house, the Tau spiritual and educational centre and a restaurant. It is a pearl of the European pilgrims’ way connecting three Marian shrines: additionally to Sveta Gora, Stara Gora (Castelmonte) near Čedad (Cividale del Friuli) and Marijino Celje above Kanal.
The beginnings of the pilgrimage site are described in the Latin inscription on the pedestal of the statue of Madonna with the Child in the Apparition Chapel: »Thus in the year 1529 Virgin Mary appeared to Ursula Ferligoj on the mountain Skalnica, which is now called the Holy Mountain.
The unstoppable devotion of the pilgrims moved the authorities, who in 1540 by the deputy head of the government of Gorica, Hieronymus Attems, gave permission to build a church on the Skalnica.
In 1565 the Austrian Archduke Charles entrusted the pilgrimage site to the Franciscans who had fled from Bosnia to escape Turks. The flourishing pilgrimage site was dissolved in 1786 by the reformist emperor Joseph II, the church and the monastery were put up for auction and the Franciscans moved to Gorizia.
The promising times were followed by the turmoil of the First World War, which turned Sveta Gora into a heap of rubble and put the Madonna picture and the Franciscans again to flight, this time to Ljubljana. After the war, the Bishop of Gorica took care of reconstruction: the pilgrims’ house with a temporary chapel and a residence for the Franciscan brothers were built to the designs of the architect Max Fabiani.
A short period of peace was followed by the apocalypse of the Second World War.
In May 1944 the pilgrimage site was occupied by the Germans, who turned the church into a fortress against partisans.
After the war Catholics were often harassed and the authorities tried to make pilgrimages impossible. Yet the faithful have always found ways to visit Our Lady of Sveta Gora, who stands on the mountain. In spite of its turbulent history, Sveta Gora is not a dead monument but a pilgrimage site of increasing popularity.
Sveta Gora
Above the river Soča and the town Solkan the area steeply rises to Sveta Gora (»Holy Mountain«), 682m, an important pilgrimage site. From the mountain the pilgrim has magnificent views in all directions: the Julian Alps to the north, the Trnovski gozd, Škabrijel and Grgar to the east, Nova Gorica and Gorizia, Solkan and the mountain Sabotin, the region of Karst and the Adriatic Sea to the south, and the wine region Brda, the Carnian Alps and the Dolomites to the west.
Sveta Gora is comprised of a large basilica, the Franciscan monastery, a pilgrims’ house, the Tau spiritual and educational centre and a restaurant. It is a pearl of the European pilgrims’ way connecting three Marian shrines: additionally to Sveta Gora, Stara Gora (Castelmonte) near Čedad (Cividale del Friuli) and Marijino Celje above Kanal.
The beginnings of the pilgrimage site are described in the Latin inscription on the pedestal of the statue of Madonna with the Child in the Apparition Chapel: »Thus in the year 1529 Virgin Mary appeared to Ursula Ferligoj on the mountain Skalnica, which is now called the Holy Mountain.
The unstoppable devotion of the pilgrims moved the authorities, who in 1540 by the deputy head of the government of Gorica, Hieronymus Attems, gave permission to build a church on the Skalnica.
In 1565 the Austrian Archduke Charles entrusted the pilgrimage site to the Franciscans who had fled from Bosnia to escape Turks. The flourishing pilgrimage site was dissolved in 1786 by the reformist emperor Joseph II, the church and the monastery were put up for auction and the Franciscans moved to Gorizia.
The promising times were followed by the turmoil of the First World War, which turned Sveta Gora into a heap of rubble and put the Madonna picture and the Franciscans again to flight, this time to Ljubljana. After the war, the Bishop of Gorica took care of reconstruction: the pilgrims’ house with a temporary chapel and a residence for the Franciscan brothers were built to the designs of the architect Max Fabiani.
A short period of peace was followed by the apocalypse of the Second World War.
In May 1944 the pilgrimage site was occupied by the Germans, who turned the church into a fortress against partisans.
After the war Catholics were often harassed and the authorities tried to make pilgrimages impossible. Yet the faithful have always found ways to visit Our Lady of Sveta Gora, who stands on the mountain. In spite of its turbulent history, Sveta Gora is not a dead monument but a pilgrimage site of increasing popularity.