Kranj Things to Do

On the southern side of the parish church is the Majdiè fountain, the work of the sculptor Franc Berneker, with statues of John the Steadfast (Janez Nepomuk) and the Queen. The lapidary features Roman and medieval epitaphs built earlier in the walls of the parish church or found elsewhere in the town. They were all placed here between 1971-2 during the squares reconstruction.

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The vaulted roof inside the church was built after 1452 and the original paintings on the joints were re-discovered during renovations in 2004. The central star is painted with vegetation decorations and frescos of angels (workshop of the master of Žirovnica, 1461). The original winged altar of the church, made in 1500, was sold to Vienna. The present altar with sculptures by France Gorše and colour windows are newer (architect Ivan Vurnik, 1934, painter Stane Kregar, 1969).

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The parish church is dedicated to four saints: Cantius, Cantianus, Cantianilla and Protus. The current church dates from around 1400 and is built on the location of an earlier church that was built in the 6th century. This church was then damaged by Hungarian invasions in the 10th century. On the portal of the current church there is a preserved and renovated Gothic relief of the Mount of Olives that dates from 1460. The square hall-like nave was built later, along with the bell tower that rises above the entry façade.

In the square beside the parish church is this large bronze statue to Slovenia’s greatest poet, Dr. France Prešeren (1800-1849) who lived and died in the town. It was sculpted by Frančišek Smerdu and Peter Loboda and erected in 1952.

This theatre is located next to the parish church in a wide passage that once extended down to the Kokra River. It was built in 1909 as a public house for educational activities and entertaining associations. The building was rebuilt in 1952 by architect Jože Plečnik who added the arcade to the façade.

The Presbytery was built in 1749 and is one of the most important monuments of Baroque architecture in Kranj. The ground plan of the house is in the shape of a horseshoe, which encloses the arcade courtyard, and is open towards the Kokra Canyon. The buildings most prominent features is the main front pilaster façade with a portal made from red stone. The Baroque mansion was connected to the neighbouring building, the Diocese (today’s Central Library), in 1891.

In the year 1874 the bishop of Ljubljana, Jernej Vidmar, built a new building called the Diocese on the site of a chapel from the 18th century which belonged to the Kostnk Chapel. Today the building houses the Central Library which represents the biggest institution of its kind in the Gorenjska region.

This building was one of the most important medieval buildings in Kranj. It’s located near the bridge that goes over the Kokra River and was built in 1527 to collect taxes for crossing over the bridge. The building represents the early form of town houses with console-supported upper stories, which appeared in the first half of the 16th century. The portal on the main façade is semicircular and edged with buckwheat grain.