Dušan Koman

The easiest access to Crngrob is the road from Dorfarje, but there is also a scenic route from Škofja Loka through Stara Loka past the richly painted Rdeče Znamenje (Red Pillar) from around 1500. The village lies at the foot of Križna Gora hills 400 m above the sea, at the very edge of the Sorško Polje plain, but woods hide it from view. The site is dominated by the Church of the Annunciation, a popular pilgrimage centre from the Middle Ages onwards.

The first church on this site, from the time before 1300, had only a single nave and no ceiling. It was raised in the 14th century and after 1410, arcades were built in the south wall and the building expanded to two naves. In mid-15th century, the Master of Mengeš, due to increased number of worshippers, added the third nave. A late-Gothic portal was built in the middle of the new west front. At that time, each nave had its own east terminal, as is evident from the contract with Master Jurko from 1520 concerning the building of a new presbytery and a belfry. The hall presbytery with older naves is not harmonious. The triumphal arch that, compared to the naves, asymmetrically spans the entire church width, shows that the existing naves were to be later replaced with a new hall. The presbytery of Jurko exceeds the height of the naves and is roughly of the same dimensions as all three naves together. Because the ground slopes, the choir is heavily plinthed. In accordance with the contract, it has no external buttresses. The stellate vault supports six octagonal columns with foil capitals. Side keystones on vaults are carved into rosettas, while the central ones are figural. The vault by the triumphal arch ends in four consoles bearing heads of two men, a woman and a dog. Folk tales connect the consoles with the legend of the brigands of Crngrob. Jurko's task was also to build a two-storied belfry by the south presbytery front. It 1551, it was raised by two more floors, and in 1661 given its present height and the Baroque onion roof. The present appearance of the church was achieved in 1858 with the neo-Gothic entrance stairs by Giovanni Battista Molinari in the place of the former wooden porch.