Dušan Koman

The parish and provost church of St. George stands on Slovenski trg (Slovenian Square) in the east part of the medieval town centre, beside the town tower from the 16th century and behind the largest monolithic Roman tombstone in Central Europe, the so-called Monument of Orpheus. It was used as a pillory in the Middle Ages. The church is the most important aspect of the square and has the oldest documented building history in Slovenia.

Some architectural elements and the location of the church gave rise to a yet-unproven hypothesis that a Christian church stood here even as early as the fourth century. It is more probable that the first building of worship in the spot was a church erected by Kocelj, the duke of Pannonia, in the 9th century. At that time, two churches were consecrated in Ptuj and the later church probably stood on the site of the present-day provost church. Proven building activities in this spot started around 1140, after the retreat of the Hungarians, when Konrad I, the Archbishop of Salzburg, ordered a single-nave Romanesque church, to which a narthex was soon added on the west side. In the 13th century, the church was expanded into a triple-nave pillar basilica. The west narthex was vaulted and also raised, thus becoming an empora. After 1300, the two side naves were vaulted and the eastern terminal was replaced by a longitudinal choir. This was the first longitudinal choir in Slovenia to be added to a parish parochial church. The west empora was supposedly re-vaulted around 1370-1380, whilst the main nave did not receive its cross-ribbed vault until the late 15th century. In 1415, the south nave was extended westwards all the way to the church front. Despite the addition of Baroque side chapels in the 17th century, the church still has a medieval air.