church, typical of
the area, and stands on a small hill above the village inside a walled
enclosure 8 m high. The church was built in the late
Romanesque
tradition before 1480. The encampment
wall, built in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, is an irregular
rectangle with cylindrical towers in exposed corners. The frescos inside the
church date to 1490 and are some of the best preserved in Slovenia. They were
plastered over and whitewashed, and were only re-discovered in 1949 and were
carefully restored. The most famous is the 7 m sequence known as the Dance of
Death on the south wall of thenave, representing people of all walks of life
from kings and popes to beggars and babies being led by
skeletons
towards
Deathitself. Scenes from the
Book of Genesis
also decorate the nave, images of the
Apostles
are painted in niches in the apse,
with other saints and prophets as well as a
Passion
series and the journey and adoration
of the
Magi.
Hrastovlje is also the
location of the only major spring in Slovenian Istria, the karst
