Bogojina and Plečnik's church

A small village by the spa

SURS gives Bogojina 549 residents on 1 January 2026. It belongs to the municipality of Moravske Toplice, the main spa destination in Pomurje, and sits out on the plain at the foot of the Goričko hills.

Why Plečnik’s church is famous

The tourist board ranks it among the most interesting pieces of 20th-century architecture and calls it the most famous shrine in Pomurje. RTV Slovenia describes an almost post-modernist mix of classical, contemporary and folk elements, very much Plečnik’s style. The columns are classical, but the cylinder keeps coming back as a modern form, starting with the round bell tower.

The Goričko park, which lists it among the monuments in its area, goes further and ranks it among the most important buildings of modern sacred architecture in Slovenia, thanks to its wealth of detail. If you know his work in Ljubljana, seeing the same language applied to a rural parish church on the plain is reason enough to come.

The ceiling of pots and the altar

The most striking part is overhead. A villager suggested covering the ceiling with traditional clay pots, and Plečnik, who admired local folklore, agreed. It was a nod to Prekmurje’s pottery tradition, which goes back centuries. The Goričko park mentions plates on the ceiling and amphorae on the main altar, and RTV adds that local pottery features in the altar too.

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A project that took decades

The original Church of the Ascension is 14th-century. After the First World War a new parish priest, Ivan Baša, decided the village needed a larger church and gave the job to Plečnik, who had built up a lot of experience in Vienna. Work began in 1924 and much of the structure stood two years later, but the interior was completed bit by bit until the 1950s. Baša died in 1931. Plečnik stayed attached to Bogojina for most of his life and designed the pulpit shortly before his death in 1957.

Rather than knock down the old church, Plečnik preserved much of it as the entrance hall of the new one. For me that’s the best part of the whole building, because you walk in through the 14th century and reach the 20th without anything jarring.

Pairing it with Moravske Toplice

Bogojina takes an hour. From the open ground in front of the church, from where this page’s opening photo was shot, you see the village spread across the plain. I’d combine it with a stay in Moravske Toplice or a tour of Prekmurje that includes Murska Sobota, and if you want more Plečnik afterwards, Ljubljana holds much of his work.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Moravske Toplice and pick one that fits your day.

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