Šmartno pri Litiji, St Martin's village below Bogenšperk

Bogenšperk Castle and Lihtenberk

Within the municipality, above the hamlet of Dvor, stands Bogenšperk Castle, where Johann Weikhard von Valvasor lived for twenty years. It is run by a public body set up by the municipality, which also manages the village arts centre and the tourist office. The same body runs guided tours of the medieval Lihtenberk Castle, owned by the Wagen family when the earthquake of 1511 damaged it, and walks round Šmartno’s historic centre.

The church of St Martin

The heart of the village is the neo-Gothic church of St Martin, which gave the place its name, from Št. Marten to Šmartno. The architect Adolf Wagner designed it and it was built between 1899 and 1901 under the direction of Gustav Tönnies. Inside, light comes through stained glass by Anton Jebačin, and the Litija tourist centre picks out its paintings and the memorials to 16th-century local figures.

Legend has it that the church was built where miners from Šmartno, buried by a collapse, came back up to the surface on St Martin’s Day, 11 November. In 2021, 120 years after his birth, the village unveiled a bust of the playwright and doctor Slavko Grum, who was born here.

Older than Litija

Šmartno pri Litiji has 1,481 residents, and the municipality 5,854 across 55 settlements and 95 km², according to SURS. It lies at 252 m in a small basin where three streams meet, the Reka, the Črni potok and the Kostrevniški potok, which is why its northern part is called Ustje, the river mouth. The Slovene Wikipedia says the name first appears in church documents of 1135, although people lived here in prehistoric times.

For centuries it was the main place in the valley. That changed with the Southern Railway, which reached Litija, about three kilometres away, in the mid-19th century and turned it into the local town. The oldest house in Šmartno bears the date 1580, and in the 17th century it housed the Mollerey family’s painting and engraving workshop.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Ljubljana before prices climb.

Getting there, farms and walks

Around the village are excursion farms and herb farms listed by the Litija tourist centre, which covers Šmartno too, and a pilgrimage church of the Nativity of the Virgin at Gradišče, near Primskovo. The castle has a tavern. The Šmartno tourist office, at Staretov trg 25, opens on weekday mornings and into the early afternoon.

It is an easy drive from Ljubljana along the Sava valley. Without a car, the train takes you to Litija, leaving about three kilometres to go. For the rest of the region, see my guide to central Slovenia.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Ljubljana and choose by the reviews.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Ljubljana before prices climb.