St Martin's Church – Martjanci (Mártonhely)

St Martin's Church – Martjanci (Mártonhely)

St Martin's Church in Martjanci (Mártonhely) is one of the most precious medieval monuments of Prekmurje. The walls of this late 14th-century Gothic church were painted by Johannes Aquila, and it also preserves one of the master's self-portraits, among the earliest painted self-portraits in Europe.

Martjanci – known to local Hungarians as Martyánc – first appears in charters in 1365–1366: it was the centre of one of the districts of the Felsőlendva (Grad) estate, its parish comprised eighteen villages, and its patron was already St Martin of Tours. According to a Latin inscription on the south wall of the sanctuary, the present church was built in 1392, in the time of parish priest Erasmus, on a rise beside the road running through the village.

The wall paintings are the work of Johannes Aquila of Radkersburg (Regede), as his own inscription testifies. The sanctuary vault bears the symbols of the Evangelists, while the walls show scenes from the legend of St Martin of Tours – among them the saint sharing his cloak with a beggar and his death – as well as several female saints performing works of mercy. Above the sacristy door the Archangel Michael weighs souls with his scales, and on the north wall parish priest Erasmus pleads for mercy. Aquila painted himself above a window, with a Latin scroll asking all the saints to pray for him.

During the Reformation the church was for a time in Protestant hands, returning to the Catholics in the last third of the 17th century. The nave was vaulted in 1702, and the Baroque side altars were made in 1749–1750 by a master from Radkersburg. In 1925 a new marble high altar with a statue of St Martin was built to designs by Jože Plečnik, fitting well with the Gothic sanctuary. The stone tower on the west side, articulated by windows on five levels, is regarded as one of the finest Gothic towers in Slovenia.

Pilgrimage feast: the church's titular feast is the day of St Martin of Tours, 11 November.

Visiting: Martjanci lies about 4 km north-east of Murska Sobota, in the municipality of Moravske Toplice, next to the spa resort; the church stands in the middle of the village on a gentle rise. More wall paintings by Johannes Aquila can be seen in nearby Turnišče (Bántornya) and, across the border in Hungary, in Velemér, so the sites can be linked into a single route.

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikipedia (Slovene) · Wikipedia – Johannes Aquila · Wikipedia – Mártonhely (Martjanci)

Photo: Szilas / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · Photo: Jacquesverlaeken / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0