On commission of the then-administrator, Franciscan friar Martin Perc, Jože Plečnik converted the St. Mary’s side altar in the Nevlje church into a baptistery. Besides the baptistery in the church of St. Benedict in Stranje, the baptistery in Nevlje may be ranked among the first of Plečnik’s designs for baptisteries. It was furnished between years 1947 and 1950.
The baptistery is separated from the rest of the church space by the curtain of metallic laces that extends down from the ceiling, and is composed of metallic vines and a door which includes the Christian symbol of a fish and a bird. The semi-circular wall is laid with oak square plates. In the middle stand a statue of St. Mary and the base of the original side altar, which the architect preserved. The baptismal font is made of marble, and features two brass angels holding a rool – a document of baptism.
This symbolically means that God will judge us and repay us through baptism. Opposite the baptismal font stands a brass candelabrum on a marble base, which is meant to hold a baptismal candle. Two chalices were made for Nevlje church by Plečnik: A black chalice was consecrated to the victims of the Second World War, and is used on holidays, like the Day of Remembrance for the Dead and All Saints’ Day, on the first and the second of November. The chalice of parish patron saint, St. George, is used at bigger church ceremonies.
Source:
The Parish Chronicle of Nevlje, 1895.
