Živa, Church of the Assumption, Bled, Slovenia.

Živa
Originally uploaded by An Gobán Saor

Interesting history to this church:
"According to a legend which stayed with the people, the temple of the ancient Slavic goddess Živa, once stood in the place of the current Baroque church. Priest Staroslav and his daughter Bogomila guarded it when Črtomir came to the island. The temple disappeared during battles between the followers of the pagan religion and Christians, who destroyed the altar and built a church. Bogomila stayed in the new church with her father, while Črtomir, after his baptism near the Savica waterfall, went to Aquilea and became a missionary of the Aquilean patriarch among Slovenes. On the Bled island, archeologists have discovered traces of prehistoric (11th to 8th centuries B.C.) and Slavic (9th to 10th century) settlements. In the early Middle Ages there was a pre-Christian, probably Old Slavic cult area in the location of the present day church. 124 graves with skeletons from the 9th to the 11th century were found. The foundations of a pre-Romanesque chapel which was built during the process of Christianisation, also date from approximately the same period - this is probably the only discovered example of a cult building from those times on Slovenian territory."

Uploaded by An Gobán Saor on 30 Oct 09, 6.48AM EST.