To God what is God's
The religious sphere of the area was marked by Catholics, Protestants and Jews. The first church organisation was established in the Middle Ages by the Catholics, who make up the majority of the religious population of Pomurje. The Catholic churches were taken over by Protestants during the Reformation and held until the Counter-Reformation triumphed. It was then that the first Hungarian and the first Slovenian books were written and printed here. They were able to re-establish their parishes from the end of the 18th century, predominantly in Prekmurje. Most of the Protestants are Lutherans, and the Motvarjevci village is home to the only parish of the Reformed Church. Jews were expelled from Styria at the end of the 15th century and settled in Prekmurje in greater numbers in the 19th century. Until World War II and the Holocaust, they formed the largest Jewish community in what is now Slovenia.
All artistic styles have left their mark on churches and church art, from Romanesque to the 20th century, marked by Plečnik's church in Bogojina. The most beautiful Gothic monuments in Turnišče and Martjanci were made in the workshop of Johannes Aquila. Only the synagogue in Lendava has survived, and the largest Jewish cemetery in Slovenia is not far away.
Photo in the banner advert: Torah from the synagogue in Murska Sobota, 1st half of the 20th century. (photo: Tomislav Vrečič)
