breathtaking views
Podolševa, together with the village of Solčava and three glacial valleys (Logar Valley, Robanov kot and Matkov kot), forms the Solčava region.
It lies below the Olševa mountain ridge, at an altitude between 1020 and 1327 m. It is the highest settlement in Slovenia.
Podolševa, the highest settlement in Slovenia
Its central identity is given by the Church of the Holy Spirit, which stands in the centre of the settlement. The church forms the central part of the Solčava Panoramic Route and is the starting point towards the famous Potočka zijavka and the top of Olševa.
Church of the Holy Spirit
High below the mountain Olševa is the hamlet of Podolševa. The locals call it the Holy Spirit, after the Baroque church of the Holy Spirit, which gives the hamlet a distinctive look, and its fairytale-like scenery also marks the Solčava Panorama Route in a special way.
The present church was built at the end of the 19th century, on the site of an earlier church from the 15th century. The church preserves a Gothic chalice and a relief of the Holy Trinity carved in yew wood, interesting in particular for the Holy Spirit, who is depicted as a young man with an earthen orb rather than as a dove. The church has the oldest bell with an inscription in ancient Gothic majuscule.
Potočka zijavka
Potočka zijavka in Mount Olševa is the first archaeological site from the Old Stone Age (Palaeolithic) in Slovenia to be excavated. Researchers have discovered numerous skeletons of cave bears and other Ice Age animals. 35,000 years ago, a prehistoric man called the Cro-Magnon left its traces in Potočka zijavka. The oldest bone seamstress was found here, as well as numerous tools, bone points, bone whistles, iron ore dyes (ochre) and a large number of hearths. New findings reveal that Potočka zijalka was a sanctuary of Cro-Magnon hunters.
On the road in front of the Logar Valley, the Firšt Guesthouse and Museum also has a permanent exhibition on the Potočka zijavka. In the village of Solčava, in the parish hall, you can see the thematic exhibition of caves and fossils “Stories written in stone”.