Laporje / Labriach / Lapriach / Lapriak

Baptismal font consisting of an octagonal basin with a round ded underbowl, raised on a short octagonal pedestal base; one side of the upper rim appears to have been worn, as if used to sharpen tools or similar use; No cover present; there is a large metal insert used in the font. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 15 September 2022) informed: "The church in Lapor, dedicated to St. Philip and Jacob, it is first mentioned in historical sources in 1251 (“in laporiach ecclesiam), and the parish in 1395. But the area has been inhabited at least since Roman times, as evidenced by the altar dedicated to the Roman god Mars, installed on the south side of the church. The original church was said to have been built in 1374, the current one was given its final shape in 1907 and is richly furnished. The main altar is the work of Jožef Holzinger, several statues are the work of Jožef Straub. The font, most likely a limestone monolith, is formed from an octagonal cup-shaped basin (with a square edge) resting on an octagonal plinth. The design is simple, relatively rough, with several damages and without any decoration. The outer diameter of the upper octagon is 57 cm, the diameter of the opening is 35 cm, and its depth is 15.5 cm; the entire stone is 50 cm high. According to the typology, the object is most likely a baptismal stone from the Gothic period and may be the only material evidence of the original church. It can be compared with similar monuments from the 13th and 14th centuries. century, for example to the baptistery in Cerkllje in Gorenjska, which was marked as follows in the publication mentioned below: "It is obviously a baptismal font from the Gothic period, which are rare in Slovenia. Almost all the known ones are octagonal, which is also the majority design among Austrian examples. In Slovenia, similar baptismal fonts are known to me in Vuzenica, Solčava, in the lapidary of the Ljubljana Križanka, supposedly from the Šenpeter church, from Ojstrica near Dravograd (now in the Provincial Museum in Maribor), which has rich coat of arms and figural decorations, in the courtyard of Khislstein Castle in Kranj (formerly courtyard of Prešeren's house, but otherwise of unknown origin) and perhaps also an example in front of the chapel with, according to tradition, healing water in Kropa. In the Eastern Alpine area, during the Gothic period, baptism was performed by pouring the forehead, which means that the font could be relatively small. It was usually in the form of a chalice, that is to say that they consisted of a base, a column and a basin, but there were no rules or standards for their manufacture, so each one is shaped differently. In addition to the preserved basin, the Cerklje font probably had some kind of unpreserved pedestal, it is less likely that it stood directly on the ground. Fonts similar in shape to the basin of the old Cerklje baptistery were produced from the 12th to the 16th century. Because it is very simple, it is indefinable in terms of style and time. In richer environments, including the Cerklje monastery, such simple fonts are a rarity in late Gothic. During the Gothic period, the columns became thinner and thinner, the baptismal font more and more finely processed, and the basins became even smaller. Cerklje is relatively large. Due to the above and due to the rarity of the use of the old Cerkljebaptistery in the 12th century, its origin can be placed with considerable probability in the 13th or 14th century, which makes it one of the oldest preserved baptisteries in Slovenia. Only the Romanesque font in Velika Nedelja, which supposedly dates from the 13th century, is fairly reliably older.” According to the literature compiled by Dr. Monika Oswald -- Sources: Blaž Močnik, Our Heritage, Periodical of the Liberius Cerkje Cultural Club, issue 2,Cerklje na Gorenjska 2017, p. 24-25.