History and furnishings
On Jožefov hrib (Joseph's Hill) above Slovenska Bistrica towers the magnificent church of St. Joseph, once an important pilgrimage shrine. The land for it was purchased in 1744 by the Slovenska Bistrica chaplain Maks Lederer, who also contributed part of the building funds.
Its architecture is attributed to the important Maribor master builder Jožef Hoffer (c. 1700–1762), who also designed the pilgrimage church at Sladka Gora and the parish church in Ernovž (Ehrenhausen). The architecturally varied church of St. Joseph was largely completed by 1757; its pair of bell towers, however, was added only in 1812. Building funds were also contributed by the many pilgrims who came to the site even during its construction.
The building is an outstanding example of a unified Baroque work of art in Styria, having survived more or less in the form it had at its completion. In addition to its exceptional architecture, it is also distinguished by fine furnishings. Without doubt the most important is the high altar of around 1756, which fills the entire east wall of the presbytery. It was made in the workshop of the Maribor sculptor Jožef Straub (1712–1756) and completed by his brother, the prominent Graz sculptor Filip Jakob Straub (1706–1774).
The altarpiece, the Death of St. Joseph, is attributed to Valentin Metzinger (1699–1759), a Baroque painter who worked mainly in Carniola. The four side altars — made around 1769 and 1774 and dedicated to St. Blaise, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Aloysius Gonzaga — are also worthy of note. The larger two stand in the side chapels, the smaller two by the triumphal-arch wall. All were made in the workshop of the sculptor Janez Jurij Mersi (1725–1788) of Slovenj Gradec, and the altarpieces are regarded as the finest works of his fellow townsman, the painter and gilder Janez Andrej Strauss (1721–1783).
The Mersi workshop also produced the angel heads and ornamentation for the pulpit from the late 17th or early 18th century, which was brought from elsewhere. The vault painting in the presbytery was made at the end of the 19th century. It was painted in 1892 by the church painter Franc Gornik (1857–1908) of Malečnik, with scenes from the life of the church's patron — the Seven Sorrows and Joys of St. Joseph — and who also worked in the monastery church at Studenice and the church of St. Giles at Kočno.
The Church of St. Joseph is protected as a cultural monument of local significance and is, apart from the later wall painting, the result of the work of important Baroque artists whose creations enriched not only Styria but also Carinthia, Croatia and Carniola.