Šmarje pri Jelšah is a town and a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in eastern Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

. The area was part of the traditional region of Lower Styria

Lower Styria

Lower Styria or Slovenian Styria is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Lower Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, or 34.5% of the population of Slovenia...

. The municipality is now included in the Savinja statistical region

Savinjska statistical region

The Savinja statistical region is a statistical region in Slovenia. The largest town in the region is Celje. It is named after the Savinja River....

. The development of the settlement is associated with a medieval mansion

Mansion

A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...

 known as Jelšingrad on a slight hill to the northwest of the town.

The local parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary

Assumption of Mary

According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...

  and belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maribor. It dates to the late 13th century with 18th and 19th century additions.

The most famous landmark near the town is the Church of Saint Roch

Roch

Saint Roch or Rocco ; lived c.1348 - 15/16 August 1376/79 was a Christian saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August; he is specially invoked against the plague...

 in the settlement of Predenca

Predenca

Predenca is a settlement in the Šmarje pri Jelšah municipality in eastern Slovenia. It lies on a hill to the south of Šmarje. The area is part of the historical Lower Styria region. The municipality is now included in the Savinja statistical region....

 to the south of the town and the series of chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

s representing Calvary

Calvary

Calvary or Golgotha was the site, outside of ancient Jerusalem’s early first century walls, at which the crucifixion of Jesus is said to have occurred. Calvary and Golgotha are the English names for the site used in Western Christianity...

 and the Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...

on the path leading up to the church from the town.