Most valuable among the monuments in the Mirna Valley from the Gothic period is Sv. Rupert, a three-aisled hall church in Šentrupert. There are very few churches south of the Karavanke mountains, in the territory of central Slovenia, to be cautiously termed "original parishes". The only two in Dolenjska from the Carolingian period are Šentvid pri Stični and Šentrupert. The economic foundations were further consolidated in the 11th century through the land grants of Hemma von Gurk. The parish’s strong economic basis attracted the most eminent ecclesiastical dignitaries to Šentrupert. Among those who enjoyed the beneficence of the parish were Jacob Auersperger and Jurij Slatkonja. In the period when the remarkable Gothic church was being built, there was quite a succession of distinguished parish priests, including Pavel Glogauer Blagoviški, Herman Dürrer and, most important, Ivan Harer and Jacob Auersperger. Ivan Harer’s connection with Friderik of Cilli (Celje) brought to the Mirna Valley the most famous medieval building workshop in Central Europe at the time. From outside, the church is very grand and visible for miles around. The bell tower with its great spire has a square ground plan, which becomes an octagon at the level of the third storey. The sanctuary is articulated by seven three-part pillars and tripartite windows with pointed arches; the nave is more modest in terms of masonry and is adorned by just three tall tripartite arched windows, which were converted into embrasures during construction. Inside the church the impression of space is longitudinally oriented. A pointed chancel arch with trefoil cusping divides the interior into two parts: the sanctuary and the nave. The sanctuary has an elongated star-vaulted choir with a polygonal termination with engaged pillars running down to the ground, while the nave is divided in the middle by six slender octagonal piers joining the ribbed vault at the top. The intersections of the ribs above the sanctuary and nave are decorated by figures and shields which also tell something of the church’s history.