The natural and cultural heritage of the Šentrupert district is extremely rich. From the regional Trebnje–Mokronog road we are greeted by the remarkably striking view of the Church of St Francis Xavier on Vesela Gora with its surroundings and a façade that is unique among all monuments in Slovenia. The two bell towers are set diagonally with respect to the main axis. Together with the domes, they add to the impression of a striking architectural mass from the flourishing Baroque period.
On an overhang overlooking the Šentrupert Valley, the view opens up over the valley of the river Bistrica with the great Gothic church of St Rupert's on a plateau in the middle of the market town, and the eye turns to the left along the sunny side of vineyard-covered Oplenk with Škrljevo Castle at its foot, setting the seal on the whole of the Šentrupert district with its history and its solid mass, from 1044 onwards the object of several rebuildings. Further to the left, on a hill, the silhouette of the church on Vesela Gora retreats into the light of the setting sun, while further down, on the north side, the chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows with the little chapels of the Way of the Cross stands on a high hill.
Beautiful views open up on all sides: in the west, the slope of Oplenk extends from St Francis Xavier's on Vesela Gora towards the north, with St Barbara's Church on the exposed peak of Okrog; even further north, the gaze rests on the slopes of the Šentrupert hills, dotted with hamlets and covered with forests and vineyards. Towards the south-east the valley exchanges glances with the highest peak in this area – Debenec – and closes off the view formed by the surrounding panoramas, an enticing glimpse of the life that has gone on here for millennia. The image of a sort of self-contained landscape, characterised by numerous monuments and chapels, and reminiscent of a nest, forming its own world within the Mirna Valley, removed from the main roads that pass through it, the busy junctions and noisy modern roads, and creating in this modern age an idyll of peaceful relaxation connected with nature.
Traces of human presence in the Šentrupert area appear relatively late, but so much the more intensively as a result. The oldest archaeological finds date back to the Early Iron Age, somewhere around the 8th century BC. In the context of Slovenia this is the time of the Hallstatt culture of tribes related to the Illyrians in the Balkans. At the European level, the Hallstatt culture of Dolenjska is something quite exceptional, while the rich archaeological finds make it one of the most important in Europe.
People at that time lived in fortified settlements – ancient forts – built on the tops of hills and buried their dead in large mounds which can still be seen today in forests and meadows. This was a period of intensive extraction of iron ore and the iron artefacts produced by foundries and smithies represented important trading goods. Iron was a sought-after metal and articles made from iron were expensive. Iron producers therefore enjoyed prestige, wealth and power.
Dolenjska was an important crossroads of the trade routes leading from the Balkans towards the Istrian peninsula and from the Pannonian lowlands and Alpine districts. The two most important routes led along the valley of the rivers Krka and Sava and were connected by the route from Žužemberk past Dobrnič, Trebnje and along the valley of the Mirna.
Along this route a powerful prehistoric fort grew up on Vesela Gora, the walls of which can still be sensed today in the overhanging precipice which drops steeply into the valley from the prominence on which the church dedicated to St Francis Xavier now stands. The burial site belonging to this fort, which was also the largest in this area, numbered over 20 burial mounds and lay to the south, below the settlement, below the level of the fields and meadows that today extend towards Slovenska Vas.
A second burial site lies in the wood behind the village of Kremen, while there are individual burial mounds along the road at Greben above Kot Manor. Two burial mounds are clearly visible in the woods to the west of Škrljevo Castle, where traces of digging for the "golden calf" can also be seen.
The Straža area has yielded individual finds dating from antiquity, and this area is also the origin of a small stone inscription tablet. Also from this era is the tombstone of Lucius Baibius Sempronianus and his wife Escinga, found at Kamnje near Šentrupert. The remains of the walls of a military outpost from late antiquity (4th–6th century) can be seen on the hill known as Jaršč in Hom.
Thus we may conclude that the plain has provided an economic basis for the population since the earliest times, while the territory of passage represented an important valley route which was both strategically and visually commanded by the surrounding hills, where settlements developed from the 8th century BC up until the period of late antiquity.