Ponikve (pronounced [pɔˈniːkʋɛ]) is a clustered settlement in the Municipality of Tolmin in the Littoral region of Slovenia.

Ponikve includes the hamlets and isolated farms of Lazi, Ostrožnik, Penček, Pri Puhu, Rob, Rute, V Grapi, Zagomilca, Zapušnik, and Za Vrhom.

The lake is the source of an intermittent influent stream that disappears into a gorge at the end of the village, probably reemerging at Kresnica Cave above the hamlet of Potoka near Slap ob Idrijci.

[3] The parish church in the settlement stand on Križ Hill and is dedicated to the Visitation and belongs to the Koper Diocese.

[6] The original small Gothic church at this site is believed to date from the 1480s based on a stone plaque on the south side of the church bearing the inscription "maister Andre von Lach 148_"[6] (the last digit is missing), referring to the prominent builder Andrej of Loka (a.k.a.

[7] As a result, on 2 July 1944, on the Feast of the Annunciation, the church was burned by German troops, destroying everything except the altar statue and the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre, which the locals managed to save.

[6][7] In 1952, after considerable difficulty and thanks to the efforts of the parish priest Janez Lapanja, the architect Jože Plečnik agreed to rebuild the church.

At the same time, the interior and exterior decoration departed radically from the former building, and the orientation of the church was reversed so that the nave is now on the east end, towards the village, and the altar on the west.