It lies in the hills north of Grosuplje and northeast of Šmarje-Sap and south of Mali Lipoglav in the historical region of Lower Carniola.

[4] Zgornja Slivnica is a clustered village on a plateau northeast of Mount Mary Magdalene (Slovene: Magdalenska gora).

[2] Mount Mary Magdalene, south of the settlement, is one of the largest and most important Hallstatt culture archaeological sites in Slovenia.

[7] The church on the hill was fortified as protection against Ottoman raids[7][8] and was cited by the 17th-century historian Johann Weikhard von Valvasor as the last lookout and site for warning bonfires in Lower Carniola before Ljubljana.

[7] Archaeological investigations at Mount Mary Magdalene were carried out by Karel Dežman, Ferdinand Schulz, Jernej Pečnik, and the Duchy of Mecklenburg.

[8] The first structure at the site was a chapel built in the rural Gothic style, and the church was first mentioned in written sources in 1663.